KVR Audio

Lunatique · Post by **Lunatique** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:17 am

http://www.headphone.com/products/headphone-amps/

These headphone amp products cost more than most highend audiophile headphones. Do they really make a difference in what you hear?

pilgrim_heart · Post by **pilgrim_heart** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:41 am

Well, maybe if you exclusively listen to stuff from those audiophile record companies who refuse to have anything to do with compressors etc. and just want everything recorded straight to tape. For the rest of us I kind of doubt that there'll be much difference from any reasonably good headphone amp.

OTOH, if you spend that much money on a headphone amp you probably will hear a difference, if for no other reason than that you'd get an awful urge to do yourself in if it doesn't sound better and so you're just gonna have to convince yourself that it does.

The Chase · Post by **The Chase** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 10:43 pm

Depends on the headphones.

mandolarian · Post by **mandolarian** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:07 pm

Do headphone amps really make a difference?
If you are headphones.com it might make a big to your bottom line.

$3999.00 on a headphone amp. Seems reasonable. You can't buy a decent pair of headphones for that kind of money. Oh, wait. You can. But can you put a price on snobbery?

Spe3D · Post by **Spe3D** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:13 pm

I thought headphone amps were for the impedance impaired (ie trying to run more than one high impedance studio headphone out of one socket that could not otherwise cope – also things like conference setups etc. plus if you try and use a studio grade headphone from the out of a low grade mixer or sound card) otherwise I don’t see any benefit considering the hearing range (and you don’t really want to be blasting stuff into your ears with wide frequency ranged headphones as they will be pumping frequencies you cannot hear at possibly high volume causing even faster fatigue and possibly hearing damage).

Best regards,

Spe3d

:O)

Left Headphone · Post by **Left Headphone** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:16 pm

go with a samson or a presonus amp...

orangenut · Post by **orangenut** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:31 pm

I think it makes a difference up to a point, beyond that its daylight robbery.

I've been looking for an amp to drive a pair of 250ohm Beyers, but haven't seen any below fifty bucks. So maybe it's just a headphone amp thing??

deaf dunderkwac · Post by **deaf dunderkwac** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:39 pm

orangenut wrote:I think it makes a difference up to a point, beyond that its daylight robbery.

I've been looking for an amp to drive a pair of 250ohm Beyers, but haven't seen any below fifty bucks. So maybe it's just a headphone amp thing??

Has to do with the voltage available to drive the headphones. The 32 ohm headphones are great for use on a low-voltage (like whats in most commercial and PC products) headphone output. The higher-impedence headphones require alot more voltage. Your 250 ohm headsets could use an amp capable of providing at least 25 volts.
Personally, I'd get different headphones, but you could spend the bigbucks on a 100w @ 8 ohm stereo receiver to drive it.

And lets b careful in reading on what I'm saying... This isn't a 'power' thing... it's a 'voltage' thing.

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:40 pm

I think you have to be damn careful with headphone amps, some have more power then say a mixers phone output...you can already do damage with the standard output of phone jacks. The reason of course is so at the same volume the one with more power will sound better then the other at the same listening level. However it is very easy to get use to it louder and damage your ears before you realize it...I urge caution...