Headphone Questions

[acaurora]

Okay, so right now I have the Shure e4g's and am seeing this new information about Creative with their 'AuraVana' headphones. Now, granted, the $300 price tag on my Shures, and there is no price tag on the Creatives, but how / what do they compare?

e4g specs: Speaker Type: High-Definition Driver with Tuned Port
Sensitivity (at 1kHz): 109 dB SPL/mW
Impedance (at 1kHz): 29 Ohm
Cable Length: 1.42m (56 inches)
Net Weight: 31g (1.1 oz)
Input Connector: 3.5 mm (1/8") gold-plated stereo plug


AurVana
Feature

Description
Driver Unit: Balanced Armature
Frequency Response: 20Hz-20kHz
Impedance: 42ohms
Sensitivity: 115dB
Cord Length: 1.2m (Oxygen-Free Copper cable)
Input Plug: 3.5mm stereo gold-plated miniplug
Net Weight: 13g (without packaging)

Impedance I know is another term for resistance. How does this effect the headphones, same with the sensitivity?

 

[Flak_Monkey]

Impedence refers to resistance yes. The higher the Impedence (Ohms) the harder the headphone will be to drive without the help of an amplifier to boost the signal. You can still use them, but they're going to sound like junk if they don't have an amp. This usually referes to headphones with a impedence of 100ohms or more and differenciates between headphones.

The lower the impedence (Ohms) the easier the headphone is to drive from a stock source like onboard or a soundcard or an MP3 player. You do not need an amp to drive either of those headphones. You would have a REAL hard time trying to listen to headphones that had 100ohms of impedence from your MP3 player.

 

[Cyrilix]

Impedence refers to resistance yes. The higher the Impedence (Ohms) the harder the headphone will be to drive without the help of an amplifier to boost the signal. You can still use them, but they're going to sound like junk if they don't have an amp. This usually referes to headphones with a impedence of 100ohms or more and differenciates between headphones.

The lower the impedence (Ohms) the easier the headphone is to drive from a stock source like onboard or a soundcard or an MP3 player. You do not need an amp to drive either of those headphones. You would have a REAL hard time trying to listen to headphones that had 100ohms of impedence from your MP3 player.

I can listen to my DT880s out of my mp3 player --> 250 ohms. The only thing is, it doesn't sound as good as it should, and it takes almost maximum volume for what would be my regular listening level.

 

[Flak_Monkey]

I can listen to my DT880s out of my mp3 player --> 250 ohms. The only thing is, it doesn't sound as good as it should, and it takes almost maximum volume for what would be my regular listening level.

That's what I meant to say in that last part. Thanks for adding that

 

[Mister X]

The higher the Impedence (Ohms) the harder the headphone will be to drive without the help of an amplifier to boost the signal.

Wrong, sensitivity is the key factor in determining a given headphone's power requirements not impedance, furthermore Impedance and sensitivity are not directly related to each other.

 

[Flak_Monkey]

Wrong, sensitivity is the key factor in determining a given headphone's power requirements not impedance, furthermore Impedance and sensitivity are not directly related to each other.

Well, thanks for the spanking.

Glad a pro came in to straighten it all out

 

[skudmunky]

I believe the Aurvana's MSRP is around 100, thats what I read on Head-Fi.

 

[E4g1e]

Impedence refers to resistance yes. The higher the Impedence (Ohms) the harder the headphone will be to drive without the help of an amplifier to boost the signal. You can still use them, but they're going to sound like junk if they don't have an amp. This usually referes to headphones with a impedence of 100ohms or more and differenciates between headphones.

The lower the impedence (Ohms) the easier the headphone is to drive from a stock source like onboard or a soundcard or an MP3 player. You do not need an amp to drive either of those headphones. You would have a REAL hard time trying to listen to headphones that had 100ohms of impedence from your MP3 player.

The term "easy to drive" is a very common mistake that people use when describing low-impedance headphones. The problem is that modern portable players deliver too little current, which low-impedance headphones require a ton of to begin with. High-impedance headphones, on the other hand, require a lot of voltage swing - something that portable players also lack. As a result, that little MP3 player often runs out of both current and voltage, especially when turned up loud, and that most portable players drop off the bass very sharply at the headphone jack when used with low-impedance headphones in order to compensate for the high current draw of such headphones. (Conversely, portable players' bass response at the headphone jack will extend deeper with higher-impedance headphones.)

With all that said, you are not going to find a high-impedance headphone that's suitable for use with low-current portable players, due to the fact that high-impedance headphones need more voltage. (A high-impedance headphone that would have been optimal for such portable players would have to have an insanely high efficiency rating in order to achieve a high enough sensitivity rating - and then, the sound quality would suffer significantly due to the fact that it's extremely difficult to design an ultra-high-efficiency headphone that comes anywhere close to true high fidelity performance.)

Wrong, sensitivity is the key factor in determining a given headphone's power requirements not impedance, furthermore Impedance and sensitivity are not directly related to each other.

I agree with that - for the most part. Impedance and sensitivity (in dB per V) can be inversely related to each other, given equal efficiency ratings (in dB per mW). And most portable players deliver lower power (in mW) output with higher impedances. Have you noticed that a 15mW player (at 16 Ohms) typically delivers about 10~12mW with a 32-Ohm load?