Xonar DG + HD555, how many ohms?

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PRogers86

Limp Gawd
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Jul 30, 2012
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So my brand new Xonar DG has options for different gain tunings to drive my headphones. I have Sennheiser HD555's, and I'm not sure which ohms setting to use. I don't want to blow my headphones.

Options are:
32ohms
32~64 ohms
<64 ohms


Thanks.
 
There is no chance of blowing up your headphones even if the Xonar had gain options for 300ohms, it will just mean your headphones will be really sensitive when your adjusting the volume or you will be driving it to its potential volume wise. Another thing is don't even bother with the onboard gain settings on the Xonar, it is a joke. The HD555's are 120ohms (for the really older EOL models) and 50ohms for the current ones being sold. If you really want some gain for driving the headphones or impedance matching get yourself a cheap desktop or portable amplifier, tube or solid state based that's up to you as both provides a different sound signature.

Oh and also if your HD555's are out of warranty, open them up and remove that foam disc inside for more listening pleasure.
 
Matthew Kane said:
There is no chance of blowing up your headphones even if the Xonar had gain options for 300ohms, it will just mean your headphones will be really sensitive when your adjusting the volume or you will be driving it to its potential volume wise. Another thing is don't even bother with the onboard gain settings on the Xonar, it is a joke. The HD555's are 120ohms (for the really older EOL models) and 50ohms for the current ones being sold. If you really want some gain for driving the headphones or impedance matching get yourself a cheap desktop or portable amplifier, tube or solid state based that's up to you as both provides a different sound signature.

Oh and also if your HD555's are out of warranty, open them up and remove that foam disc inside for more listening pleasure.
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I'll do that in the future. How do you feel about the Topping TP30? Think there'd be much of a sound difference between that and the Xonar DG?

So you don't think the <64ohms would hurt the headphones at all?
 
PRogers86 said:
I'll do that in the future. How do you feel about the Topping TP30? Think there'd be much of a sound difference between that and the Xonar DG?

So you don't think the <64ohms would hurt the headphones at all?
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Topping TP30 should be fine, as I said, you don't need to spend big $$$ to driving your HD555's to its potential otherwise if you were an audiophile and looking for a music listening rig you would've chosen something a lot better than the HD555's at the very start.

As of difference between the Sonar and the Topping their would a slight or possibly a huge difference in sound overall, I haven't played with that model specifically from Topping so I wouldn't know but you would definitely be able to hear some differences between the Sonar and driving your headphones through the amp, a shame thing about it is you can't roll opamps.

And no choosing a gain of 64ohms or less would not hurt the headphones at all considering you don't put the volume on max and blast the shit out of HD555's.
 
i would bump up the gain personally it will drive the headphones better with more power

i was in the same situation with the A700's being 64ohms and i went up to the next gain setting for 64ohms to 300ohms. they just sounded better at that setting but it also got alot louder with more power
 
123Lanoix said:
i was in the same situation with the A700's being 64ohms and i went up to the next gain setting for 64ohms to 300ohms. they just sounded better at that setting but it also got alot louder with more power
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His reported Xonar DG only has report gains up to 64ohms which is enough for the 50ohm rated HD555's, the only difference it will make is requiring him to turn the volume pot up from 12'o clock down to 9'o clock for example. Other than that you can do impedance matching with the perfect gain and amp to drive those HD555's much more efficiently. Just be glad you don't have to deal with driving a 300/600ohm headphone with the right amp lol.
 
Matthew Kane said:
His reported Xonar DG only has report gains up to 64ohms which is enough for the 50ohm rated HD555's, the only difference it will make is requiring him to turn the volume pot up from 12'o clock down to 9'o clock for example. Other than that you can do impedance matching with the perfect gain and amp to drive those HD555's much more efficiently. Just be glad you don't have to deal with driving a 300/600ohm headphone with the right amp lol.
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ya i would not recommend running the 555's then if there rated for 50ohms. The a700 were borderline with 64ohms with the STX
 
Low impedance headphones would have their own issues with the STX's high output impedance...
 
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