Who else was headphone st00pid like me?

[Adieu]

So I upgraded laptops recently (Samsung Galaxy Book Pro) and decided to watch some stuff on that niiice Amoled display.

Except the speakers are PATHETIC.

Tried some headphones... nah

FINALLY got the bright idea to plug in my Focusrite audio interface and use it as a headphone amp.


....wtf have I been doing all this time??? And wth don't headphone manufacturers just frikkin tell you in huge idgit-proof print to use an amp on the box?

 

[Emperoff]

What?

 

[Deadpool_25]

I think he’s saying the headphones sound better through the interface that connected directly to his laptop. I could be wrong. /shrug

 

[ATRguitar91]

What headphones are you using?

 

[diagrammatiks]

Ya what. Headphones are speakers. Speakers like amps.

god didn’t have to give you a notice to eat with your face and shit with your butt did he.

gonna blow your mind. Different headphones have different impedances and react widely different to amps and interfaces.

 

[Adieu]

Yeah I somehow didn't make the connection lol

New enlightened strategy: K240 for amped, K72 to plug straight in

 

[mogar]

About the only thing laptop headphone jacks were made to drive are the 2 for $10 skull candy earbuds and even that's a stretch. Anything more than that is gonna require some sort of amp to get any sort of dynamics out of them. I like the little Fiio amp/dac combos since they're small, affordable, and can open up most headphones to sound halfway decent.

 

[Adieu]

About the only thing laptop headphone jacks were made to drive are the 2 for $10 skull candy earbuds and even that's a stretch. Anything more than that is gonna require some sort of amp to get any sort of dynamics out of them. I like the little Fiio amp/dac combos since they're small, affordable, and can open up most headphones to sound halfway decent.

Still... I was surprised.

Same Samsung Galaxy branded phones and tablets at least drive K72's pretty decently.

This was just so bad I actually bothered with the interface. Wth Sammy?


As to this Fiio thing, is it gonna be a significant improvement from a Scarlett Solo?

 

[youngthrasher9]

I like the little Fiio amp/dac combos since they're small, affordable, and can open up most headphones to sound halfway decent.

I used to have one of these, they are pretty decent.

 

[youngthrasher9]

As to this Fiio thing, is it gonna be a significant improvement from a Scarlett Solo?

IME? No. At least the super small models they make *were not at the time I owned them* even close to as full sounding as my Scarlett 2i4. I think they make some meant to stay on a desk that much nicer than the little guy I had, but that thing was roughly the size of a silver dollar.

 

[diagrammatiks]

Still... I was surprised.

Same Samsung Galaxy branded phones and tablets at least drive K72's pretty decently.

This was just so bad I actually bothered with the interface. Wth Sammy?


As to this Fiio thing, is it gonna be a significant improvement from a Scarlett Solo?

you have fallen down the rabbit hole and now are fucked.

really it depends almost entirely on the r headphones.

guitar speakers are usually only 4 8 or 16 right. Headphones can range from like 32 to 800 ohms.

 

[Shask]

Yeah, it all depends on the impedance. If the headphones have a high impedance, you pretty much have to have a good headphone amplifier to get any volume out of them.

 

[ATRguitar91]

In my experience, most modern phones, computers, or laptops will drive most headphones just fine. I got a dedicated amp to use with my HD600s and 250 ohm DT880s, but I'm not sure it's necessary. They both sound fine with my phone or laptop. They don't get screaming loud, but I try to keep volumes reasonable either way.

In terms of sound quality, I can' notice a huge difference and think there's a lot of placebo effect that goes on in the headphone realm.

 

[laxu]

In my experience, most modern phones, computers, or laptops will drive most headphones just fine. I got a dedicated amp to use with my HD600s and 250 ohm DT880s, but I'm not sure it's necessary. They both sound fine with my phone or laptop. They don't get screaming loud, but I try to keep volumes reasonable either way.

In terms of sound quality, I can' notice a huge difference and think there's a lot of placebo effect that goes on in the headphone realm.

I find that when I use Sonarworks Reference ID to correct the frequency response of my headphones that can lead to a pretty big drop in level to avoid clipping with the correction applied and that means that my Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 2nd gen headphone amp is starting to feel like it's not quite enough with my HD6XX 300 ohm and DT990 Pro 250 ohm headphones. Without it it's fine.

I tested the headphone outputs of my Fractal FM3, Helix Floor and Quad Cortex when I had all three and then compared that to my audio interface and the headphone amp on my old 1980s Marantz stereo receiver. FM3 and Marantz were on par with plenty of output on tap whereas Helix and QC could not push quite as much volume with the HD6XX but still got more than loud enough with still more volume to spare. In terms of sound quality I could not perceive a real difference when the volumes were perceivedly matched but I'd still put the FM3 as the top dog for headphone out.

 

[MoJoToJo]

Yeah I have never had a problem getting decent sound & volume out of the headphone jack on my old laptop ( Dell Latitude 5580 ) using HD280pro's or the old Presonus HD7's. Or my phone a Samsung Note. I guess it depends on your headphone impedance like others have mentioned.

 

[Fenriswolf]

god didn’t have to give you a notice to eat with your face and shit with your butt did he.

I think I've been doing it backwards this whole time.

 

[Mathemagician]

Nah I’m with you for the most part. I KNOW I can listen to music through my headphones. I just never did. Until I was playing guitar along with a song via my FM3 and the Spotify audio also came through my headset and I was like “sheeeeeeee” (or whatever the kids say) this sounds so good!

Oh yeah, $150 headset. Lol.

 

[Symo]

Audioquest Dragonfly - the only way to upgrade laptop headphone output.

 

[cGoEcYk]

Sometimes I just run an aux from my laptop to my 15" powered PA never had volume issues