I just read hyperplanar's posts and I believe it touched on the clipping issue I mentioned - I guess there are precautions taken in more modern equipment, or maybe that in real life usage it's really a "non-issue"?
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HD600 Safety and Quality via iPhone
- Thread starter WickedInsignia
- Start date
solderdude
Grand Contributor
Nonsense for headphones. Only too much power destroys headphones. Power ratings for headphones are between 20mW (0.02W) and several Watts depending on make and model.
An iphone can not destroy any medium to high impedance headphones, there simply is not enough power available.
The only issue is the lack of maximum output voltage swing (1Vrms) which limits the maximum SPL.
I appreciate the reply! Based on my experiences, it didn't "line up". But the objective knowledge side I wasn't sure of.
i dont believe in this theory that too little power destroys drivers.
https://sound-au.com/tweeters.htm
https://sound-au.com/tweeters.htm
Cool, thank you! Plus, it's my man Andrew Jones! I have his SP-PK52FS Pioneer package in my spare room, simply stunning for the price.
OP
WickedInsignia
Active Member
- Thread Starter
- #26
@Gadget Goober That's precisely what I was concerned about. Low-power sources creating clipping in the audio that would damage the drivers. I still wonder if that might be the case. It seems to only be an issue if you're driving a low-power amp or phone to maximum levels though?
EDIT: Just saw Peanut's response, will give that a look.
From the accounts expressed here it doesn't seem like the HD600 scales in quality with better amps as many people claim....or any headphone for that matter. I am led to believe that if a driver is being pushed to a specific volume level, there's no such thing as "quality of drive" from the source. If it's playing at a certain volume level, it will always sound the same at that volume level on any equipment you play it through that isn't coloured. A high-powered amp will not sound better than a low-powered amp at the same volume level, as long as it is within a healthy operating range (so not pushing maximum volumes on either amp).
Also I've seen brought up elsewhere that neither balanced nor "higher quality" cables will benefit the sound.
I would not be inclined to believe your experiences are anything more than expectation bias from what I've learned on this topic, both here and elsewhere. It might be worth doing some objective A/B testing with your sources?
EDIT: Just saw Peanut's response, will give that a look.
From the accounts expressed here it doesn't seem like the HD600 scales in quality with better amps as many people claim....or any headphone for that matter. I am led to believe that if a driver is being pushed to a specific volume level, there's no such thing as "quality of drive" from the source. If it's playing at a certain volume level, it will always sound the same at that volume level on any equipment you play it through that isn't coloured. A high-powered amp will not sound better than a low-powered amp at the same volume level, as long as it is within a healthy operating range (so not pushing maximum volumes on either amp).
Also I've seen brought up elsewhere that neither balanced nor "higher quality" cables will benefit the sound.
I would not be inclined to believe your experiences are anything more than expectation bias from what I've learned on this topic, both here and elsewhere. It might be worth doing some objective A/B testing with your sources?
What you said about balanced audio and cables is true for the most part, and I don't believe I mentioned anything about the sound quality in my post - because I share your point of view on that almost exactly - however - when you're dealing with a PORTABLE device like my Fiio M11 that has SE and balanced, and an inherently lower finite volume (or output power) level in single ended mode, versus a beefy amp that you can keep at home on your desk, the balanced connection will, according to the differential amp's nature and Ohm's law, provide you up to 2x the voltage slew and 4x the power. Again, unless it is current and/or voltage limited. This particular matter is 100% objective.
So my aim in a balanced cable is not better sound, it's a higher listening volume for my listening pleasure, because single ended on my Fiio M11 just wasn't cutting it when going portable. The only other benefit of a balanced amp for me, like my Schiit Magnius, is that a differential amp will, by nature, "filter" out noise - since it is only amplifying the differences in the +/- 180 inverted phases. But with such a short run on my desktop, that doesn't really matter to me - the only benefit for ME, is more power to drive my headphones at a volume that I prefer.
I digressed a bit, admittedly, when I replied to you. I hope this clarifies my post a bit. Cheers man =)
AnalogSteph
Major Contributor
The mechanism that would damage speakers when an amplifier was badly clipping was generation of lots of powerful high-frequency harmonics. This would subject the tweeter (which normally will only handle a few watts) to an excessive amount of power. Headphones are mostly wideband affairs with basically constant power handling across the entire frequency range, and as such are essentially immune to this particular threat.
This makes logical sense!
