Headphones amp for Jabra Elite 95h

[ZolaIII]

Perhaps, but for many controlling the volume with huge up/down volume controls on the 85h headphone cups is pretty convenient.

If you wanted to control via the TV remote then a cable from the TVs RCA out would work as long as its output is variable. My background is audio sales rather than the tech itself, so I am pre-disposed to ask too many questions on use case before offering advice. For most people it is confusing to have competing volume controls both on the source and on the headphones.

In my (limited) experience on Panasonic TV's you can change analog unbalanced outputs either to be line out or variable, also you can adjust optical (Toslink) lv in a ±10 dB range but that isn't handy and besides it's meant for proper input limiting (of power amplifiers) for line continues output.

I am complicated person (to extent I even downgraded my main desktop in order for it to have Toslink input)! Still there is absolutely no way nor will even best leveling solution iron out output volume differences between different broadcasters. So it's good to have responsive volume control's under a trigger. EU attempts with EBU R128 are for prizing even in EU it doesn't apply everywhere obligatory. I use it internally and it's good for both music and video up to THX cinema DR. Why things are like that in broadcasting jungle is beyond reasonable discussion.

From cheap dongles for rather sensitive IEM's and headphones (500 mV max) the Apple EU USB C dongle is very good but it won't work with Android (it will with output volume adjustment in UAPP on system lv without need of owning it). For main stream mid sensitive ones the 2V CS43131 based one's are still best solution for portable or BT one's. If you want/need more additional OP amps stages, balanced and so on come into play but it really isn't supposed to get into portables (regarding efficiency). A clip alike BT one's with support for BLE related codec's, LDAC and other property one's start from around 50$ in a form of alikes Hiby W3 II. If you want rather good quality and low latency over BT use LHDC and good luck with it even on very new Android phone (BT 5.4 part for full compliance and still only if implemented good and you pick/check it in developer options). In my case as I stream only latency not sensitive content (music) it work's anyway.

 

[chronic]

In my (limited) experience on Panasonic TV's you can change analog unbalanced outputs either to be line out or variable, also you can adjust optical (Toslink) lv in a ±10 dB range but that isn't handy and besides it's meant for proper input limiting (of power amplifiers) for line continues output.

I am complicated person (to extent I even downgraded my main desktop in order for it to have Toslink input)! Still there is absolutely no way nor will even best leveling solution iron out output volume differences between different broadcasters. So it's good to have responsive volume control's under a trigger. EU attempts with EBU R128 are for prizing even in EU it doesn't apply everywhere obligatory. I use it internally and it's good for both music and video up to THX cinema DR. Why things are like that in broadcasting jungle is beyond reasonable discussion.

From cheap dongles for rather sensitive IEM's and headphones (500 mV max) the Apple EU USB C dongle is very good but it won't work with Android (it will with output volume adjustment in UAPP on system lv without need of owning it). For main stream mid sensitive ones the 2V CS43131 based one's are still best solution for portable or BT one's. If you want/need more additional OP amps stages, balanced and so on come into play but it really isn't supposed to get into portables (regarding efficiency). A clip alike BT one's with support for BLE related codec's, LDAC and other property one's start from around 50$ in a form of alikes Hiby W3 II. If you want rather good quality and low latency over BT use LHDC and good luck with it even on very new Android phone (BT 5.4 part for full compliance and still only if implemented good and you pick/check it in developer options). In my case as I stream only latency not sensitive content (music) it work's anyway.

Thing with LHDC is just that it's mostly not found on anything other than some budget phones and mostly chinese brands. Apple, Samsung, Google and the likes don't have it and I don't feel like they'll ever have it, either

 

[chronic]

The Jabra Elite 85h always use their built in amp even when connected by wire. Unlike some headphones, when the internal battery is dead they will go silent. So, the power of the amp is irrelevant. This confused me about the OP question (why he wanted an amp vs just a cable or adapter)...but using their active circuitry when wired is a good thing for sound quality. Wireless ANC headphones that work passively when wired are fine for emergencies when batteries die; but they sound terrible as all of the fancy DSP/Sound engineering that was integral to the original design is lost.

ah, yeah, if they do then the input power doesn't change anything. Weird design choice though, since on my Crushers I can either turn them off and have direct passthrough, or turn them on and get DSP'd 3.5mm audio.

 

[ZolaIII]

Thing with LHDC is just that it's mostly not found on anything other than some budget phones and mostly chinese brands. Apple, Samsung, Google and the likes don't have it and I don't feel like they'll ever have it, either

Well things are changing fast regarding LHDC as HWA union promoting it grown considerably in recent two years. It started with Huawei but found adoption in Japan and now it's pretty wide. From Android smartphone vendors it's in; ZTE, Huawei & Honour, Xiaomi, Vivo, Meizu, Lenovo... From traditional nore into audio firm's there are; Onkyo, Fostex, TECH, Pioneer, Sennheiser, AT... and growing. Of course pretty much almost all good Chinese OEM's are there also. Among direct manufacturers there is; Cirrus Logic and AKM for now. There is a possibility of JBL adoption but that one is tied down with Samsung that is not keen on such. Sony has a conflict of interest as LDAC is their and all do semi property already pushed out but will follow the competition in the end. Won't even talk about Apple. Anyway that's how things are right now regarding that.

 

[chronic]

Well things are changing fast regarding LHDC as HWA union promoting it grown considerably in recent two years. It started with Huawei but found adoption in Japan and now it's pretty wide. From Android smartphone vendors it's in; ZTE, Huawei & Honour, Xiaomi, Vivo, Meizu, Lenovo... From traditional nore into audio firm's there are; Onkyo, Fostex, TECH, Pioneer, Sennheiser, AT... and growing. Of course pretty much almost all good Chinese OEM's are there also. Among direct manufacturers there is; Cirrus Logic and AKM for now. There is a possibility of JBL adoption but that one is tied down with Samsung that is not keen on such. Sony has a conflict of interest as LDAC is their and all do semi property already pushed out but will follow the competition in the end. Won't even talk about Apple. Anyway that's how things are right now regarding that.
View attachment 414399

Yeah, as good as all those brands (from the phones list) listed are chinese, or originating from China. Adoption of LHDC is quite quick from chinese phone makers, but I quite doubt it will ever become properly mainstream, simply because all others make their own codecs.

 

[Ncesar]

It does have analog output trough RCA, question is is it fixed or variable line out (that you can adjust volume). Elite 95h? Is it 85h? Anyway you don't need one with lots of power as all of such are made with pretty sensitive drivers (tho I didn't find proper measurements of 85h nor stated sensitivity anywhere).
In most cases it's been good practice to use Toslink out from TV to DAC. While not exactly stand alone as relatively portable and strong enough I would mention Creative Sound blaster G6 for it's Dolby input and decoder (down mix to stereo on its own) with more than OK performance (CS43131). Try to find it on discount if that works for you or refab (returned).

The rca output is fixed. I can't control the volume.

The Jabra Elite 85h always use their built in amp even when connected by wire. Unlike some headphones, when the internal battery is dead they will go silent. So, the power of the amp is irrelevant. This confused me about the OP question (why he wanted an amp vs just a cable or adapter)...but using their active circuitry when wired is a good thing for sound quality. Wireless ANC headphones that work passively when wired are fine for emergencies when batteries die; but they sound terrible as all of the fancy DSP/Sound engineering that was integral to the original design is lost.

I didn't know, that. In fact find out when was about to test the amp, and the headphones were dead, without battery...

 

[Ncesar]

It does have analog output trough RCA, question is is it fixed or variable line out (that you can adjust volume). Elite 95h? Is it 85h? Anyway you don't need one with lots of power as all of such are made with pretty sensitive drivers (tho I didn't find proper measurements of 85h nor stated sensitivity anywhere).
In most cases it's been good practice to use Toslink out from TV to DAC. While not exactly stand alone as relatively portable and strong enough I would mention Creative Sound blaster G6 for it's Dolby input and decoder (down mix to stereo on its own) with more than OK performance (CS43131). Try to find it on discount if that works for you or refab (returned).

The rca output is fixed
I can't control the volume.
And yes is 85h. Didn't even get the number right...

 

[GGroch]

...Weird design choice though, since on my Crushers I can either turn them off and have direct passthrough, or turn them on and get DSP'd 3.5mm audio.

From what I can tell the 85h also support only BT SBC/AAC codecs, with no low latency game mode, also odd choices. Oddness is a reason they are exiting the headphone/earbud business. I have their Elite 10 buds which are very very nice.

The rca output is fixed
I can't control the volume.
And yes is 85h. Didn't even get the number right...

Once you charge the headphone battery and power it up, you should be able to control the volume from the headphones. Fixed Volume is generally the preferred state when you are controlling the volume from your playback device (headphones in this case. ). When TVs have variable output, it is often a choice you make (fixed or variable) in the TV's audio setup menu.

 

[Ncesar]

From what I can tell the 85h also support only BT SBC/AAC codecs, with no low latency game mode, also odd choices. Oddness is a reason they are exiting the headphone/earbud business. I have their Elite 10 buds which are very very nice.

Once you charge the headphone battery and power it up, you should be able to control the volume from the headphones. Fixed Volume is generally the preferred state when you are controlling the volume from your playback device (headphones in this case. ). When TVs have variable output, it is often a choice you make (fixed or variable) in the TV's audio setup menu.

I was able to control the volume from the headphones when connected via rca cable directly to headphones, but the sound was very distorted and arsh. That's why I purchased the headphones amp thinking that could improve something. Realising now that maybe was not a good option. Still have the distorted sound when watching YouTube. But only YouTube. Disney, PrimeVideo and Blu-ray player sound is good.
Maybe replace the headphones in a near future... The Jabra can be used by other family member.

 

[ZolaIII]

Yeah, as good as all those brands (from the phones list) listed are chinese, or originating from China. Adoption of LHDC is quite quick from chinese phone makers, but I quite doubt it will ever become properly mainstream, simply because all others make their own codecs.

Depending how you look at it, it already has a leading adoption per sold units of any on both transmitter/receiver front as it is. LDAC encoder is for a long time part of Android. For better and worse I forgot to mention Asus as supporter earlier. It might not become dominant but it's more advanced implementation than LDAC and with wide Asian and larger support it will definitely become more supported on decoder front than any other as it's not vendor limited (like APT X, Samsung's whatever and so on) or property paid for decoder like LDAC and offering better lateness of course. You just need to be a part of alliance in order to use it and depending on rank you might be vocal in silly things as platinum/gold rating and regarding future development. So plenty of phones and in many flavours from vanilla to Chi iPhone alike to who knows what as it's Android after all, especially performance orientated ones all together the most (more ever then first two vendors combined). Plenty of receiver devices also mostly from Chi/Jap brands which make bulk of the sails this days anyway along with some more traditional EU ones and so on. Somehow you are even better of buying the new TV then expensive phone. Upper mid range performance should be a useful limit and form there to focus more specifically on what you want. I simply want 3.5 mm jack back with better regulation regarding output (V/efficiency) on even upper class midranger. Sony went back to it but their prices are sky rocket high now they don't make mini compacts as they did (premium). You don't get so good tuning regarding scheduling nor couple of useful extras that survived on Lenovo but skin is pretty much vanilla and so is bloot. Other than that you are stuck to LG Oled displays that aren't very efficient but then again shouldn't be as they use full RGB matrix. I actually stand for native 12 bit panels and Dolby Vision even it doesn't really matter on such a small display so for me Tianma and whatever else is Xiaomi using has advantage even over last gen Samsung Amoled. I don't mind from where it is if it's low tax even better. About components and implementation I do mind all do I don't need recorded braking anything I want everything I could throw at it possible to work satisfactory including latest demanding games even if I won't play them.

 

[Ncesar]

I feel embarrassed. I tried with different cables to connect from TV rca out to headphones and the sound was crystal clear... YouTube still distorted, but the rest was crystal clear. So, the problem was the other cables or not properly connected to the TV. I had to tilt the TV and hold it with one hand and with the other connet the cable to the RCA output. I will get a longer RCA to jack3.5mm cable and now i have a Amplifier Headphone to use as paper weight...

 

[chronic]

Depending how you look at it, it already has a leading adoption per sold units of any on both transmitter/receiver front as it is. LDAC encoder is for a long time part of Android. For better and worse I forgot to mention Asus as supporter earlier. It might not become dominant but it's more advanced implementation than LDAC and with wide Asian and larger support it will definitely become more supported on decoder front than any other as it's not vendor limited (like APT X, Samsung's whatever and so on) or property paid for decoder like LDAC and offering better lateness of course. You just need to be a part of alliance in order to use it and depending on rank you might be vocal in silly things as platinum/gold rating and regarding future development. So plenty of phones and in many flavours from vanilla to Chi iPhone alike to who knows what as it's Android after all, especially performance orientated ones all together the most (more ever then first two vendors combined). Plenty of receiver devices also mostly from Chi/Jap brands which make bulk of the sails this days anyway along with some more traditional EU ones and so on. Somehow you are even better of buying the new TV then expensive phone. Upper mid range performance should be a useful limit and form there to focus more specifically on what you want. I simply want 3.5 mm jack back with better regulation regarding output (V/efficiency) on even upper class midranger. Sony went back to it but their prices are sky rocket high now they don't make mini compacts as they did (premium). You don't get so good tuning regarding scheduling nor couple of useful extras that survived on Lenovo but skin is pretty much vanilla and so is bloot. Other than that you are stuck to LG Oled displays that aren't very efficient but then again shouldn't be as they use full RGB matrix. I actually stand for native 12 bit panels and Dolby Vision even it doesn't really matter on such a small display so for me Tianma and whatever else is Xiaomi using has advantage even over last gen Samsung Amoled. I don't mind from where it is if it's low tax even better. About components and implementation I do mind all do I don't need recorded braking anything I want everything I could throw at it possible to work satisfactory including latest demanding games even if I won't play them.

I do wish for LHDC to become mainstream, it promises good stuff - but there's a good reason (for the OEMs) to make their own codecs and their own only, being samsungs one, then apple AAC and Sony LDAC. It's simply to drive users to their own products and only give them high quality there, same thing with the headphone jack - removed so you can be pushed to buying bluetooth buds. Sony is just way overpricing their phones currently and offering less and less niche features with each year, so we'll see how this develops...

 

[chronic]

From what I can tell the 85h also support only BT SBC/AAC codecs, with no low latency game mode, also odd choices. Oddness is a reason they are exiting the headphone/earbud business. I have their Elite 10 buds which are very very nice.

Once you charge the headphone battery and power it up, you should be able to control the volume from the headphones. Fixed Volume is generally the preferred state when you are controlling the volume from your playback device (headphones in this case. ). When TVs have variable output, it is often a choice you make (fixed or variable) in the TV's audio setup menu.

I feel like alot of mainstream audio companies in the Bluetooth field decide not to implement codecs. You mostly only get LDAC on Sony headphones and AAC is basically the only somewhat widely used standard at this point. Funny though that it doesn't really matter, because as example my iPhone uses alot less buffer than any Windows or Android device (probably like 80-120ms on normal bluetooth devices). I also remember when I still used my Bose Soundsport buds, they only had SBC/AAC but man, they sounded great

 

[ZolaIII]

I do wish for LHDC to become mainstream, it promises good stuff - but there's a good reason (for the OEMs) to make their own codecs and their own only, being samsungs one, then apple AAC and Sony LDAC. It's simply to drive users to their own products and only give them high quality there, same thing with the headphone jack - removed so you can be pushed to buying bluetooth buds. Sony is just way overpricing their phones currently and offering less and less niche features with each year, so we'll see how this develops...

Doesn't really go like that. That's just wishful thinking from OEM's that doesn't work and never did. Make it be as Dolby Lab's be a best example of that. Last one who tried it whose Microsoft with WMA with Amir at their helm and lots of money. It whose competitively good, had even near lose less mode with rather good bit rate and they pushed it to many devices at the time (mainly CD - DVD player's). And it failed!
Similar and Open source union's and consortium formed for many other things in industry and are leading the way regarding broad adoption standardised implementations and this days that's the only way to go even it also doesn't guarantee success it rises the chance for it. It started with graphics and graphics compute and developed there the most. With development in audio lagging far behind and so did low complexity and latency audio codec's suitable for BT. LHDC is best bet of unifying the wild forest of codec's currently on the market as things stand right now. Sony stated it all back in their golden days (Xperia ZX) regarding Android and come close couple of times but failed leaving us paper dream of good BT audio up to this days. It might fail but as it is it's a best bet right now.
Apple is the worst example of unethical company but it's beginning to catch up on them. They use other films IP's but they don't want to pay royalties and when it comes to it they destroy owner in order not to pay (take Imagination Technologies as prime example of that). AAC is property codec and patents are hold by a lot of companies (not by Apple) and much like LDAC decoder is property and not royalty free. Android uses Fraunhofer FDK AAC lib which is far from great (aggressive high cut algorithm and it's integer only) and that's why it doesn't sound good. Apple used much better property one and God knows what happened to owner. Reason it's got popular is same as MP3 it whose a part of ISO MPEG 4 standard. It whosen meant for BT nor it's low latency all do even such implementations exists (LD, ELD) they weren't great and aren't used.
I got far off the topic as it is so let's leave it to that. Have a nice time and enjoy yourself.