I never had the 414 so no long time experience, just store listening... but you're right... the 424s were nice, real nice.
Power of Headphone Section on Speaker Amps
- Thread starter cscottrun4it
- Start date
Thorsten R.
Super Member
I have rediscovered my old 414 (to be true I have 3 pairs from 1968, my own, that of my sister which she now uses on her computer, and that of her best friend). I simply like it, it fits to the old Pioneer SX-550 I use in the moment. But so does the 424.
Lavane
Lunatic Member
I've found selecting different impedances on my headphone amplifier has a verey noticable effect on how my headphones sound. The cans I'm currently using are 50 ohm. Selecting different impedances seems to roll off the highs or lows depending which way I turn the selector. It can sound boomy and flabby or thin and tinny. The closer to the impedance of the headphones I get, the better it sounds. It's almost acts like a single tone control. Maybe its just a simple impedance mismatch? 
Thorsten R.
Super Member
Can you select an impedance that is lower than that of the cans? If yes how does it influence the sound?I've found selecting different impedances on my headphone amplifier has a verey noticable effect on how my headphones sound. The cans I'm currently using are 50 ohm. Selecting different impedances seems to roll off the highs or lows depending which way I turn the selector. It can sound boomy and flabby or thin and tinny. The closer to the impedance of the headphones I get, the better it sounds. It's almost acts like a single tone control. Maybe its just a simple impedance mismatch?
Lavane
Lunatic Member
I haven't done it since I first got the headphone amp. I'll have to try it again when I get back home. I do remember it sounded like either the low end or high end was effected the most depending whether I lowered or raised the impedance. I do remember it sounding muddy or harsh.
Thorsten R.
Super Member
Normally the impedance of a system in a headphone goes down with lower frequencies, and goes up with higher ones. This would mean that a headphone amp will see totally different loads about the frequency range. This will warp the overall frequency response. And that is why a nominal impedance of - say - 2000 Ohms is good on a headphone (when your amp can generate a high enough voltage): the relative variation of the cans impedance to the output impedance of the amp is much lower.
I wrote "normally" because the variation of the cans impedance is further influenced by the type of construction, the damping and other mechanical features. Even your head and ears add influence.
I wrote "normally" because the variation of the cans impedance is further influenced by the type of construction, the damping and other mechanical features. Even your head and ears add influence.
Last edited:
Lavane
Lunatic Member
It does make a difference. Is the L.D. MKll a hybrid? I have another headphone amp that is a hybrid. Tube front end and SS single ended class A output. It sounds pretty nice. It has line out also, so I've been using it as a preamp for one of my low watt tube amps.
Lavane
Lunatic Member
I haven't heard an OTL amp yet. The headphone amp in my main system is all tube using output transformers. It's pretty much a flea watt amp at 1.2wpc into 16 ohm. As you go up with the selector it gets less and less.
cscottrun4it
Active Member
Sorry I've been out of pocket for a few days. Honestly, some of the posts on this became WAY above my experiential and theoretical understanding. So let's pretend I'm an English major. Wait. We don't have to pretend. I was an English major.
From the posts above, what I'm getting is, it's not the size. It's the motion. Wait. That's a different issue....
What I'm getting is, the volts going into the amp really affect the amp's ability to drive high impedence headphones. More volts = more drive (aka mW) for high impedence Loads. I know. I'm a meat head.
So, if I knew the volts of the Asgard 3, for example, and the current, I could figure out if it could drive 2k headphones.
Of course, the Asgard 3 has both balanced and single headed inputs and output. Balenced appears more efficient, but I can screw up the amp if I don't configure it correctly? Balenced in - balenced out?
If you'd like a sentence diagramed for you or a stylistic analysis of your writing, I can do that for you. (I'm good at stylistics. That's why I wasn't in The Dark Knight. That other guy was good with calculation.)
From the posts above, what I'm getting is, it's not the size. It's the motion. Wait. That's a different issue....
What I'm getting is, the volts going into the amp really affect the amp's ability to drive high impedence headphones. More volts = more drive (aka mW) for high impedence Loads. I know. I'm a meat head.
So, if I knew the volts of the Asgard 3, for example, and the current, I could figure out if it could drive 2k headphones.
Of course, the Asgard 3 has both balanced and single headed inputs and output. Balenced appears more efficient, but I can screw up the amp if I don't configure it correctly? Balenced in - balenced out?
If you'd like a sentence diagramed for you or a stylistic analysis of your writing, I can do that for you. (I'm good at stylistics. That's why I wasn't in The Dark Knight. That other guy was good with calculation.)
Last edited:
Correct. I thought that had been said numerous times in this thread, but apparently not. Or maybe the OP is intent on using a standalone headphone amp. I think some (most?) headphone amps will work fine with 32 ohm headphones but won't with 2000 ohm headphones.