The direct and profound benefits of high-power amplifiers?

[nyxnyxnyx]

Hello everyone! Today I thought about headamps and how much available power is a deciding factor. Both audiophiles and objective-fellas seem to agree that power is 'essential' for transducers, Amir even stated his standard for a 300ohm load is at least 100mW.

So to my knowledge, I understand headroom is important and it seems better to always have power left in tank then always have to use all of it (clipping occurs), but as we can see nowadays there are many amplifiers that can pump out 1w at 32ohm to even wilder numbers like 3-6w at 32ohm - my question is what does significantly higher power bring to the table when it comes to audibility, in comparison with the 'standard' we have at ASR?

For what it's worth I used to A/B the THX789 vs Atom vs Geshelli Archel using 6.3mm connection and they sound very identical to my ears, but then again they share similar characteristic (high SINAD, very clean etc...) and "power range" available for my headphones (32ohm & 300ohm).

 

[tomtoo]

Hello everyone! Today I thought about headamps and how much available power is a deciding factor. Both audiophiles and objective-fellas seem to agree that power is 'essential' for transducers, Amir even stated his standard for a 300ohm load is at least 100mW.

So to my knowledge, I understand headroom is important and it seems better to always have power left in tank then always have to use all of it (clipping occurs), but as we can see nowadays there are many amplifiers that can pump out 1w at 32ohm to even wilder numbers like 3-6w at 32ohm - my question is what does significantly higher power bring to the table when it comes to audibility, in comparison with the 'standard' we have at ASR?

For what it's worth I used to A/B the THX789 vs Atom vs Geshelli Archel using 6.3mm connection and they sound very identical to my ears, but then again they share similar characteristic (high SINAD, very clean etc...) and "power range" available for my headphones (32ohm & 300ohm).

It depends highly on the efficience of your headphone and how loud you enjoy to listen even at the crazy two minutes. If you have enough power at low enough thd its enough, more is not needet.

 

[Jimbob54]

Headroom is not a bad thing to have, gives you more freedom to play with eq, buy harder to drive cans in the future, listen louder in your old age etc etc. But if you are listening below clipping levels today headroom has no impact. You can't hear power you aren't using.

The trouble is, most users don't know how loud they listen so can't even begin to calculate their real power requirement.

 

[restorer-john]

Let's get real. It's not power you need with headphones, it's the ability to swing a decent low distortion voltage over whatever impedance your cans may be.

Headphones do not demand, nor absorb significant power.

High rail voltages enable greater swings. They also provide for more destruction when things go wrong.

 

[nyxnyxnyx]

Let's get real. It's not power you need with headphones, it's the ability to swing a decent low distortion voltage over whatever impedance your cans may be.

Headphones do not demand, nor absorb significant power.

High rail voltages enable greater swings. They also provide for more destruction when things go wrong.

I am sorry I have limited knowledge so I can't really imagine it. The 'high rail voltages' you speak of can enable amplifier designs to pump out reliable, distortion voltage on whatever my loads might be? But in case of a misuse or electrical accident it will blow up harder?
Are there some popular amplifiers out there that use high rail voltages John?