GM3
Active Member
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2022
- Messages
- 149
- Likes
- 167
Ah ok, yeah I misinterpreted some comments about the Expanse being hard to drive..I'm sure the Expanse will run fine off something like a Schiit Magni. Most amps can handle 23 Ohms easily.
The issue with my Aeons is that they are only 12 Ohms and most budget amps just fall apart below 16 Ohms.
They just can't provide enough current and you get a lot less power compared to 16 or 32 Ohm loads.
1W just isn't enough for insensitive headphones like the Aeons.
All of that doesn't matter for the Stealth/ Expanse though; even budget amps like the Topping L70 will provide more than 5W at 23 Ohms
But yeah the Magni at $110 is rated 16 ohms: 2.8W RMS per channel, and the Magnius at $200 bucks 16 ohms: 6.0W RMS per channel. So the entire notion that you need to spend 2000 bucks on amp these days sees far fetched. Wouldn't even the Magni at nearly 3W be ok with Aeons? Or Magius at worse? Anyway, $600 bucks schiit had 9W, which at that point should be able to drive pretty much anything...!
Hell, from ASR:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/topping-l70-headphone-amp-review.39767/
Weird, "low impedance and insensitive headphone which breaks the back of many headphone amplifiers.". Maybe there's something I don't understand about impedance....!Topping L70 Listening Tests
I started testing with my Dan Clark Expanse headphone using XLR connection. This is a low impedance and insensitive headphone which breaks the back of many headphone amplifiers. Not here. The L70 dominated it like nobody's business. In high gain, I did not dare to get anywhere near the max volume. There was so much power that it drove the right channel of the headphone into crackling with bass notes. Mind you, this was *at extremely* high volume level. Way past threshold of comfort. Yet, the L70 had more power left on the volume control! The sound and overall experience was exceptional with super detail and dynamics.
https://www.headphonesty.com/2019/04/headphone-impedance-demystified/
"No wonder it is difficult to imagine what the results will be when we consider pairing headphones with a source. We can make educated guesses based on the specifications, but until you try it, you can never really be sure."
Headphone impedance is typically rated between 8-600 ohms, with a standard around 32 ohms becoming increasingly common. Audio source impedance is typically very low, often less than 4 ohms and approaching 0 ohms in many cases, but it may be as high as 120 ohms or more for specialized tube amplifiers, specifically output transformer-less (OTL) types.
In general, low impedance headphones (which we will hereby define as below 50 ohms) are designed to work properly with portable devices, as they can efficiently reproduce adequate sound quality and volume from a low voltage device.
Conversely, high impedance headphones (50 ohms and greater) usually require robust amplification to perform their best.
"No wonder it is difficult to imagine what the results will be when we consider pairing headphones with a source. We can make educated guesses based on the specifications, but until you try it, you can never really be sure."
To further complicate things, there is little consistency in headphone design with regards to impedance and sensitivity (even within a single manufacturer). There are low impedance headphones that are very inefficient and vice versa. Models with low sensitivity and low impedance. Other that are low sensitivity, but high impedance. High sensitivity, low impedance. Etc.
High Source Impedance and Low Headphone Impedance Problems
There are real issues with the combination of high source output impedance and low headphone impedance. While often only found in the extremes of OTL tube amplification, this scenario creates higher harmonic distortion and noise, a low damping factor, and bass roll-off.
Last edited: