The All Purpose Advice Thread

That's a planar. Their impedance is almost completely resistive. Don't worry. That 32 ohms limit is for regular dynamic type headphones.

 

Oh, forgot. You asked what the consequence would be. With a resistive load, the worst case scenario, too quiet cans.
With a dynamic load, a) quieter than normal and more importantly b) linear distortion - meaning frequency response gets skewed because reasons..if you want someone to explain, sure, but in a nutshell when an output impedance of an amp is a lot smaller (on the order of at least 8-10 times) than the minimal load of headphones (dynamic loads have very varying impedances with regard to frequency) then you're good. If not, you form a voltage divider basically at some frequencies, and not at others, negativelly influencing linearity. (impedance rated for cans is the minimal impedance)

Now, planars usually have pure resistive load, meaning the impedance doesn't vary with frequency, meaning the worst case scenario is they get a bit quieter.

 

I see, bad damping factor.

After a bit of reading elsewhere, what I understand is super low impedance load will overload and damage the amp because the amp cannot put out enough current to properly drive them. Can anyone verify this?

 

For any reasonably built headphone amp that's no issue. I guess if you were to connect a 2 ohms 50watts resistor over your output you'd kill the output stage if it has no protection, sure. The only way you could harm your amp, theoretically, other than pushing it into clipping, is to play pure sine tones at 0 db at max level into too low of an impedance. 15 to 16 ohms won't do shit, for sure.
Again, properly designed amps handle all of that with overcurrent protection anyway.

This is much more crucial for speaker amps, especially diy ones (especially subwoofer ones), you can kill those with low impedances easier.

 

I would be very surprised if the bha1 was in any danger with a 15 ohm load, planar or dynamic.

 

OK thank you very much.

 

Have a question about budget allocation...

I currently have a HD800 that I'm trying to find a good setup for. From patiently reading impressions on this site and talking with a few friendly folks, I've pretty much been set on something from Ampsandsound since size-wise, looks-wise and sound-wise they seem to be what I'm looking for. I've also set my eyes on a Yggdrasil, as I think the incisiveness it brings will match the Ampsandsound stuff well.

As always, here's the catch: That's a lot of damage. So I've boiled my options down to these two:

1) Get an Eitr+Modi Multibit+Pendant and upgrade my DAC in the future.
2) Buy a used Kenzie Encore and get a Yggdrasil: this is a lot more of a wallet hit but potentially something that may be better performing in the long run.

From talking to @zach915m (who's really friendly and helpful by the way!) it seems like the Pendant is closer to what I'm looking for, but I'm thinking the synergy between Yggdrasil + Encore will be closer to my preferred sound than the Modi Multibit + Pendant. Any thoughts or criticisms?

Thanks for indulging me!

 

Boy, we sure have a lot of first-world problems around here don't we?

 

@Overkill Red , the 2nd option will probably help curb any nervosa.

 

Something to be grateful for.

 

You're probably right; upon further thinking option 2 is a more even spread of my budget anyway.

 

Still, do you like the HD800? Getting an expensive setup can be heartbreaking if you don't fancy it even at it's best. I don't really care for it myself. Technically exceptional but nothing hardens under the table.

 

I've actually spent a lot of time thinking about this. In the end, I came to the conclusion that the HD800 is a good complement to my custom IEMs (two different sound signatures), and it satisfies a lot of the criteria I'm looking at right now.

That being said, in the future I plan on expanding my headphone inventory, and I'm taking comfort in the fact that the Yggdrasil can be used as a source for pretty much any chain I can envision atm. Same for the Pendant/Encore, to a lesser extent, but I always tell myself that if a piece of gear can bring me enough joy, I'd be fine taking the hit if I eventually sell it. I'm a 'one in, one out' kind of guy anyway..

 

I'm wondering if it would be dopey to run an Eitr between a laptop and a portable dac/amp like a PHA3.

 

Does the PHA3 accept coax input? I thought it only took usb or optical...

 

Oh yeah, good call. Nevermind.

 

Quick question for YggyB owners: is BAL>Converter>SE Amp better than RCA>SE Amp? Have been reading around and couldn't find anything talking about the YggyB, only comments for the Gungnir Multibit and YggyA scattered around.

 

Quick question for the staff members here, do you guys trust this site? @Hands @purr1n

https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com

I asked this because its T1.2 measurements, particularly about the distortion, vastly differ from yours. According to his measurements, the 2nd harmonic distortion does not go above 1%.

 

Marv has said in the past that his rig could be measuring ~10dB under actual level so to compensate the headphones would have to be pushed harder, thus higher distortion. I'm not sure if I'm remembering this correctly so feel free to correct me.