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Topic: Better have amp between sound card and headphones? (Read 7510 times) previous topic - next topic
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Better have amp between sound card and headphones?

I purchased generic headphones to keep me company until I (hopefully soon) get a Koss KSC 75 from the US (I'm not gonna buy it locally for 4-5 times the price!).

1) It seems these generic phones sounds better connected to an amp (an old boombox) and not directly to the sound card. Is this to be expected? Is there an easy way to quantify the quality (I can't really ABX it for obvious reasons)?

2) Out of curiosity I tried listening to a frequency sweep to see how high they go. Surprisingly, with high volume, I can hear up to about 18.5kHz. Isn't that unexpected for generic phones? (And actually, what frequencies would you expect from a Creative CT4830?)

Better have amp between sound card and headphones?

Reply #1 –
You'll get pretty high from almost any headphones.  Actually, I'd be surprised if almost all couldn't get up way past the limit of hearing.  Just like you can get sound from a tweater at 500Hz and 30KHz.  It'll just be more and more distorted the farther you run it from it's designed range.

Better have amp between sound card and headphones?

Reply #2 –
Take for example the Koss UR5. The specs say they get to 18kHz. My current phones are cheaper and brandless.

Better have amp between sound card and headphones?

Reply #3 –
Quote from: sheh on
1) It seems these generic phones sounds better connected to an amp (an old boombox) and not directly to the sound card. Is this to be expected? Is there an easy way to quantify the quality (I can't really ABX it for obvious reasons)?


The amp perhaps has an equaliser, or is adding distortion to the signal that sounds pleasant (strange as it may seem).
Acid8000 aka. PhilDEE

Better have amp between sound card and headphones?

Reply #4 –
Quote from: Acid8000 on
The amp perhaps has an equaliser, or is adding distortion to the signal that sounds pleasant (strange as it may seem).


I wouldn't really expect sound improvement miracles from a double-tape Embassy plastic-box thing from the 80s. But I think it sounds more... clear and less muddy, i.e., the different elements appear somewhat more distinctive rather than a whole big blurry mess. If that makes sense. :)

Perhaps the phones are fed higher voltage or something? The ones I'm using are ~32ohm, so I didn't expect them to require anything special, but who knows. I'm not knowledgable in this area. I was hoping other people might have had similar experiences and could reaffirm what I think I hear.

Better have amp between sound card and headphones?

Reply #5 –
Your sound card probably does not have much in the way of headphone amplification. Your boombox is also unlikely to.

Better have amp between sound card and headphones?

Reply #6 –
Quote from: CSMR on
Your sound card probably does not have much in the way of headphone amplification. Your boombox is also unlikely to.
What do you mean? Are there any special requirements for headphones?

And why's the boombox also unlikely to? And if that is the case, why does it appear to sound better? :)

Better have amp between sound card and headphones?

Reply #7 –
Quote from: sheh on
Take for example the Koss UR5. The specs say they get to 18kHz. My current phones are cheaper and brandless.

Remember that the quoted response figures don't mean that anything over/under is not produced. The response doesn't end at 18kHz and cut off, say, 18.001kHz. It just drops away at both ends (and at other points on poor designs!). The response quoted is where it has dropped to -3dB (or some specified amount).

Better have amp between sound card and headphones?

Reply #8 –
I used to have a cheap pair of TDK headphones with terrible bass and treble frequency response. Basically they didnt exist. When I plugged them into a Pioneer SA-5300 stereo amplifier's headphone output, they sounded better (except for distortion and a ground loop problem that I eventually got rid of with some cheap tweaks) as I would turn up the bass and treble. I know that the response was still far from linear, and that a huge amount of noise was added to the signal (dynamic range RMAA direct loop back = 88 dB/through sound card > amp > sound card = 64dB). When I finally got a pair of decent Sennheiser PX 100s I found that the amp was absolutely unnecessary and that it sounded much better straight out of my Audigy 4.
Acid8000 aka. PhilDEE

Better have amp between sound card and headphones?

Reply #9 –
Quote from: Acid8000 on
I used to have a cheap pair of TDK headphones with terrible bass and treble frequency response. Basically they didnt exist. When I plugged them into a Pioneer SA-5300 stereo amplifier's headphone output, they sounded better... When I finally got a pair of decent Sennheiser PX 100s I found that the amp was absolutely unnecessary and that it sounded much better straight out of my Audigy 4.
So you're saying that cheap headphones may benefit from amp coloring/equalization... alright. I guess I'll found out, if I get better headphones eventually. :)

Though, the Audigy 4 may be better than this 4 channel Live!.
 

Better have amp between sound card and headphones?

Reply #10 –
Well objectively such alteration of the signal may make them actually worse, but the sound would be more pleasant to the listener.

The Audigy 4 isn't too much better than your Live!, I think.
Acid8000 aka. PhilDEE