"Norman Schwartz" wrote in message


"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...
"Steve" wrote in message


Hi, I am looking for an amp that can go with the Sennheiser 580
headphones that I recently ordered. I have been reading somewhere
that they need amps to work properly on cd players, computers, and
other equipment.

You can read all sorts of weird things. This story about 580's
needing headphone amps is probably based on the fact that their
impedance is about 10 times that of most other phones. IME, high
impedance or not, I plug them into standard headphone jacks all
over the place and just work.

Let's go down a partial list of places I use my 580s

- The headphone jack on the little integrated amp I use with my TV
- Nomad 2
- Nomad Jukebox 3
- Panasonic portable CD player
- RCA cassette/FM (recent power outage)
- SoundBlaster Audigy OEM (low output) sound card in this PC
- Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card in another PC
- LynxTWO sound card


Most of the headphone's use will be on my computer
when I am at the university listening to music, movies and games. So
I was wondering if anyone can recommend an amp to get?

IME headphone amps are needed with 580's in only exceptional cases.

And hey, I'm not speaking from total ignorance here. I have a Rane
headphone amp but it just isn't necessary with most of my uses of
the 580

I don't want
to spend too much money, but then again I don't want to buy a piece
of junk. So if anyone can recommend an amp I'd really appreciate it.

Before you spend money you don't need to spend, plug 'em in and see
how they work for you.

I like things on the loud side, and I use my 580s with every kind of
device you've mentioned, all by themselves.

I don't believe anyone should be listening to these, or other good
headphones, via crappy headphone jacks.

Of course you have every right to believe what you will, but how do your
beliefs apply to others?

They should instead by powered by a decent headphone amp receiving signal
from equipment's
audio/tape outputs.

Which begs the question why then are so many people putting crappy headphone
jacks on relatively pricey equipment like Nomad Jukeboxes and iPods?

I've discussing this problem in another thread on rec.audio.tech, and
obtained what I find to be a key admission from another headphone amp
proponent.

There's apparently this widespread belief that turning volume controls up
much over 50% (12 o'clock) is *always* a bad thing. Ironically, half-way on
a log control is something like 20 dB or more below maximum gain, which is
quite a bit less than full output.

In fact, the usual case I've found in testing headphone jacks on personal
portable equipment is that the equipment doesn't clip or just barely clips
when the volume control is at 100%. I've seen some exceptions, but I'd go so
far as to say this is a general rule with some exceptions, rather than an
exceptional case.

Given the widespread concern about people damaging their ears with
headphones, building equipment so that 100% volume settings would correspond
to maximum practical loudness makes sense. If you leave 20 dB or reserve
gain, there's ample opportunity for people to damage their ears.

This is counter-intuitive for people experienced with most car and home
systems that often start clipping when the volume control is advanced past
about 1 or 2 o'clock.

I've run into similar feelings among people who have problems using
so-called passive preamps with CD players and power amps. Most CD players
put out 2 volts or more. Most power amps start clipping with 1.5 volts or
less input. It should always work, but you just might have to turn the
volume up to 100% (5 o'clock) to get full output. And frankly, some people
tolerate some clipping when they listen loud.