Requirement Of Headphone Amplifier

[Jagriti]

hi there......
can anyone explain me some information regarding Headphone amplifier....
the reason behind it is I got the AKG 702's but at 62ohmz, they are apparently quite a loud, and I can't notice a difference in sound quality when I connect the 702's directly to my Cowon D2 or if I route it through the Total Bithead.

My friend suggested about Headphone amplifier; but i don't know a much about it....

please provide some information regarding it........
also provide some good headphone amplifier products information too........

[Rawko]

Headphone Amplifiers's:

A headphone amplifier is a kind of audio amplifier designed particularly to drive headphones instead of loudspeakers. Most commonly they are found embedded in electronic devices such as integrated amplifiers, portable music players and televisions, but standalone units are not uncommon.

Headphone amplifiers as referred to here are commercially available separate devices, sold to a niche audiophile market. These devices allow for higher possible volumes and greater audio clarity than the smaller, cheaper amplifiers that are used in most audio players. (In the case of the extremely-high-end electrostatic headphones, such as the Stax SR-007, a specialized electrostatic headphone amplifier or transformer step-up box and power amplifier is required to use the headphones, as only a dedicated electrostatic headphone amplifier or transformer can provide the voltage levels necessary to drive the headphones.) Most headphone amplifiers provide power between 10 mW and 2 W depending on the specific headphone being used and the design of the amplifier.

Effectively, a headphone amplifier is a small power amplifier that can be connected to a standard headphone jack or (usually) the line output of an audio source. The headphone amplifier improves the sound quality by increasing the amount of power available to move the transducer, increasing the control that the source has over just where the transducer is in space. This is often expressed as damping factor. For example, a 32 Ω headphone (such as the Grado line) driven by a popular DIY headphone amp with a <1 Ω output impedance (the Gilmore Dynamic) would have a damping factor of >32, whereas the same headphone driven with an iPod (5 Ω output impedance) would have a damping factor of just 6.4. Of course, damping factor is not the only specification relevant to choosing a headphone amplifier — harmonic distortion, frequency response, IMD, and a myriad of other measurements are also significant.

[deoWo]

i too had same problem regarding various deflections of sound which could really cause a big hearing problem or a damage to your headphone.

thus i choose this device HeadRoom BitHead headphone amplifier

Take a Total BitHead, plug it into the USB port on your computer, then plug the best headphones you’ve got into the Total BitHead, and BAM, knock-your-socks-off sound. Later, pack it up in a HeadRoom bag with your favorite portable player, and you’ve got one of the most aurally delightful portable audio systems on the planet.

The Total BitHead has a bit of a split personality: it is a battery powered miniature headphone amp for use with portable players, and it is a USB powered external sound card and headphone amp for computers. The headphone amp circuit is just like the Total AirHead, so you can go to the Total AirHead page for information about that. But the computer stuff is way different, so we’ll talk about that here..


When you plug the Total BitHead into a computer's USB port, the computer goes through an initial process of seeing, recognizing, and connecting to the Total BitHead. First, power comes up the cable and fires up Total BitHead communications with the computer. Then the computer looks at the Total BitHead, and if it doesn’t recognize it, the computer will download the driver stored on the Total BitHead and quickly install it. Then the computer will begin to use the Total BitHead as an audio playback device. No batteries are required; simply leave the power switch off and the Total BitHead filters, re-regulates, and runs of the computers USB power bus. If, however, you are of an audiophile mind, turn the batteries on and the Total BitHead’s digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and power amp section will run off the internal batteries for ultra-clean performance and lower power drain on your computer. Match that up with a great pair of headphones, and music and movies on your computer will never have sounded so good.

[RoninBlade]

Chu Moy headphone amplifier

Chu Moy designed a very popular headphone amplifier that’s easy to build, and it can be built small enough to fit in a pocket, power supply and all. It’s powerful enough to drive very inefficient headphones to thunderous volumes from even weak sources, and it sounds excellent considering that you can build a bare-bones CMoy amp for just and a pretty nice amp for under . Considering that the cheapest of the worthy commercial amps and most of them are in the range, this is a very worthwhile cost difference.

[Fabian]

HeadRoom Total Air Head Headphone Amplifier:

Total AirHead portable headphone amp between your portable player and quality headphones and, presto-chango, the space between your ears becomes your own personal listening room. How does it do it? Behind most headphone jacks is a very cheap op-amp. The Total AirHead is a true miniature power amplifier for headphones. It isolates your player from the complex load of the headphones (which make the player even sound better), and it drives them with the authority and finesse of quality power amplification. The result? Exquisite audio right between your ears.

In the process, so to speak, we also include a special circuit you can switch on/off called "crossfeed" which makes headphones more natural sounding by improving soundstage imaging. The crossfeed makes the audio image on headphones more cohesive and well-detailed; its not taking it out of the head but rather creating a more coherent sound within your head. Between the TAH's crossfeed and its great power amp circuit you end up with eye-blinkingly tight bass & drums; snappy cymbals, well-located in space without tinny harshness; and a liquid-smooth yet neutral & fully present midrange.

Controlling your Total AirHead as it controls your headphones is a piece of cake. Two parallel headphone jacks in the corners let you and a friend plug in simultaneously. (Headphones with similar impedances/efficiencies will generally play at about the same volume). The switch on the left is the on-off switch, then the power-on LED, volume control, clipping/battery low indicator, and crossfeed switch.