Audio Interface/Headphone Amp

R

RedPanther

New member
Hello! I'm kinda new to music production and would really appreciate some guidance! Right now, my equipment (except for my DAW - reaper, Ableton) consists of a Maschine Mikro MK3 and a Komplete Kontrol A25. I really want to buy some new headphones cause I can't afford studio monitors and I'm thinking between Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80 or 250 Ohms. Just because I'm only interested in music production and don't record any vocals with mic , or have any real instrument , I haven't bought any Audio Interfaces. Now I know that the headphones I'm interested in buying (and especially the 250 Ohms) are gonna need a headphone Amp. Sadly i have no clue of AIs and Amps , so I was wondering if there are any affordable AIs that are cabable to work as Headphone Amps or at least at a certain level. Else you can recommend me a cheap headphone Amp that would fit the headphones. Lastly, if the cost extends a certain amount that i can't afford will it be ok to settle for the 80 Ohms without an Amp? Thanks for your time!
 
RedPanther said:
Now I know that the headphones I'm interested in buying (and especially the 250 Ohms) are gonna need a headphone Amp.
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Why do you say that you need a headphone amp?

How are you using headphones at the moment? Maybe mini stereo 3.5mm jack into a laptop?

Why wouldn't you do the same with the Beyer Dynamics?
 
The specifications for both 80 and 250 Ohm cans gives a max input of 100mW. That translates to 5V rms for the 250R phones and that sort of voltage will not be delivered from any budget headphone amp leave alone most AIs or laptops. Not that you should ever need quite five volts of drive! That would be well over 100dB in the ear and that should be considered a very rare PEAK level. Nonetheless, the 250R cans will be harder to drive from "non-pro" sources.

I would strongly advise a headphone amplifier. The HP outs on most AIs is pretty feeble, they are loud enough when the signal is at the top end, -6dBfs ish, but when tracking with DAW levels at -20dB you can struggle for gain to bring the signals up. This has been the general situation, maybe the very latest AIs have addressed the problem? If you get a HP amp you are "independent" of the other parts of the system gainwise.

I have the Behringer Bog S HA400 and it is dead quiet and delivers more than enough level into my K92s and I am deaf!

Dave.
 
I get that.I'm thinking of buying the 250ohms and I understand they are not to easy to be driven. At my area I found the Fiio E17 Amp+Dac that supports up to 300Ohms for 100 Euros(approx. 120$). Do you think it would fit good the beyerdynamics and also is it worth the price? Thanks!
 
ecc83 said:
The specifications for both 80 and 250 Ohm cans gives a max input of 100mW. That translates to 5V rms for the 250R phones and that sort of voltage will not be delivered from any budget headphone amp leave alone most AIs or laptops. Not that you should ever need quite five volts of drive! That would be well over 100dB in the ear and that should be considered a very rare PEAK level. Nonetheless, the 250R cans will be harder to drive from "non-pro" sources.

I would strongly advise a headphone amplifier. The HP outs on most AIs is pretty feeble, they are loud enough when the signal is at the top end, -6dBfs ish, but when tracking with DAW levels at -20dB you can struggle for gain to bring the signals up. This has been the general situation, maybe the very latest AIs have addressed the problem? If you get a HP amp you are "independent" of the other parts of the system gainwise.

I have the Behringer Bog S HA400 and it is dead quiet and delivers more than enough level into my K92s and I am deaf!

Dave.
Click to expand...

OP doesn't have an AI. I think he is listening direct from computer headphone output
 
gecko zzed said:
OP doesn't have an AI. I think he is listening direct from computer headphone output
Click to expand...

Yes, got that Gecks' but maybe that was lost in all me waffle! I was covering the bases really.

To OP. That USB HP amp WILL drive 250R cans but then so will your computer! The fact is though, neither has the capability to drive them fully, i.e peak headroom. That needs an amplifier capable of 5V rms which is 14 volts peak to peak which means the amplifier must have AT LEAST a 16 volt DC supply*. My Behringer runs on 12V so the best I could expect from that is about 3V rms. That would be 'king loud even on 250R phones but still not at their limit.

Why are you so set on 250 Ohm headphones?

*Of course that Filo MIGHT have internal DC-DC converters to get 20volt rails but at 80 quid a pop I doubt it.

Dave.
 
I think soundwise they are excactly what I'm looking for and as far as comfort goes I've tried them and fitted me great.
 
I've used my 250Ω DT770s on my laptop, Line6 HD (why I actually bought them), and a couple different audio interfaces (not bus powered, though). They are fine for normal listening. For some folks in some tracking I've found they need to be dialed up pretty high, but it's probably more of a hearing/environmental thing, and likely not that good for your ears. Certainly, a lower resistance model would be less taxing - I wonder what the actual difference between the 80Ω and 250Ω models is?

With all that, I have a Behringer headphone amp that I use these days, so I can make them too loud if need be, though they still take a lot more boost than anything else I have. They are comfortable on my head, and have an appealing, if not exactly flat, sound, too. Nice for tracking many times, but I don't mix with them.
 
Keith, I have tried to find out a couple of times what the optimum impedance for headphones might be?

If we assume any reasonable drive amp there must be, IMHO an optimum coil resistance that maximized copper in the gap against lowest mass? "Studio" cans were almost all 600 Ohms (my K60s were) mainly I guess because they could be hung on a line and no one cared about the extra 0.5% distortion!
Then we saw the growth of "hi fi" headphones in that most stupid of all impedances EIGHT Ohms! The invention of the Walkman gave us 32R cans as a by product then the Zzzzzzs went crazy!

It seems nobody knows or they ain't tellin'

Dave.
 
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