Headphone Specs Explained (2017)
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Headphone Specs Explained (2017)
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Re: Headphone Specs Explained (2017)
#2Something alluded to but not said explicitly is that specs don’t tell you if an audio product is “good.” Very few people can look at a spec sheet for any product and tell you if it’s “good” or “better” than something else. You need to listen to it.
Impedance/sensitivity just tell you how well it will play with your system. Stuff like “high impedance == more clarity” is snake oil.
I say this as a former pro audio specialist who has read and possibly written a bit of snake oil in their time.
Headphone specs are not straight up horseshit like the rest of their product page, but they are next to useless. Take your daily driver and a reference track you know and listen to the cans before you buy them.
Re: Headphone Specs Explained (2017)
#3>Why is this important? Because the higher the number in front of the Ω symbol, the more power-hungry the headphones will be.
The opposite really. The higher the impedance the less power they will consume for a particular input voltage.
Re: Headphone Specs Explained (2017)
#4>Why is this important? Because the higher the number in front of the Ω symbol, the more power-hungry the headphones will be. The opposite really. The higher the impedance the less power they will consume for a particular input voltage.
What is meant is this: if your headphones have high impedance, you need more input voltage to drive them to a given power level.
That's why lower-impedance headphones are used for mobile phones, and only "real" audio gear is used with higher impedance.
For example, the Beyerdynamic DT-880 is sold in three versions: 32 Ohm, 250 Ohm and 600 Ohm. The 600 Ohm on an iPhone won't make you happy.
Re: Headphone Specs Explained (2017)
#5In addition to understanding impedance and sensitivity, doing actual tests of the headphones to see how they match up with your hearing and tastes is important (and getting harder to do with high end headphones). I personally use the following:
Re: Headphone Specs Explained (2017)
#6Is there something equivalent for computer parts as in "computer parts specs explained"? Like it should explain how to choose a processor/RAM/(I/O)/battery and other components which make up a computer.
Re: Headphone Specs Explained (2017)
#7>Why is this important? Because the higher the number in front of the Ω symbol, the more power-hungry the headphones will be. The opposite really. The higher the impedance the less power they will consume for a particular input voltage.
What is meant is this: if your headphones have high impedance, you need more input voltage to drive them to a given power level. That's why lower-impedance headphones are used for mobile phones, and only "real" audio gear is used with higher impedance. For example, the Beyerdynamic DT-880 is sold in three versions: 32 Ohm, 250 Ohm and 600 Ohm. The 600 Ohm on an iPhone won't make you happy.
>For example, the Beyerdynamic DT-880 is sold in three versions: 32 Ohm, 250 Ohm and 600 Ohm.
But which one is better? Should I go for a lower impedance or higher impedance?
Re: Headphone Specs Explained (2017)
#8Inner Fidelity has some useful data for various (mostly expensive but not all) headphones. The frequency response graph is particularly helpful.
https://www.innerfidelity.com/headphone-measurements
I like my NAD VISO HP50.
Re: Headphone Specs Explained (2017)
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is meant is this: if your headphones have high impedance, you need more input voltage to drive them to a given power level. That's why lower-impedance headphones are used for mobile phones, and only "real" audio gear is used with higher impedance. For example, the Beyerdynamic DT-880 is sold in three versions: 32 Ohm, 250 Ohm and 600 Ohm. The 600 Ohm on an iPhone won't make you happy.
>For example, the Beyerdynamic DT-880 is sold in three versions: 32 Ohm, 250 Ohm and 600 Ohm. But which one is better? Should I go for a lower impedance or higher impedance?
The first thing you need to do is get one that matches your audio output.
In "theory", you get higher impedance as a result of thinner/lighter wires in your voice coil, which "could" result in better sound reproduction.
In practice, I don't think that's really relevant for most usecases (in any case, you would have to measure the performance of the specific hardware anyways). So the most important thing is just get something that your output driver can handle.
Re: Headphone Specs Explained (2017)
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is meant is this: if your headphones have high impedance, you need more input voltage to drive them to a given power level. That's why lower-impedance headphones are used for mobile phones, and only "real" audio gear is used with higher impedance. For example, the Beyerdynamic DT-880 is sold in three versions: 32 Ohm, 250 Ohm and 600 Ohm. The 600 Ohm on an iPhone won't make you happy.
>For example, the Beyerdynamic DT-880 is sold in three versions: 32 Ohm, 250 Ohm and 600 Ohm. But which one is better? Should I go for a lower impedance or higher impedance?
If you don't have an extra amp, you'll probably not want the 600. The safe bet is the 32, anything can drive that, including your phone.
Traditional wisdom is that higher-impedance models have better sound, but at least I wouldn't be able to hear that, and there is a certain bias in that comparison, because higher impedance models are bought by audiophiles, so companies cannot cut too many corners there.