[# Fred #]

"Mike Rivers" wrote in message
oups.com...

# Fred # wrote:

My portable CD player has both
output and a headphone jacks and when I adjust the sound level on the
headphone jack to the same level as on the line out and connected to RCA
input on the Audigy the results were surprisingly different. On the CD
player via the headphone jack, the record level on the Audigy didn't
register at all but on the line out the record level is at 40%

This was a case of impedance mismatching, or rather, impedance
matching. Headphones require some power but a line input (on your
Audigy) requires only voltage and negligiable current. So the line
output actually drops quite a bit when you plug in the headphones. A
headphone output has a lower source impedance, so the voltage doesn't
drop very much when connected to headphones, which are a lower
impedance load than your Audigy input.

When you matched the apparent level in the phones by adjusting the
volume control on your CD player, you probably turned it down quite a
bit. Can you turn the headphone volume up far enough to match the
record level you're getting when you connect the line output to your
Audigy?

Yes

If your Audigy has a mic level input, that might be a better match for
a wimpy headphone output than the line input.


The mic input looks like it has a different equalization circuit as it only
gets more distorted but not louder when the gain on the mike input is turned
up.