Headphone amps, external power supplies: what difference do they make?, was: "First post here, Hi." Options

[1096bimu]

Ever since I was told that it is possible to tell 320kbps CBR from loseless, I've had some interest in hi-fi, and that was a few years ago. Today, I use an ASUS Xonar Essance sound card and an AKG Q701 headphone. I am pretty confident that it sounds better than all the cheaper alternatives I've had before, and I am quite proud of my own ability to eliminate biases without blind testing (because of lack of equipment). However, 320kbps MP3 is still transparent to me. The absolute best I can do is tell 128kbps, and it is extremely difficult as I have to go through the samples multiple times to try and spot one or two obvious distortions, and tell from that. If I couldn't find any than they sound identical to me. I have read through many of the FAQs, compilation of test results and older posts so I know this isn't uncommon and isn't what I am worried about. I keep everything loseless even though I can't tell the difference because I don't have that many music, only a few gigs which isn't a problem for today's mobile devices (exported selected few from CD images).

The biggest problem is I keep running into this claim that headphone amps are supposed to make ginormous differences, especially with the AKG Q701. Some people say there is more difference with the K701 but aren't they identical except the colors? Of course nobody could show any blind test results and they are nothing more than testimonies. I am not a hard core audiophile I don't have any audiophile friends so it's not possible so it is not possible for me to try out stand alone amps. It just seems to me that many of these audiophiles believe in some kind of mystical superiority of external boxes. You gotta have an external DAC, and an external amp and you have to connect them together. I mean today they are just intergraded circuits why do they have to be external? The Xonar Essance says "Headphone amp card" and it does have an amplifier chip as well as those small ones that you can swap out and everything, so What's the difference?
In fact, I tried the Q701 on my cell phone, iPad, on-board intergraded audio, and even an iPod shuffle. They sound slightly worse I would say, the difference is quite subtle when compared to the Xonar. And I could not tell any difference between my phone, iPad and iPod shuffle.

I've also heard that you have to use an external power supply (it has a port that plugs into the computer power supply) for the Xonar to "bring out its full potential". Again, what's the difference? are computer power supplies not stabilized? I guess I also count as an overclocker so I know how voltages in the computer are set to two or three digits after the decimal, it is really sensitive stuff. I mean maybe the computer with its variable power requirement will destabilize the power source, but I don't listen to music while playing games or anything, I leave the computer idle for that. Also being a fairly high-end spec, the -12V power supply has a capacity of 650W (for 12V alone) , isn't that enough head room for small fluctuations?

[arward72]

The external power connector for the ASUS Xonar is either a 4 pin Molex cable as used on Hard Drives or it is (believe it or not)
the exact same 4 pin plug that powers a 3 1/2 in 1.44Mb floppy diskette drive.
Use of this power connection for the soundcard is absolutely essential.
I have the ASUS Xonar DX myself which uses a floppy connector and i also recently installed an ASUS Xonar Essence STX on a friends PC
which also uses the floppy connection.


http://asia-pacific-india.beyerdynamic.com...ones.html#fo546


I hope the below explains better the difference between headphone types/designs than my previous post.
I remembered where i'd seen the information just minutes after my previous post as always inevitably happens.


The differences between closed and open headphones are:
1) the strong ambient noise attenuation with closed headphones (and vice versa: the “outside world” cannot hear what is playing on the headphones) and
2) the better spatial sound with open headphones. In principle, semi-open headphones are a mix of both and attempt to combine the respective advantages of each type.

Open, semi-open or closed? What is the difference?

As already explained in the in-ear headphones topic, the bass response is very good with in-ear headphones, since the space between the diaphragm and eardrum is “closed”, so to speak. In principle, these are closed systems. However, the conclusion that closed headphones have the best bass response is not completely correct, because the system works in a manner that is completely different from that of in-ear headphones. This is a topic that is not easy to explain and would make this article too long.

The biggest differences between closed and open headphones are: 1) the strong ambient noise attenuation with closed headphones (and vice versa: the outside world cannot hear what is playing on the headphones) and 2) the better spatial sound with open headphones. In principle, semi-open headphones are a mix of both and attempt to combine the respective advantages of each type. If we look at the issue from a mechanical standpoint, we recognize that open headphones have an advantage in comparison to those that are closed: the air volume that is closed off between the diaphragm and the headphone shell attenuates the vibration of the diaphragm. With open headphones, there is pressure compensation through the shell, which has a positive influence on the impulse fidelity, among other effects. The greater attenuation of the diaphragm also decreases the risk of uncontrolled vibrations.

The choice of headphones on the basis of how they sound depends on what we want to listen to, of course. For classical and jazz music, which have less of a bass component, but for which very high impulse fidelity is of particular importance, open headphones are the perfect choice. For pop and rock music, semi-open or closed headphones are the preferred choice.

In the end, which operating principle is suitable depends on the application (where do we want to use the headphones?). If the headphones are to be used in a quiet environment (in a music studio for mixing or listening to music, for example) you can freely choose headphones according to type and personal taste. If the headphones are to be used by a musician for monitoring purposes during a recording, headphones should be selected that attenuate ambient noise very well and that in turn shield sound from escaping into the environment, so that the sound produced by the headphones is not picked up by the microphone.

This post has been edited by arward72: Dec 11 2012, 00:02