Doomster69
Active Member
Hi all,
Im using my HPs with the headphone out from marantz PM5005 (pure analog amp, no digital ins or outs). Compared to portable options (Nx4, Q1Mk2), the sound output is quite good. Just out of curiosity, contacted marantz customer to check specs. Got a reply stating the output impedance for headphone out on the unit is 400 Ohms. No reply given on power output specs (wonder why?).
Now, going by the rule of 1/8th & factoring HP impedance of 37 Ohms (planars) and 300 ohms (senn), the headamp output impedance is not at all favourable. However, my use case doesn't seem to throw any issues and contrarily, the SQ is actually quite good. Since the amp uses speaker taps, assuming there is sufficient volume/gain to peak out the planar HPs before reaching distortion.
Some of the questions that come to mind:
Im using my HPs with the headphone out from marantz PM5005 (pure analog amp, no digital ins or outs). Compared to portable options (Nx4, Q1Mk2), the sound output is quite good. Just out of curiosity, contacted marantz customer to check specs. Got a reply stating the output impedance for headphone out on the unit is 400 Ohms. No reply given on power output specs (wonder why?).
Now, going by the rule of 1/8th & factoring HP impedance of 37 Ohms (planars) and 300 ohms (senn), the headamp output impedance is not at all favourable. However, my use case doesn't seem to throw any issues and contrarily, the SQ is actually quite good. Since the amp uses speaker taps, assuming there is sufficient volume/gain to peak out the planar HPs before reaching distortion.
Some of the questions that come to mind:
- Would the high output impedance be damaging for the HPs, especially the planar HPs due to impedance differences (despite outputting sufficient current)?
- What difference would dedicated headamp with typical 0.1 ohms output impedance bring?
- Does the high current feedback typology in the marantz amp make it better than dedicated headamp?
- Does the high output impedance impact traits like noise floor, distortion, etc.?