Do you think there will be a change in the sound of the headphones?

[gurkancalban]

I have the Audient id4 mk2 audio interface. I'm thinking of getting a pair of open-back headphones for my mixing work and have my eye on the hifiman headphones.But I have a problem. I see that the headphone output impedance of my audio interface is 22 (in Julian Krause's table), but the headphone I will buy is HiFiman Edition XS and has 16 ohms. Will there be any change in the sound? Do I need to look at a different model?

 

[Blumlein 88]

Planar headphones like that have an impedance that changes very little with frequency. So it won't alter the frequency response due to the output impedance of the Audient. It will reduce the output level by about 7 db. Whether this is enough to be a problem I don't quite know. The Audient also has a very low power output at low impedances. So it might be okay looking at the sensitivity of these phones. It might be borderline however. I wouldn't rule it out and I also cannot say for sure it will be okay. You could add one of the JDS labs headphone amps for not a huge amount of money.

 

[gurkancalban]

Planar headphones like this have an impedance that changes very little with frequency. So it won't change the frequency response due to the output impedance of the Audient. It will reduce the output level by about 7 dB. Whether that's enough to be a problem, I don't know. The Audient also has a very low output at low impedances. So it might be okay considering the sensitivity of these phones. It might be borderline though. I wouldn't rule it out and I can't say for sure that it will be okay. You could add one of the JDS Labs headphone amplifiers for not a huge amount of money.

Thank you for this valuable information. I was very tired of mixing with closed back headphones and I needed such a headset. After reading your message, I decided to buy a headphone amp if I feel that there is an unexpected change in the frequency pattern, as you say, I will buy a headphone amp. Thank you.