Rocket;390605 Wrote: > How would you say this output impedance would affect the headphone sound > (apart form the gain issue)?
I hate to answer a question with a question, but... What's the impedance of the headphone being used? If the headphone's impedance is flat across the audio range, then the output impedance of the source will have little or no effect. If the headphones impedance varies a lot, then, depending on the range of variation, and the impedance of the source, there will be frequency response variations. One way to ensure this isn't an issue, is to build a headphone amp with a low output impedance, so that it acts as a true voltage source. This is the approach used by amplifier/speaker designers, and the one I generally prefer for headphones. Having said that, I must acknowledge that there is an alternative design philosophy, one which isn't used much for speakers, but has some potential advantages. Build the amplifier as a current source. A cheap and easy way to do this, is to build an amplifier with a high output impedance, relative to the headphone. IF the headphone/speaker has been designed with this intent, then presumably, it won't suffer frequency response issues. And because it's driven by a constant current source, it won't suffer from dynamic compression as the voice coils heat up. This makes it an interesting approach for the two extremes, stadium rock concerts with thousands of watts cooking big voice coils, and headphones with pico watts cooking ultra tiny coils.... Cheers, Dave -- DCtoDaylight Audiophile wish list: Zero Distortion, Infinite Signal to Noise Ratio, and a Bandwidth from DC to Daylight ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DCtoDaylight's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=7284 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=28236 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
