Post by Rabbit on Jan 15, 2017 10:07:13 GMT
I often get a really pleasant surprise when I connect a low impedance headphone to an amp. In actual fact, moreso with low impedance than high which is not what we are led to expect. We are often told that such and such a headphone is low impedance and very sensitive so it doesn't 'need' an amp.
My experiences with the Polaris and low impedance headphones doesn't seem to show that if I'm honest.
Differences can be very subtle, but there's a more positive 'feel' to the sound and dare I say, more control over bass. At least, that's what I think I hear. Kind of like the drivers have become quicker in their response to transients and better etched.
With the old AT a9 headphone that I've just swapped the pads out on, I felt that the edginess has now left and they no longer sound like typical Audio Technica headphones. By that, I mean that they're less treble etched and have a deeper sounding bass. The K550 pads are close (ish) to the silly AT ones which were desperately thin on the surface and so prone to rips.
So I have a fuller sounding headphone which has retained a really lovely mids presence as well but gained in the bottom end for some reason so that the whole spectrum has shifted slightly towards the bass end. In effect, it has made the a9 into a really beautiful listen.
It also has pretty decent drivers although the headphone is low impedance. I know they're down at 32 or 40 ohms but they are pretty sensitive for such big drivers and so a commonly said thing is that an amp isn't needed with them.
They are sensitive and can be driven by low power devices but on the Polaris, they take off. They still need a little volume as well. I have the Polaris on low power but high sensitivity on the input to keep noise to a minimum. I'm guessing that they actually need quite a bit of current which could well be their downfall on low power devices. They work fine, but for peaks etc, they actually might be drawing a higher level of current which means the Polaris when it supplies a proper current makes it positively sing. Perhaps lower powered devices work, but when a demand is put on the device for proper bass, the devices really aren't supplying enough current for them?
The new pads certainly have revived my a9, which I have always liked but most of the time, I have used it with portable amps tbh. Now with these pads, I'm getting a new level of 'thunder' from them being driven by a Polaris, which almost seems like using a canon when an air rifle is needed.
Perhaps some of these lower impedance headphones are actually more demanding than many would have you believe and are not so easy to drive due to different reasons. I'd be guessing that the amp needs to be able to deliver high levels of current and although the headphones work, they aren't actually being driven properly?
I had this years back when I bought (I think Mission) 4 ohm speakers. They worked fine on my set up until I turned up. On loud peaks, to me they sounded almost compressed as though the recording engineers had compressed the hell out of the loudest levels. In those days, I had three set ups in different rooms, so putting the same recording onto a set up with some floorstanders rated at 8 ohms, the recording got its bite back on peaks. At first, I suspected the amp and had it checked. No problem there so I thought maybe the speakers were damaged. (Both)
As a last check, I connected them to a way bigger amp that was connected to my floorspeakers and they sang beautifully. It turns out that the amp was going into clipping on peaks due to the lower impedance of the speakers and therefore the current drain was too much at higher volume.
I now wonder whether the very same happens with low impedance headphones. We hear noises from the amp more with them but we are less likely to hear the effect I'm describing unless volumes go up or you are sensitive to mild 'clipping like' effects on peaks. In order to detect it, I do think you need to be quite analytical and therefore not listen to the music really .... but the quality of peaks in loud sections and whether they start to sound rough, or even edgy.
As an example ....
Bass guitars seem better defined in thick mixes.
No peak compression or distortion unless the idiot who mixed it out it there. (In some cases, it is actually there ...)
Fast double hits on bass drums can be easily heard and don't sound like a single hit.
The general feeling of recordings seems more 'relaxed'.
The sound 'seems' cleaner overall.
Once you feel that the tops are clean, you can relax and just listen to the music though!!! I am a bit OCD about these kinds of things sometimes, but I have noticed this quite a lot with the msr7 and now the ath-a9.
Answer ..... get a higher powered amp with a low power option?
My experiences with the Polaris and low impedance headphones doesn't seem to show that if I'm honest.
Differences can be very subtle, but there's a more positive 'feel' to the sound and dare I say, more control over bass. At least, that's what I think I hear. Kind of like the drivers have become quicker in their response to transients and better etched.
With the old AT a9 headphone that I've just swapped the pads out on, I felt that the edginess has now left and they no longer sound like typical Audio Technica headphones. By that, I mean that they're less treble etched and have a deeper sounding bass. The K550 pads are close (ish) to the silly AT ones which were desperately thin on the surface and so prone to rips.
So I have a fuller sounding headphone which has retained a really lovely mids presence as well but gained in the bottom end for some reason so that the whole spectrum has shifted slightly towards the bass end. In effect, it has made the a9 into a really beautiful listen.
It also has pretty decent drivers although the headphone is low impedance. I know they're down at 32 or 40 ohms but they are pretty sensitive for such big drivers and so a commonly said thing is that an amp isn't needed with them.
They are sensitive and can be driven by low power devices but on the Polaris, they take off. They still need a little volume as well. I have the Polaris on low power but high sensitivity on the input to keep noise to a minimum. I'm guessing that they actually need quite a bit of current which could well be their downfall on low power devices. They work fine, but for peaks etc, they actually might be drawing a higher level of current which means the Polaris when it supplies a proper current makes it positively sing. Perhaps lower powered devices work, but when a demand is put on the device for proper bass, the devices really aren't supplying enough current for them?
The new pads certainly have revived my a9, which I have always liked but most of the time, I have used it with portable amps tbh. Now with these pads, I'm getting a new level of 'thunder' from them being driven by a Polaris, which almost seems like using a canon when an air rifle is needed.
Perhaps some of these lower impedance headphones are actually more demanding than many would have you believe and are not so easy to drive due to different reasons. I'd be guessing that the amp needs to be able to deliver high levels of current and although the headphones work, they aren't actually being driven properly?
I had this years back when I bought (I think Mission) 4 ohm speakers. They worked fine on my set up until I turned up. On loud peaks, to me they sounded almost compressed as though the recording engineers had compressed the hell out of the loudest levels. In those days, I had three set ups in different rooms, so putting the same recording onto a set up with some floorstanders rated at 8 ohms, the recording got its bite back on peaks. At first, I suspected the amp and had it checked. No problem there so I thought maybe the speakers were damaged. (Both)
As a last check, I connected them to a way bigger amp that was connected to my floorspeakers and they sang beautifully. It turns out that the amp was going into clipping on peaks due to the lower impedance of the speakers and therefore the current drain was too much at higher volume.
I now wonder whether the very same happens with low impedance headphones. We hear noises from the amp more with them but we are less likely to hear the effect I'm describing unless volumes go up or you are sensitive to mild 'clipping like' effects on peaks. In order to detect it, I do think you need to be quite analytical and therefore not listen to the music really .... but the quality of peaks in loud sections and whether they start to sound rough, or even edgy.
As an example ....
Bass guitars seem better defined in thick mixes.
No peak compression or distortion unless the idiot who mixed it out it there. (In some cases, it is actually there ...)
Fast double hits on bass drums can be easily heard and don't sound like a single hit.
The general feeling of recordings seems more 'relaxed'.
The sound 'seems' cleaner overall.
Once you feel that the tops are clean, you can relax and just listen to the music though!!! I am a bit OCD about these kinds of things sometimes, but I have noticed this quite a lot with the msr7 and now the ath-a9.
Answer ..... get a higher powered amp with a low power option?