The Logic Off Topic list

Jeremy,

I'm not sure about the effect of the impedance, but if you're worried about
the headphones not being sensitive (loud) enough given a low-output
amplifier: look no further than Grado Labs headphones.

I've had two semi-priced models and heard also the expensive ones, and they
are *very* close to Stax sound quality. And they are extremely sensitive.
SR-80 is quoted 32 ohms, dunno if that's a good thing, then ;). They were
around 135 euros some years ago in Finland, so I'd guess you'd get them for
100-120 USD. The SR-125 that I now have are even better sounding and some
150 euros more expensive.

www.gradolabs.com/

Well worth a listen, IMHO.

rgds,

.bj\ufffdrn

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeremy Martin" <jeremy@...>
To: <logic-ot@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2003 2:44 AM
Subject: [L-OT] headphones / headphone amps


> I'm trying to decide which pair of headphones to buy for now...
>
> Part of the time I'll be listening to them while they are plugged
> into an RME HDSP9632 (http://www.rme-
> audio.de/english/hdsp/hdsp9632.htm )
> which has a "Low impedance output (75 ohm) for headphones, stepless
> output level through software faders"
>
> The other part of the time I'm going to lug them to work and plug
> them into an old SoundBlaster Live card in my workstation... No
> idea what its impedance is but I'm sure it isn't pretty. I might
> get a portable CD player but I'm sure most of them don't have
> that great of sound quality either.. In any case I just want
> something better than cheap $20 headphones to listen to music
> with while at work, plus it will give me a chance to get to know
> the headphones better.
>
> I was thinking of getting some $200 Sennheiser HD580 headphones but
> I'm afraid they would be too good as they have 300 ohms of
> impedance. I glanced at some headphone amplifiers but nearly all
> of them were designed to have multiple headphone outputs and all
> I would really need is 1 high quality output...
>
> If I turned the volume up all the way on my computer at work, would
> it still be too quiet to hear through the HD580s? I assume its
> impedance is less than or equal to the HDSP9632's...
>
> So does anyone know any models of headphone amps with just one
> input and output that have a frequency response of 12-38k Hz like
> the HD580 does, preferably with a THD of < .1% etc? I wonder
> how much such a device would cost?
>
> Or do you think I should just get cheaper/other headphones for now?
> I.e. maybe the AudioTechnica ATHM40fs which only has 60 ohms of
> impedance? I just don't want to miss out on any bass. :-) Could
> anyone suggest any other models I might want to look at, in the
> retail-price-of-$270-but-really-sells-for-$200-range, that
> doesn't have so much impedance so I wouldn't have to worry about
> getting a headphone amp?
>
> Thanks!
> Jeremy