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NaZul15 OP t1_iudtr4i wrote

Reply to comment by MrTubby1 in Question: what headphones can take balanced output? by NaZul15

it made a huge difference on my mdr 1am2 on the qudelix 5k, just saying.

(Edit: idk why you guys can't take me seriously. I 100% guarantee this isn't a case of placebo. Bass is definitely a lot tighter. Not talking about the increase in volume.)

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MrTubby1 t1_iudus0p wrote

But is a bad balanced headphone guaranteed to sound better than a good single ended headphone?

Balanced simply for the sake of balanced is meaningless.

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Discoveryellow t1_iudwqwq wrote

But if it's for the sake of double braided oxygen-free snake-oiled cable, it will enhance the proverbial sound perception in the front cortex responsible for cognitive separation with a wad of cash.

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NaZul15 OP t1_iue01r9 wrote

It's a pretty great pair, sounds fairly similar to my akg k400, just less separation and soundstage, and more bass.

Bit more vshaped, but pretty close to the harman target, and a little warm. A bit boomy when i used it single ended, but it got a lot better when i used it balanced. Idk why either, but it's definitely not placebo. Volume isn't a problem bc it's only 16 ohms.

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ElectronicVices t1_iue1t9y wrote

Certain devices may favor one output over the other, it doesn't make the "balanced" headphone output universally "better". Let me use the Cayin iHA-6 and your Sony as an example... via the trs (SE) output they would see a 10 ohm output impedance to a 16 ohm nominal headphone, this is an impedance matching issue. Assuming the Sonys are like most dynamic headphones there will be a rise in impedance near the reasonance frequency of the driver... in the bass region... that gets boosted when fed a high output impedance.

Via either the dual 3 pin XLR or 4 pin XLR that same Cayin has a .3 ohm output impedance which would NOT result in any measurable FR changes. Headphones below 80 ohms are best ran via these "balanced outputs", above that threshold there are minimal differences between the two on that device.

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NaZul15 OP t1_iue2ezn wrote

Interesting. Does that mean higher impedance headphones don't have this problem as much?

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ElectronicVices t1_iue2j04 wrote

I was in the process of a quick edit, see above now.

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NaZul15 OP t1_iue2yb4 wrote

Good to know, thank you. I knew it wasn't placebo, but i'm not surprised by these skeptical audiophiles, bc there's a lot of snake oil in this community.

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ElectronicVices t1_iue68o6 wrote

That particular amp allows you to take impedance matching a bit further... one of the TRS jacks is 120 ohm output impedance, only really useful with HD800, T1 Gen 1, etc... but can be fun to experiment with.

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vext01 t1_iudwdup wrote

I couldn't detect any difference with balanced apart from volume.

I think balanced only makes sense over distance.

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NaZul15 OP t1_iue1576 wrote

Hey i'm not making this up haha, idk how i hear a difference either

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Natrisodium t1_iudvfr8 wrote

I'm convinced that the HUGE difference you mentioned is the VOLUME

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NaZul15 OP t1_iudxl9m wrote

Nope. Bass is tighter and less muddy. Not placebo

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Clickbaitllama t1_iue7yge wrote

You do realize that it could be your brain just believing the bass is tighter, hence it being placebo?

Like not trying to be an ass but saying "the bass is tighter I hear it" isn't a very good defense to someone saying that what you hear is placebo.

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NaZul15 OP t1_iue8xv8 wrote

Bro.. Why so skeptical? I could definitely hear it.

Answer from another commenter: > Certain devices may favor one output over the other, it doesn't make the "balanced" headphone output universally "better". Let me use the Cayin iHA-6 and your Sony as an example... via the trs (SE) output they would see a 10 ohm output impedance to a 16 ohm nominal headphone, this is an impedance matching issue. Assuming the Sonys are like most dynamic headphones there will be a rise in impedance near the reasonance frequency of the driver... in the bass region... that gets boosted when fed a high output impedance.

> Via either the dual 3 pin XLR or 4 pin XLR that same Cayin has a .3 ohm output impedance which would NOT result in any measurable FR changes. Headphones below 80 ohms are best ran via these "balanced outputs", above that threshold there are minimal differences between the two on that device.

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Clickbaitllama t1_iuekt4l wrote

i’m not skeptical, what i’m saying is that your defense doesn’t in any way disprove that what you are hearing is placebo. I’m not giving any opinion if what you are hearing is placebo or not

And fyi, while what the redditor you are quoting is right, what he is saying doesn’t apply to you since the Quedlix has the same output impendance from the balanced and unbalanced port, meaning it wouldn’t be a factor. He was using a complelty diffrent amp as an example.

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NaZul15 OP t1_iuepwcb wrote

Then maybe the increase in voltage. The difference is big enough to safely say it's not placebo. If that was the case all headphones are different from eachother because of placebo, not bc they actually sound a little different (hd600 and hd650 for example)

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Clickbaitllama t1_iuerzyd wrote

  1. Like everyone is saying, it’s probably because you are listening to source louder than the other. Louder usually equals better, especially in the bass region

  2. The reason why we know that a hd650 sounds diffrent than an hd600 is because there are a multitude of graphs published by established sources with industry equipment that show those 2 headphones are diffrent

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NaZul15 OP t1_iueu0qp wrote

I purposefully try to listen at the same volume bc i don't wanna damage my hearing, and the hd600 thing is just figurative

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NaZul15 OP t1_iue0hwz wrote

Idk what the downvote was for. Volume isn't even a problem bc THIS PAIR IS ONLY 16 OHMS jeez

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