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The Official 'i Just Bought...' Thread


kingdingeling

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LG Tone Pro so I don't send my brother's tablet flying with my corded earphones when on the treadmill haha.

 

Impulse bought an used JDS Labs CMOYBB v2.03 headphone amp and 9v charger with 2 batteries.

What benefit is the headphone amp? I know I'm not an audiophile but I can't see the need for such a thing unless your headphones, which at the price I've seen they better be...

 

Just seems like alot of hassle to manage and carry around to me

Edited by IVIYTH0S

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Well the short answer is some headphones, especially older headphones and high end headphones are very power hungry by design. A low powered mobile device often do not have the power to run nice headphones to there full potential. Some amps like the one AZNguyen bought have a Bass Boost or other EQ features. They can also extend the battery life of your mobile device because your device wont be working as hard to produce a high voltage output signal (you can set your players volume very low and just turn up the amp).

 

Long answer, I am not an expert but I know enough to be dangerous. 

 

An under powered headphone will sound anemic and will lack bass and volume to the point where a cheap easy to drive headphone will sound much better on the same low powered device, like a cell phone or mp3 player. Apple products especially the Ipod Classics actually have very powerful amplifiers in them compared to many other devices but still will have trouble running headphones over 300ohm impedance or other power hungry headphones. Generally, headphones for mobile usage range from 16-70ohms of impedance.

 

True studio headphones are meant to be plugged into powerful mixers and amplifiers and NEED to be very high impedance to not kerplode when you try to use them. These headphones usually carry an impedance of 500-1500 and require beefy amplifiers to work properly. They are the product of the amplifier, not the other way around.

 

They are also necessary if you are running an DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) for the added sound quality. Many of them do not have an amplifier built in and need amplification to turn a signal into usable power. 

 

All but one of the headphones I own or have owned did not require an amplifier to sound good. Almost all headphones you will see for sale at a store are designed to run well off of low powered amplifiers. 

 

Edit:Sorry if I hijacked the question AZNguyen.

 

Edited by GabrielTessin

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What benefit is the headphone amp?

 

Providing more juice to harder drive earphone/headphones. Ex. Plugging in a mid-high range headphone into a phone or mp3 players and having to jack up the volume to get anything decent. Puts less stress on the source device and saves battery life too.  Bought it use whenever I want to use my main headphones away from my computer. Also like the look of it too.

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