Hello guys.
A few days ago I got a new headphone.
It’s the Fostex T50RP 50th anniversary edition.So not a T50 in a standard way because it has T60 drivers, T60 earpads and a different headband.My old headphones were audio technica ATH-M30.
I’m only driving them through my PC.
Mainboard is an AsRock B650E Steel Legends Wifi with a Realtek ALC897 Audio Codec sound chip.
The biggest difference compared to my old headphones was that the Fostex headphones were a lot quieter which is probably normal given that they are way harder to drive and given that they are planar headphones. Usually I was using 30% volume on windows and that was more than enough for me. Now with the Fostex headphones I have to use something between 40-50% but I still have the feeling that somehow punchiness is missing. They are way more clearer and more detailed compared to my old headphones but my old headphones had more punch (as in bass). At least that’s what I’m thinking.
I read a few days regarding this “issue” and some people mentioned that the Nahimic sound driver could be an issue. But I tried both… With and without (completely uninstalled everything that was related to it) and it made zero difference. Now when playing songs I can hear still random noises in the background but it’s at the exact same place where it was when listening with my previous headphones. That gives me the impression that a DAC would be a good idea.
My question is now: Is there something I can change on the windows settings to make my Fostex headphones fuller and louder without damaging my ears or is an amplifier the only solution here? Because originally I haven’t planned to purchase amp and/or DAC and finding a good budget option is hard. Already tried looking for something on AVexchange but most people selling CONUS only or one guy doesn’t even reply anymore (he sold a JDS Labs Atom stack but it seems like he is either banned or didn’t came online anymore for a few days now which is a bummer). Also it’s hard finding good options because I’m from Germany so majority of amps would cost extra taxes like Schiit stacks or JDS Labs stacks. But I read about quite a lot of issues with Schiit (ground issues, overheating issues, some headphones died when you did not turn them off etc.). For iFi it’s a bit similar. There seems to be an issue with the autoplay function where everything is delayed somehow. I really don’t know what to do at this point.
Thanks for everybody who is able to help.
Looking at the specs, an Impedance of 50 ohm with a sensitivity of 92dB @ 1mW, I think these headphones would absolutely benefit from a powerful amp. As someone that previously owned a fostex headphone, the T60RP, when paired with an amp that could push 3-4 W, the bass quality improved, and the highs were less harsh. But something that equally benefited the headphones were changing the pads for something deeper like ones from dekoni. That would also have a significant impact on its tuning.
But if you’re on a budget, and you don’t want to have to spend all this money to get an amp and change out the pads, you might be better off selling/returning it and getting something easier to drive. The T50RP’s are popular with modders that want to tinker with these cans.
How exactly did the amp cause the bass quality to be improved and the highs to be less harsh? Like the mechanism, how an amplifier interacted with the headphone to allow these things to happen. I’m curious.
It doesn’t, he’s got placebo. Amps and Dacs don’t unless they’re broken or intentionally designed to introduce distortion like tube amps. What he’s hearing is that his headphones are louder, and that loud = better
Shhhhh. I know. I’m fishing here.
The first thing to consider is the interaction between impedance and sensitivity, to determine if a headphone would even benefit from an amplifier. In other words, are they difficult to drive, or how efficient are they? Manufacturers don’t purposely create difficult to drive headphones just to screw over consumers and make them spend more money, although they could do a better job of making a disclaimer of how best to drive their headphones. A lot of these issues arise from manufacturers not using a universal method of measurements or listing their specs in relevance to 1mw vs 1VRMS, which isn’t easy to translate 1:1.
One quote in reference to how amps change the sound of headphones: “The amps themselves shouldn’t change the sound signature of your headphones but give them the power to have a correct sound signature.” Certain parts of a song may sound recessed if the headphones lack power. It’s also why I believe that the bass is the most immediate part of the frequency to be noticeably different, because the low end frequencies require the most amount of power to move the diaphragm back and forth efficiently, compared to the higher end frequencies. If you’ve ever seen a speaker woofer shake and vibrate when that bass hits. When a not-so-efficient headphone is supplied sufficient power, for example, the bass often tends to tighten up and become punchier.
There’s a lot more other other technical jargon about amplifiers like total harmonic distortion (THD) that I won’t pretend to completely understand. But there’s tons of places you can read about it if you’re interested. You can also check out oratory1990’s page as he’s an audio-engineer that’s also well versed in electroacoustics.
There are a couple of websites that try to calculate and give a guideline as to how much power headphones may need based on their specs that you can try out.
https://www.headphonesty.com/headphone-power-calculator/
https://www.hear.audio/2019/06/01/headphone-power-calculator/