headphone newbie

[hawk01]

hello folks!

once again i seek everyone’s wisdom this time regarding the subject of headphones. i presently have decent two channel gear in a dedicated home theater. unfortunately the luxury of full bore listening sessions are restricted when everyone else at home is asleep. i am considering open back or close type over ear type headphones to work around this dilemma. a couple of questions come to mind:

1. my NAD326BEE integrated amplifier comes wiith a headphone output jack on the front panel as with my yamaha avr and every other audio hear that i have. will this implementation satisfy the requirements of driving decent audiophile quality cans?

2. or do i really need a dedicated headphone amp to eke out every last bit of potential out of the headphones?

my source is presently a minipc running daphile connected to an smsl sanskrit 10th gen mk2. playback from pcm format up to dsd.

3. in line with this, will i need an even more capable open back headphone? presently i am eyeing the entry level from hifiman HE400i.

your inputs are most welcome and appreciated as i think most of you may have also treaded this path... cheers!

 

[Doodski]

1. my NAD326BEE integrated amplifier comes wiith a headphone output jack on the front panel as with my yamaha avr and every other audio hear that i have. will this implementation satisfy the requirements of driving decent audiophile quality cans?

The NAD uses 220 Ohm resisters to pick off power from the speaker outputs of the amplifier rather than have a low distortion low output impedance dedicated headphone amplifier. That may cause some frequency response issues due to the very high output impedance of the NAD.

 

[bobbooo]

hello folks!

once again i seek everyone’s wisdom this time regarding the subject of headphones. i presently have decent two channel gear in a dedicated home theater. unfortunately the luxury of full bore listening sessions are restricted when everyone else at home is asleep. i am considering open back or close type over ear type headphones to work around this dilemma. a couple of questions come to mind:

1. my NAD326BEE integrated amplifier comes wiith a headphone output jack on the front panel as with my yamaha avr and every other audio hear that i have. will this implementation satisfy the requirements of driving decent audiophile quality cans?

2. or do i really need a dedicated headphone amp to eke out every last bit of potential out of the headphones?

my source is presently a minipc running daphile connected to an smsl sanskrit 10th gen mk2. playback from pcm format up to dsd.

3. in line with this, will i need an even more capable open back headphone? presently i am eyeing the entry level from hifiman HE400i.

your inputs are most welcome and appreciated as i think most of you may have also treaded this path... cheers!

I'd go with the HE4XX rather than the HE400i. The former has better bass extension (likely due to the different pads), generally smoother response, more closely follows the Harman target frequency response (on average the most preferred response), has less of a resonance dip around 500 Hz, and higher upper-treble extension (important for good perceived 'resolution' / 'detail'):

They use planar magnetic drivers and have pretty much flat impedance, so unlike many dynamic driver headphones which can have large impedance bumps around their driver's resonant frequency, their frequency response won't be affected by the very high output impedance of your NAD's headphone out.

 

[hawk01]

oh well i just realized i cannot get it my way all of the time given this scenario! @Doodski your elaborate presentation above is clear as daylight. so the next step is connecting my DAC to a more capable headphone amplifier this time! any recommendations that will not cost a kings ransom? while i appreciate the merits of everything that measures well at ASR, nothing beats actual user feedback!

 

[hawk01]

I'd go with the HE4XX rather than the HE400i. The former has better bass extension (likely due to the different pads), generally smoother response, more closely follows the Harman target frequency response (on average the most preferred response), has less of a resonance dip around 500 Hz, and higher upper-treble extension (important for good perceived 'resolution' / 'detail'):

View attachment 107501

They use planar magnetic drivers and have pretty much flat impedance, so unlike many dynamic driver headphones which can have large impedance bumps around their driver's resonant frequency, their frequency response won't be affected by the very high output impedance of your NAD's headphone out.

from my side of the pond i may need to find sometning that will perform well on the get go that is locally available. it seems the DROP XX will need to be imported, something i dread to consider dealing with customs, etc...

 

[hawk01]

if there is anything reasonably priced that measures decent without any EQ out of the box then it should get me off on the right foot with headphones.

 

[bobbooo]

oh well i just realized i cannot get it my way all of the time given this scenario! @Doodski your elaborate presentation above is clear as daylight. so the next step is connecting my DAC to a more capable headphone amplifier this time! any recommendations that will not cost a kings ransom? while i appreciate the merits of everything that measures well at ASR, nothing beats actual user feedback!

As I said above, if you get planar magnetic headphones which have flat impedance like those Hifiman ones, you won't need to worry about the NAD's high output impedance having an adverse effect on frequency response. I'd just get the headphones first and try them out with your NAD - if they get loud enough and you don't hear distortion, you're good to go.

 

[Doodski]

JDS Labs ATOM
Schiit Magni Heresy

ASR reviews of them are here>
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ents-of-new-jds-labs-atom-headphone-amp.5262/
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...gni-3-and-heresy-headphone-amp-reviews.10311/

EDIT: I corrected the link to the ATOM amp as I mistakenly linked to the ATOM DAC.

 

[hawk01]

As I said above, if you get planar magnetic headphones which have flat impedance like those Hifiman ones, you won't need to worry about the NAD's high output impedance having an adverse effect on frequency response. I'd just get the headphones first and try them out with your NAD - if they get loud enough and you don't hear distortion, you're good to go.

noted on this! need to get my hands on them headphones!

 

[Judas]

i would not call myself a neophyte to headphones. . I do lack experience. I came here because of the extensive headphone reviews. My answer is yes you need a dedicated amp to get the most out of your headphones. Moreover if you are streaming digital you would benefit mightily from an external dac.. IMO of course. Not to mention binaural recordings.
My question remains why do headphones sound so good but measure so poorly.
I think the question of open back vs. closed back presents a more tough decision. I use noise cancelling headphones. They have choice of noise cancelling and ambient sound. I enjoy ambient sound but prefer noise cancelling.

 

[hawk01]

@Judas i have not even began listening to my preferred open back HE400i and i am already aware of their inherent imperfections after reading the initial ASR headphone reviews. the good thing is that EQ helps alleviate these issues.

which poses the next very important question. if i connect a minidsp 2x4HD out of my laptop music source via usb, will i be ablle to apply EQ and use the dac feature at the same time?? pardon the uber noob inquiry as i have no operational experience with this hardware.

 

[hawk01]

I'd go with the HE4XX rather than the HE400i. The former has better bass extension (likely due to the different pads), generally smoother response, more closely follows the Harman target frequency response (on average the most preferred response), has less of a resonance dip around 500 Hz, and higher upper-treble extension (important for good perceived 'resolution' / 'detail'):

View attachment 107501

They use planar magnetic drivers and have pretty much flat impedance, so unlike many dynamic driver headphones which can have large impedance bumps around their driver's resonant frequency, their frequency response won't be affected by the very high output impedance of your NAD's headphone out.

i checked the NAD website and it indicates the headphone output impedance of the 326BEE at only 68ohms. the hifiman HE400i 2020 is rated at 35ohms. hmm, seems good to go... on second thought is the 326BEE supposed to have a lower impedance?? dang my head hirts!

 

[bobbooo]

on second thought is the 326BEE supposed to have a lower impedance??

Ideally yes, but as I said, if the headphones have a flat impedance across the entire frequency range (as those Hifiman planars do), their frequency response will not be affected by the high output impedance of the NAD. These issues only occur when the headphones have a varying impedance with frequency, which dynamic driver designs often do.

 

[hawk01]

Ideally yes, but as I said, if the headphones have a flat impedance across the entire frequency range (as those Hifiman planars do), their frequency response will not be affected by the high output impedance of the NAD. These issues only occur when the headphones have a varying impedance with frequency, which dynamic driver designs often do.

that and some amount of reading on impedance 101 greatly reduced the hurt in my head!

 

[Judas]

@Judas i have not even began listening to my preferred open back HE400i and i am already aware of their inherent imperfections after reading the initial ASR headphone reviews. the good thing is that EQ helps alleviate these issues.

which poses the next very important question. if i connect a minidsp 2x4HD out of my laptop music source via usb, will i be ablle to apply EQ and use the dac feature at the same time?? pardon the uber noob inquiry as i have no operational experience with this hardware.

No pardon me I don't use EQ.