kazuviking t1_iy2yv0a wrote on November 28, 2022 at 10:16 AM

Reply to comment by Lelouch25 in My JDS Atom amp on high gain sounds MUCH wider with Planar headphones? by Lelouch25

Have you ever heard of Fletcher Munson Curve? The is no power scaling ffs only bullshit. When you know physics you know how much a headphone will need.
The beyer DT990 needs 780mW to reach 94dBSPL but that is hearing damage territory oh and power requirement halves every 3dB. So for "normal" listening level you will never breach the 50mW range.

Lelouch25 OP t1_iy2zcvb wrote on November 28, 2022 at 10:23 AM

All I’m saying is the headphone needs certain amount of mW to sound full. You can just use the headphone power calculator.

Would you not agree that 250ohms would sound thin under powered when used with an inadequate dongle Dac?

Klogg4 is saying he powers his 250ohm headphone with 40mW amp?

kazuviking t1_iy3046y wrote on November 28, 2022 at 10:34 AM

No headphone power calculators are super accurate online. The beyers need voltage and not current so voltage limited dongles might not work for your listening level.
That 40mW amp is capable of delivering 1VRMS and that is enough to listen at 65dBSPL with loudness peaks reaching 82dBSPL. More than enough if you listen normally.

Lelouch25 OP t1_iy30ckg wrote on November 28, 2022 at 10:38 AM

Oh thanks for clearing that up.

I’ve tried my Sundara on my Dragonfly Black into the phone and even at higher volume it sounded thin.

I bought a 3.5mm to RCA to amp the Dragonfly Black and it instantly sounded full.

That’s what I mean.

Is under powered headphone not a thing?

kazuviking t1_iy313ji wrote on November 28, 2022 at 10:49 AM

The sundara is just built differently since that needs a lot of voltage but while being low impedance and most will struggle with that requirement.

MachineTeaching t1_iy42xsk wrote on November 28, 2022 at 4:32 PM

>Would you not agree that 250ohms would sound thin under powered when used with an inadequate dongle Dac?

Ohms are literally only half of the equation. It's impedance and sensitivity that determine the power demands.

For example, the popular Beyerdynamic DT 990 comes in a bunch of variants, the 32 Ohm and 600 Ohm variants both need the same power because the 600 Ohm one has higher sensitivity.