I am trying to run my HD560s off of an old Sony hcd-n455 (through the aux) but no matter the volume they sound boomy and wrong, whereas this doesn't with my other lower impedance headphones (oneodio 32 ohms and marshall major 3, 32 ohms as well).
Also, I can avoid this by connecting both the HD 560s and major 3 simultaneously (the major 3 has two jack sockets) but I think this may stress the amp, is it safe?
Any input by people is welcome and thank you for reading all this.
Also, I can avoid this by connecting both the HD 560s and major 3 simultaneously (the major 3 has two jack sockets) but I think this may stress the amp, is it safe?
Any input by people is welcome and thank you for reading all this.
Hi and welcome to the forum! I'll give some clarification and ask a question to hopefully start the ball rolling.
The Marshall Major 3 has 3.5 mm sockets on both sides of the headphones so that a friend can connect their headphones to the Major 3.
The HD560S is 120 ohm and the Marshall 3 is 32 ohm.
The Sony HCD-N455 appears to be a compact Hi-Fi stereo system (images attached).
What, precisely, do you mean by running your headphones "through the aux"?
The Marshall Major 3 has 3.5 mm sockets on both sides of the headphones so that a friend can connect their headphones to the Major 3.
The HD560S is 120 ohm and the Marshall 3 is 32 ohm.
The Sony HCD-N455 appears to be a compact Hi-Fi stereo system (images attached).
What, precisely, do you mean by running your headphones "through the aux"?
Attachments
Ooof bad wording, sorry, the video input (aux) is connected to a phone, the headphones themselves (be it simultaneously or just the hd560s) are connected to the front 6.3 jack labeled as "phones".
The system has a phones output with a 6.3 jack, the aux is connected to my phone xd
32 ohm is classed as 'low impedance' and 120 ohm is classed as 'high impedance'.
It seems your amplifier's headphone output is designed to work best with low impedance headphones.
When you plug the Major 3 into the HD560S the two headphones are connected in parallel which gives a low impedance combination.
The parallel combination will not stress your amplifier.
Another way to look at it is that your Sennheisers are high quality headphones which deserve a decent, stand alone headphone amplifier.
While listening to the headphones, do you still have some eq engaged? Like 'pop', 'rock&roll', 'classical'...typical of these midi systems?
Perhaps you should turn it off, or experiment with custom settings.
Your Sony HCD-N455 compact stereo system is highly unlikely to have a dedicated headphone amplifier.
Instead, attenuating resistors (typically 470 ohm) will be placed between the amplifier output and the headphone jack socket in order to protect the delicate headphones from the full power of the amplifier.
Such an arrangement offers poor damping which will alter the frequency response of the headphones from what it is intended to be - in your case making your Sennheisers sound "boomy". Other headphones can experience this alteration of tonality to a greater or lesser degree than the HD560S.
I've seen a test where the Sennheiser HD 560S headphones were used with 470 ohm series resistors which resulted in a 3.5 dB bass boost at around 60 Hz.
The solution is to use a dedicated amplifier which boasts a low impedance headphone output.
Instead, attenuating resistors (typically 470 ohm) will be placed between the amplifier output and the headphone jack socket in order to protect the delicate headphones from the full power of the amplifier.
Such an arrangement offers poor damping which will alter the frequency response of the headphones from what it is intended to be - in your case making your Sennheisers sound "boomy". Other headphones can experience this alteration of tonality to a greater or lesser degree than the HD560S.
I've seen a test where the Sennheiser HD 560S headphones were used with 470 ohm series resistors which resulted in a 3.5 dB bass boost at around 60 Hz.
The solution is to use a dedicated amplifier which boasts a low impedance headphone output.
Yes but what I don't understand why damping factor isn't present when using low impedance headphones or two in parallel, I may have a misconception about damping factor
If a set of headphones has an uneven impedance curve, then a high series resistance will change the frequency balance of the signal from the amplifier
Perhaps putting the Marshalls in parallel with the Sennheisers results in a more even impedance curve and prevents the latter from sounding "boomy".
Also your Marshalls, as Marcel says, may have a more even impedance curve than the Sennheisers, explaining why they sound good on their own.
P.S. As you are a newcomer to the forum, MinasBB, you may be unaware that the forum rules ask you not to quote an entire previous post as this clutters up the thread, making it difficult to navigate. Best to use selective quoting as I have just done regarding your previous post.
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Out of interest, I took a peek: https://store.hiby.com/pages/hiby-fc3-audio-componentry
Looks cool! 😎