[Koolpep]

This might help further:

http://www.head-fi.org/a/headphone-impedance

Distortion and clipping aren't directly relative to mismatched impedance.

This will help on damping :

http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/comparison-beyerdynamic-dt-880-32-ohm-dt-880-250-ohm-and-dt-880-600-ohm-headphones

This on clipping :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipping_(audio)

Awesome, many thanks!

I shall study these.

Cheers,
K

 

[Brooko]

Awesome, many thanks!

I shall study these.

Cheers,
K

 
No problems.  if you get stuck on some of the terminology, pop over to Sound Science forum, and ask in that forum. Explain that you're relatively new to the topic and trying to get a better understanding.  Ask them to explain in simple terms. A lot of what I've learnt has come from there.  I still don't understand a lot of the science and math behind it - but I have a grasp of the basic principles.  I'm just not great at explaining them - which is why I prefer to post links for some of the well written articles.

 

[Brooko]

OP - just a thought, but this thread might really help you out.  Some of the headphones you mentioned are included in Peter's table already.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/672743/comparisons-23-of-the-top-closed-portable-headphones-around

 

[Makiah S]

  Funny - I have the UE6000 here with me now.
 
Impedance 32 ohms
Sensitivity a very healthy 105 dB
 
Drives easily from my iPhone 5S - with plenty of volume room.
 
Tried direct comparison (volume matched of course) with NFB-12 and A200p
 
End result - just my opinion - when level matched, an amp does not help at all.
 
EDIT : reread your post.  Not sure if you are saying the UE6000 does not need amping or it does - your post is not clear ......

Oh hmm I see what you mean ehh do you know what air quotes are, it's a figure of speech here in the US. WHen I'm typing and I put something in "quotes" I mean to imply sarcasim. SO the logitech ue 6000 sounds "better" out of my hm 901 than my iPod
 
by putting better in Quotes, I mean to use a sarcastic tone or to down play the meaning of the word. Since the UE 6000 sounds the same with like everything 

  OP - just a thought, but this thread might really help you out.  Some of the headphones you mentioned are included in Peter's table already.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/672743/comparisons-23-of-the-top-closed-portable-headphones-around

 

[TrollDragon]

  Oh hmm I see what you mean ehh do you know what air quotes are, it's a figure of speech here in the US. WHen I'm typing and I put something in "quotes" I mean to imply sarcasim. SO the logitech ue 6000 sounds "better" out of my hm 901 than my iPod
 
by putting better in Quotes, I mean to use a sarcastic tone or to down play the meaning of the word. Since the UE 6000 sounds the same with like everything 

No it is just BAD punctuation... You should always write out what you are implying.
 
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/punctuation-errors-quotation-marks-for-emphasis/

 

[Makiah S]

  No it is just BAD punctuation... You should always write out what you are implying.
 
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/punctuation-errors-quotation-marks-for-emphasis/

Well thanks for the advice, I have a bad habbit of writing how I speak 
 
but the Captials aren't nessicary man :/ 

 

[jmorgan127]

First, let me thank everyone for jumping in.  Great discussion.
 
I saw a few questions and comments that I want to try and answer.  I will try not to miss any.
 
First question.... Did I match by ear or SPL?  By ear, and I can tell you that it was a long day of auditioning so my ears were getting pretty fatigued so I certainly could have been off.
 
An additional Note .... I went ahead and installed "Boom" on my Macbook Air.  Mostly because of the ability to EQ vs. pushing more signal through the port.  Boom has two settings, one for straight up amplification, and the other for EQ, they can be set independently.  It does mention a "cleaner" sound on the web site but I could not find anything about how it was cleaned up so i figured it was just marketing.    
 
The result ...
1) With Boom Off... flat sound, good but not exciting... had to push the power almost to the edge to get something to come alive and even then stayed a little flat even though it ware really loud at that point....
2)  With the Amplification Turned on (and then volume turned down to match SPL) ... Much more alive better response and clearer sound all around even at what seemed like lower output SPLs then before... Again balanced with Ears....  All around very happy with the sound the....
3) Finally turned the EQ on pulled up the low and high into a subtle V and really got to "My sound".  Loved the 940s bass very clean and tight and went much lower than I remember.  The highs clear and tight too (see below)  Note that that last step was fun, but not necessary to get what I thought was very alive sound.  I literally had to go back and forth several times to see if I really liked the EQ on or off.  But definitely needed the "amplification" on to get the phones to come alive.
 
Second .... I would not be at all surprised if the Mryrad put a bit of a curve on the sound to liven up the 940s.  That was actually part of my original question (thought I might not have said it well).  An interesting question would be if that is the case would the Schiit Vali but a fun thing to test as the Tubes should be a bit of a Warmer sound (never tried tubes but that is what I hear).  The amp drives quad 22L speakers, I often wonder if this setup is a bit too warm.
 
Third ... I never really had a problem with the volume level on the 5s (at least not for my 940s) they just did not seem to have that umph.  Loud but not clean (see below)
 
Last ... One thing that I definitely seem to notice (but am willing to consider that I just convince myself of) is that amplified the 940s seem to bet much crisper.  One of my test tracks is Florence and the Machine - No light, at around 1:35 - 1:55 there is a section with a harp, some background strings, heavy drums, the whole 9 yards.  Unamped (and in many of the headphones at the lower end of my list), the harp notes are there, but you can't hear the "pluck" of the strings, the strings come on, but they are not clear, and the drums overpower the voice (guessing that for a Florence song, the voice is definitely what should be highlighted), background vocals which are a much lower registry than Florence almost disappear completely.   BUT when amped, even with Boom and no EQ, you hear everything, the drums are clear but at the right level, the notes on the harps are crips, the string section is much more fluid and the voice comes out to the front.  I don't see how that could be caused by a EQ curve as the effect is that all areas of the spectrum are equally clearer.  I would expect a EQ curve to bring the emphasized area forward (and it does when I but the BOOM EQ on), but it seems to get cleaner across the entire spectrum not just where I push up the gain in the EQ.   Thoughts???
 
Thanks again.  This is hugely helpful.

 

[jmorgan127]

A couple of quick notes on my long post I just posted .....
 
What I say Flat... I mean a bit boring, not flat curve... I highly value a flat curve... Though I like a little more base, i would rather add that than the phones adding it.
 
The clearer thing I mention at the end is "Last" happens from both my Myryad and my MackBook Air with Boom.  Have not tried it on a dedicated headphone AMP but I don't want to give the impression that it only seems to happen through boom
 
Jeff

 

[dudlew]

Well I will say this...... The headphone out of my ipod touch 3g is horrible, and the Galaxy headphone out is a bit anemic as well. So all of my headphones benifit from bypassing the headphone amp in MY devices, from the beyer DT235 to my 7520. So I would say that in some cases, the amp does make a difference. Maybe in the later ipod or iphone models the amp is better implemented but not with my two portable sources. 

 

[Brooko]

@jmorgan127
 
To our ear (and brain) louder correlates to better.  Easiest test you can do is take your 940's out of your 5S and bump the volume.  Common thoughts when volume is not accurately matched - the louder signal sounds:
* more vibrant
* bigger soundstage
* more presence
* instruments are crisper
etc.
 
However at the same time - if you're convinced that amping is giving you that - then buy an amp.  Grab a Fiio E07K.  It's cheap, outputs clean power,and has a subtle sub-bass boost (which will help the 940s).  For $60, if it makes you happier - go for it 

.

 

[Makiah S]

  @jmorgan127
 
To our ear (and brain) louder correlates to better.  Easiest test you can do is take your 940's out of your 5S and bump the volume.  Common thoughts when volume is not accurately matched - the louder signal sounds:
* more vibrant
* bigger soundstage
* more presence
* instruments are crisper
etc.
 
However at the same time - if you're convinced that amping is giving you that - then buy an amp.  Grab a Fiio E07K.  It's cheap, outputs clean power,and has a subtle sub-bass boost (which will help the 940s).  For $60, if it makes you happier - go for it 

.

I think that statement is subjective, too loud for me is not better. It's worse, it's cumbersome and it hurts at times, while I agree volume matching when comparing is important, loud is not always better not when headphones are as imperfect as they are 
 
how ever brooko brings up a good point, some amps can color headphones. You have a headphone with out much bass, an amp witha  bass boost can add what's missing to that headphone. Espically in the low end amps are nice for balanceing out the overall sound 

 

[Brooko]

  I think that statement is subjective, too loud for me is not better

 
I'm not talking too loud - I'm talking slightly louder.  And it's not subjective old son, it's common physiology - unless you're telling me you're not human 

 (I kid, I kid).
 
Simple really.  Listen with any headphone at a very low listening level.  Then listen again with a slight bump in volume.  Which sounds better ....... ?

 

[Muinarc]

It's hard to discuss soft, loud, too loud, and really really loud through the internet.

 

[Makiah S]

It's hard to discuss soft, loud, too loud, and really really loud through the internet.

exactly there is no guide line on "loud" which is why we level match things when we do interenet stuff 

 

[jmorgan127]

Thanks, I will try it again with an Spl (app on iPhone lr iPad whichever I am not using for audio source) and rule out or in effects from louder play.



Jeff