Fray Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 Okay, so I have 64 ohm headphones that I'm plugging into a my mixer headphone output, which is something around 150 ohm. I was under the impression that the input impedance was supposed to be greater than or equal to the output impedance, in which case I have things backwards. Am I risking that I'll fry my headphones or my mixer? I have noticed that the headphone sound seems a little wonky -- it leans to the right, especially at very low volumes. And I need those low volumes since the headphone impedance is so darn low. Someone please clue me in on how this stuff works Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzumebachi Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 it leans to the right, especially at very low volumes. Hmm... now that you mention it, mine do the exact same thing. What kind of headphones are you using? Mine are AKG K240S, which are 55 ohms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jagori Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 If the headphones' impedance is really low, then the amp could potentially run out of 'juice,' leading to a weak, thin sound if your amp isn't strong enough to put out the current needed. That alone won't wreck anything, but if you crank it to try to get more volume, it'll distort, and that's what wrecks the speakers. That being said, 64 ohms isn't really that low. My AKG K271s are 55 ohms, and they work just fine through a portable CD player or Edirol UA-25. Start quiet and slowly turn up the volume, and see if it distorts before it gets to the volume you want. If it does, then you'll probably want a dedicated headphone amp. If not, I think you're good to go. As for it leaning to the right, I don't really know what to suggest there. I've had strange audio issues at very low volumes before, but they were amp circuit issues like the left channel ramping up slightly before the right, which was significant at that volume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fray Posted February 22, 2007 Author Share Posted February 22, 2007 Hmm... now that you mention it, mine do the exact same thing. What kind of headphones are you using? Mine are AKG K240S, which are 55 ohms. Sennheiser HD 280 pro 64 ohm. What are you plugging yours into? If the headphones' impedance is really low, then the amp could potentially run out of 'juice,' leading to a weak, thin sound if your amp isn't strong enough to put out the current needed. That alone won't wreck anything, but if you crank it to try to get more volume, it'll distort, and that's what wrecks the speakers.That being said, 64 ohms isn't really that low. My AKG K271s are 55 ohms, and they work just fine through a portable CD player or Edirol UA-25. Start quiet and slowly turn up the volume, and see if it distorts before it gets to the volume you want. If it does, then you'll probably want a dedicated headphone amp. If not, I think you're good to go. As for it leaning to the right, I don't really know what to suggest there. I've had strange audio issues at very low volumes before, but they were amp circuit issues like the left channel ramping up slightly before the right, which was significant at that volume. Thanks for the explanation. They aren't distorting in the least when I turn them up (at least not as far as I can tell) -- it's just too loud for my poor widdle ears. As for amp circuits ramping up faster on one channel than the other, that sounds exactly like what's happening. I think the headphone/control room circuit on my mixer (Behringer ub1622fx-pro) might just be kinda cheap or something. Either that or it's slightly broken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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