Sennheiser PC37X randomly goes bad after disconnecting the cable ?
Greetings, Yesterday I was using my headset like normal with my macbook, just listening to music and on a call with people like usual, and the headset was perfectly fine. The stock wire that came with the headset is extremely long and yesterday it annoyed me very much that it kept getting tangled with itself, so I decided to see if the cable is replaceable. I pulled out the cable from the headset and saw the adapter, and looked online for a replacement. Upon plugging it back in, the audio sounded extremely muffled and washed out. Im not sure what I did wrong to make it mess up like that as I've always taken good care of it, ive had it for about 2 years and its always just been chilling on my desk, but anywho I thought the cable just went bad and ordered a replacement. The replacement came, and the issue is still persistant, so I am not sure what the issue is I've tried multiple different headsets and the issue is not with the port, and I also tried it with my windows laptop and...
Apr 23, 2024
I can tell you that the math only makes sense on these things if it's efficiency (dB/mW). That's the assumption I've been working from.
If it's sensitivity (dB/V) you need an amp that can drive 35V at 1A to kinda drive them properly. 35V*1A=35W, or is a loudspeaker amp to those who don't speak audio math.
If it's efficiency, you only need to be able to drive around 6V-8V @ ~200mA. Practice tells me this is closer to the truth as well. O2 drives them wonderfully and it lands right in that range.
Schiit Magni 1 Specs:
Frequency Response: 20Hz-20Khz, -0.1db, 2Hz-200KHz, -3dB Maximum Power, 32 ohms: 1.2W Maximum Power, 50 ohms: 1.0W Maximum Power, 300 ohms: 260mW Maximum Power, 600 ohms: 130mW THD: Less than 0.005%, 20Hz-20KHz, at 1V RMS IMD: Less than 0.007%, CCIF SNR: Greater than 100db, unweighted, referenced to 1V RMS Crosstalk: -70dB, 20 Hz-20KHz Output Impedance: Less than 0.1 ohms Gain: 5 (14db) Topology: Fully discrete FET/bipolar, Class AB, DC coupled throughout Protection: standard failsafe DC power input and muting relay Power Supply: “wall wart” style 16VAC transformer, regulated +/- 15V rails Power Consumption: 4W
Having your amp be "loud enough" is not a good indicator that you're getting everything in the signal. I can make my HD6XX "loud enough" using my phone, but I must say that it sounds terrible.
Why is it so complicated? Because engineers don't often consider trying to make things as simple as this easy for those without the same mathematical backgrounds. There's been an interesting set of articles ongoing on innerfidelity by Bob Katz discussing this very topic. Look got thr "How Insensitive" series.
If headphone manufacturers were to use units of X dBSPL for Y dBu to indicate sensitivity/efficiency rather that dB/mW or dB/V and amp manufacturers were to follow suit and use dBu to indicate their output power, the math becomes simple addition which most folks can manage. That's the short version, but I'd encourage you to read the articles.
By the way, the headphones I'm discussing are these, the HE4XX.
You need to be able to get higher than 120dB due to sporadic high level transients that show up in tracks fairly often. O2 will definitely get you there for HE4xx. You do not want to listen at that level for any sustained period of time though. Its sound stage on O2 is fairly flat as well but compared to HD6xx, for example, HE4xx's sound stage is enormous and O2 is all I'm driving them with. O2 sounds quite good, but it doesn't have the sound stage that some amps do. I don't know of anything that beats it for the money though, unless you build it yourself.
Try it out and see if you like it ;-)
I joined the Massdrop O2 drop, thanks again.
NwAvGuy also indicates that peaks of 30dB above your RMS listening levels are quite common. I don't consider it fully driven until you can cover 90dBSPL rms which puts the peaks at 120dB with some overhead. Running too near to the rails causes distortion in the signal so I prefer to have some overhead. I know, 90dB is pretty damn loud, but sometimes I just really get into a track.