Headphone impedance and amplifier

[ectogemia]

Haigh. So I'm about to upgrade my headphones, and I've got my eye on the Beyerdynamic DT-880 Pro and the DT-880 Premium models. The major difference between the two is the impedance. According to the product description of the Premium model on amazon, the higher impedance leads to improved clarity and dynamics, blah, blah.

So my first question is has anyone found that higher impedance headphones have any clarity or response advantages compared to lower impedance headphones?

Now comes the trade-off of higher impedance, that a more powerful headphone amp is needed to achieve the same output as a lower impedance headphone. I have a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 audio interface into which I plug my current pair of headphones.

Aaaand my second question is being that I know shit-all about audio specs, do you think that interface can generate enough juice to get, say, a 600 Ohm pair of headphones to be decently loud?

[Iostream]

I haven't used the DT-880 before but impedence is only part of the equation. I use AKG K701 and Q701 which are fairly low impedence, but notoriously hard to drive. My experience with the Scarlett interfaces (2i2) is that they don't have a ton of oomph in the headphone amp. At max volume, they would not touch my mixer at 50%, and nowhere close to my headphone amp at 25%. I have heard good things about the 880s, but you might be looking at a headphone amp either way. Or even a basic mixer board with a good headphone section.

[ectogemia]

I haven't used the DT-880 before but impedence is only part of the equation. I use AKG K701 and Q701 which are fairly low impedence, but notoriously hard to drive. My experience with the Scarlett interfaces (2i2) is that they don't have a ton of oomph in the headphone amp. At max volume, they would not touch my mixer at 50%, and nowhere close to my headphone amp at 25%. I have heard good things about the 880s, but you might be looking at a headphone amp either way. Or even a basic mixer board with a good headphone section.

Nice, thanks for the response, man. I agree that the headphone amp within my interface is pretty weak. My current pair of headphones has 63 Ohms of impedance, and the pair I'm looking at has nearly 10x as much impedance o_O Looks like I may be tacking a headphone amp onto this purchase ;(

I was also looking at the AKG K701's. What do you like/dislike most about those?

[Iostream]

I was also looking at the AKG K701's. What do you like/dislike most about those?

I was looking for a second set of headphones and bought the Q701s after 8 years with these if that says anything. The are crystal clear, I can tell exactly where in a mix things are off. Many people consider them to be bass shy, but I find that they just are not bass heavy. You can hear a 30Hz hit just fine, on some systems which push more EQ into the low frequencies, they seem shy, but they match up with my monitoring set up well, which is within 3db from 26Hz - 20kHZ+.

My only real complaint is that there is a break in period. I never believed it when I bought my K701s, but when I bought my Q701s which are supposed to be the exact same headphone, they sounded different to me. I let them play for about a week without listening and they suddenly were in line with the K701s.

They are harder to drive than the specs would suggest. But I have driven them with everything from my mixing board to high end headphone amps over the years (Schiit Lyr, Meier Aria, Peachtree Decco). They do sound slightly better on the Lyr or Decco, but you are well beyond diminishing returns at that point. The mixing board is fine, the Scarlett 2i2 is not recommended.

At this point, I listen for pleasure to the Q701s driven by the Peachtree Decco, I listen to record/mix/check my master on the K701s driven by the Yamaha mixer.

[Moseph]

I use AKG K702s (basically the same thing as K701s) and can vouch both for the burn-in period and the difficulty in driving them. I run from an E-MU 0404 USB interface without a separate headphone amp, and I sometimes can't get a loud enough level when listening to things that are mastered at a very high dynamic range (e.g. certain types of classical music, some movies). It hasn't been enough of an issue to force me to get a headphone amp, though.

Edited May 17, 2013 by Moseph

[dannthr]

Don't forget that a headphone amp passes signal, you will want something of quality (especially since you're going to be adding to the signal).