Massdrop x AKG K7XX Audiophile Headphones Discussions | Drop

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Massdrop x AKG K7XX Audiophile Headphones

Audiophile

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Massdrop x AKG K7XX Audiophile Headphones

IronMoji

Feb 25, 2015

This is my first time buying a high end headphone, and I have seen a lot of posts discussing the use of amps with this headphone. Can someone explain to me why the amp seems necessary?
And since I have a gaming laptop , do you think the audio jack can provide enough power to this headphone?

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Kyaku

Feb 25, 2015

IronMojito get clean controlled sound, less noise when turned up high. With a headset that is higher end you want to take advantage of it and use it to its full potential.

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Oktyabr

Feb 25, 2015

IronMojiIt is a low efficiency headphone = needs more power to sound it's best. You could probably run it off your laptop jack or even a cell phone but that isn't ideal. No headroom: your amp should be able to supply more power than YOU need it to. An amp that runs out of power can produce clipping and other forms of distortion.

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Tacoboy

Feb 25, 2015

IronMojiAKG K 700 series usually sound their best when used with a decent headphone amplifier. Your gaming laptop might(?) be able to drive them decently, but you might consider getting an external headphone amplifier, or even an external DAC/amp, to drive the KXX. here is a link to a thread on Head-Fi dedicated to the KXX, you might consider reading up and posting questions there. http://www.head-fi.org/t/743280/new-release-the-k7xx-massdrop-first-edition-an-exclusive-from-massdrop-and-akg

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IronMoji

Feb 25, 2015

OktyabrThanks for the reply. So how should I pick the right amp? Should I compare the input power, the rated impedance, or something else? And is there a ratio of that characteristics I need to check between my laptop, the amp and the headphone?

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IronMoji

Feb 25, 2015

KyakuThanks for the reply. What amps would you suggest and why?

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Kyaku

Feb 25, 2015

IronMojiAs far as 58 ohm headphones go, theyll run off pretty much any source. Its about the pushing the cans to its full potential. Look it as buying a Ferrari, but you get it in automatic and have a governor set at 60 mph, sure itll go and smoothly and quickly.... but theres so much potential untapped. Well theres a few factors you need to think about first, whats your main source? So at home.... on your laptop.... on your mobile phone, iPod or other DAP's.... from there would distinguish if you need a portable solution or non, also if its your laptop you might want to get a portable DAC/AMP combo VIA USB dongle style, its portable and quick to connect to your laptop without needing a external power source. If its a home set up you can go with the schiit solution as most people here are doing.... and if its mobile, which actually works for all cases, something like a fiio e17k which is a dac/amp combo, if your source has a reliable dac in it already then just get an amp like a fiio e12a, i went with a Cayin C5, since my DAPS have decent DACS inside already.........now as to suggestions on which one to get depends on your use. Figure out which is the most used or best solution in your case, then we can begin to reccomend the best solution for your case....

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Tacoboy

Feb 25, 2015

IronMojiTry asking here and it's helpful to state a budget. http://www.head-fi.org/t/743280/new-release-the-k7xx-massdrop-first-edition-an-exclusive-from-massdrop-and-akg

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Oktyabr

Feb 26, 2015

IronMojiHonestly I'd be trying them out of your laptop jack before spending any money on a DAC/AMP, especially since you said it's a "gaming" laptop and might have better than average sound. IF you aren't happy with the volume that way then you could start shopping for an amp or possibly an amp/dac. A budget is a good place to start. Also your primary source (your laptop?) Will you mostly be using it portable, off of battery power, or is there some place to plug in an amp?
Usable amp/dacs run all the way from the $75 Fiio E10K, the $100 Monoprice "Desktop Amp" (it's also a DAC), the Schiit Fulla (USB powered), other Schiit products, all the way up to boutique stuff costing thousands.
Formulas you *might* be concerned about is the damping factor found by dividing the headphone Ohms (62), by the "output impedance" of the amplifier. Ideally you want to end up with a score 8+. Many amp manufacturers don't even disclose this number but fortunately most will also be low enough you really don't need to concern yourself with it. Even the Fiio is around 10 Ohms output impedance which gets you below the 8 mark (62/10=6.2) but many still love the E10K. Personally I run a lightly modded Creek OBH-11 (around $200 on Amazon) and an Audio-GD NFB-12 ($215+ shipping from China). Both are more than enough to drive these headphones.
BTW, it's not the headphone impedance (Ohms) that makes it hard to drive, it's it's fairly low sensitivity.

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gravatos

Feb 27, 2015

IronMojiId say you probably dont need an amp honestly, my phone and laptop both power them just fine at about half volume.... so yea not that different from my crappy little ear buds.

Beast_that_can_talk

Feb 27, 2015

gravatosWith pretty much any AKGs from the last 10+ years, common 2V sources offer plenty of volume.
It's a matter of control of the drivers. When the coil (and thus, diaphragm) moves, it charges or discharges. When given more current, or drained of current, the coil moves. The buffer section of the amplifier has to not only quickly rush higher currents out, but also be able to drain them when coming from the drivers having to change direction or speed of movement quickly. With insufficient damping, the driver can under-shoot and over-shoot, resulting in poorer sound than with sufficient damping. In addition, the output impedance of the amplifier creates a voltage divider that will affect frequency response.
It's not much different than loudspeakers, except for the power magnitudes being off by 3-6 digits, and system costs being off by 2-4 digits.
At a given sensitivity, the lower impedance the driver, the greater damping factor is needed. As the impedance of the driver gets lower, any given output impedance from an amplifier will affect frequency response more than with a higher impedance driver (-0.05dB@500Hz shouldn't be audible, but -0.15dB@500kHz should be). An amplifier with a higher damping factor will have a lower output impedance (by definition). After a point, a higher damping factor will do nothing for a given set of drivers (even if you can measure differences, if they don't make about 0.1dB difference in the sound reaching your ears, you won't hear the differences).
You won't have any problems with it clipping, but if you wanted to get an O2 for listening at home, I'm sure you'd hear the difference.

Oktyabr

Feb 28, 2015

Beast_that_can_talkTechnically correct, and I appreciate you mentioning the "orders of magnitude" difference between the relatively tiny drivers (with tiny xmax) in typical headphones vs. their loudspeaker cousins. The only quibble I might have is the 0.1dB difference in sound. Most people can't detect a 1dB difference and even a 3dB difference may be subtle enough that it is easily ignored or at the very least, hard to accurately place in the freq. spectrum. Now A/Bing high end gear might make the task a *bit* easier, but that's not really what's being discussed here ;)

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Beast_that_can_talk

Feb 28, 2015

OktyabrWhat can be heard in what circumstances varies, so "should" was definitely too strong of wording. However, there has definitely been research finding 0.1dB can be audible. Any very small changes will definitely only be noticed if A/Bing, unless they are higher-order harmonic distrortions in the midrange.

Oktyabr

Feb 28, 2015

Beast_that_can_talk0.1 db? Out of a 80db signal, like music? That sounds pretty extreme. Even my calibrated measurement mic I use for setting up home theaters is no where near that accurate. I'd be interested in reading any research you have backing that up. Personally I've tried completing Philips "Golden Ears" challenge and even 2dB takes me several A/B before I get it right. I'm not claiming my ears are excellent but they aren't terrible either.

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