If you recall the distant nineties, buying headphones, the buyer was already glad that the sound was loud, even if they were heard crackles and wheezing.
In the twenty-first century, people became spoiled by cool gadgets and a large selection of products. You can choose miniature so-called droplets or impressive headphones for your computer. There are wired and wireless headphones of various manufacturers, both European and Chinese.
Moreover, buying them, we pay, first of all, attention to the design and cool brand of the manufacturer, but rarely take into account the technical parameters. Paying attention to which, in fact, is very important. Always bring along a specialist who disassembles headphone and audio equipment in your device. You won’t have to regret the wasted money. Moreover, he will tell you that in really cool models, such a parameter as impedance is important.
What does he mean? We will tell in our article and find out which is better: low resistance or high? And how does it affect the operation of headphones and what types of headphones are definitely worth buying so as not to be wasted.
Headphone impedance - what is it?
It’s worth starting with the very definition of impedance. In fact, it is a purely nominal resistance that occurs at the input to the headphones.
It is formed from the English expression impedance, the translation of which can approximately be voiced as complete resistance. It is formed by the following components:
- resistive
- reactive
For the most part, frequency affects the resistance, this is a very important fact, which should not be forgotten. And also the resistance of the headphones is directly related to the voltage.
How does impedance work?
The choice of headphones should be approached, given their resistance. An important nuance is the type of technique. In the aggregate with which you will use them. Let's figure out for which technical gadgets (phones) this or that type of headphone is suitable:
- For portable technology, the choice of headphones with a lower impedance is recommended,
- For those who buy headphones for stationary items - you need a higher impedance of the headphones.
Is there a middle ground? Of course. The best impedance would be:
- designed for portable devices, has a resistance of sixteen to twenty ohms.
- For the latest European sound reproducing devices, a resistance of exactly sixteen ohms is excellent.
Interesting Facts:Previously, in the seventies, they preferred a high level of impedance, because often the output power of the equipment of that period was overestimated. After that, resistors began to be used, which reduced the output voltage.
In the nineties, technical standards for their resistance were finalized. He began to make one hundred twenty OM. By the 2000s, they gradually began to enjoy popularity with low resistance. After all, it was at that time that the creation of iPods began - players and other more advanced sound-reproducing devices.
Summing up the general characteristics, we note that the impedance is one of the important technical indicators, which has a significant impact on the operation of the headphones. Choosing the type of headphone with the wrong resistance, you risk just throwing money away. Playback will be disgusting, and the headphones will become unusable faster. So consider this important factor when buying a particular model.
What does headphone impedance mean?
Now let's take a closer look at what resistance means. In fact, this is one of the technical parameters that ensure the correct operation of sound reproducing devices. The lower the resistance, the greater the acoustic power of one or another headphone brand. Measure impedance in Ohms, as mentioned earlier.
The technical indicator impedance divides the headphones themselves into two types:
- High resistance - the resistance of this species is usually higher than sixty ohms
- Low resistance - resistance from thirteen to thirty-two Ohms
But here it is important to note one caveat - the headphones are also in-channel, full-sized. And the resistance of these categories will be peculiar. Here is an example:
- Full-size headphones set the headphone resistance to a kind of bar. Less than a hundred ohms for them will be considered low impedance. Those that are more than a hundred are tall.
- Headphones in-channel: low resistance for them means no more than thirty ohms. Those whose resistance exceeds the permissible threshold of thirty - any specialist will call high-resistance.
When choosing them, do not dismiss what impedance they have. Believe me, it is not in vain that they indicate it in the technical parameters of the object as one of the first. When choosing your own, special attention should be paid to these details:
- For portable players and computer audio cards, it is recommended with a low impedance in the range of thirty to eighty ohms.
- For stationary sound systems - resistance in three hundred and more Ohms.
Increased resistance is necessary in the case that small membranes cope with a rather strong impulse of the so-called source. In this case, no ears should not suffer. The noise level at high impedance is reduced. More specifically, in the absence of a sound source, nothing will be heard in the headphones themselves. Even crackles and clicks.
IMPORTANT: Fans of experimentation are not advised to connect them with high resistance to the player. Such an action will not lead to anything good. The volume will be quite low, so the whole signal a lot of resistance "eats" fast. And the device will be discharged in seconds.
What is impedance affected by?
Resistance influences such parameters as sensitivity, duration of work of specific objects. You should study all these technical indicators in detail before choosing headphones for your device.
Sensitivity.
This characteristic is slightly related to power, but more to the categories of voltage and current. Many buyers are sure that sensitivity is identical to the concept of "volume", but this is not entirely true. This statement is more suitable when choosing columns. In the case of headphones, this concept means a little different.
Sensitivity as a parameter should be attributed to voltage. Usually it is equal to one hundred decibels and will be the same for most models. As a rule, no company will release headphones with an indicator above one hundred and forty. Above one hundred and forty decibels, the human ear cannot stand it!
Sensitivity should be determined not by such an indicator as power, but rather by voltage. This is the only way to match the headphones by "volume". Please note that different headphones on the same devices sound at different volumes.
TIP: Sounding less than a hundred decibels, you should not choose for sure. The sound may be too quiet. That no one will like it for sure.
The period of operation of the device.
Few people know, but high impedance increases the duration of the device, and it needs to be charged less often. This is due to the fact that headphone models belonging to the high-resistance variety consume less energy.
In the case of various sophisticated smartphones, a person is deprived of the opportunity to choose. Only low impedance models are suitable here. The only way out of this situation is to look at those products that work in the range of about thirty OM. Then the level of consumed charge will become slightly lower.
When purchasing headphones, do not be fooled by the beautiful packaging. Much more important is the filling and technical indicators. Marketing departments of large companies producing audio equipment and components spend huge amounts of money on design development and consumer surveys. In the understanding of the majority, cool models must have powerful bass. But knowledgeable people are well aware that with such headphones spoil your hearing faster. They should have high-quality sound and the right type of impedance. Do not forget about it, looking at the next bright "dummy".
And you should not save on them, because they directly affect the human hearing. Even if they do not look quite presentable, but at the same time they are above the average price, do not think that they are trying to deceive you. It’s just that the manufacturer focused on quality, and not on the outer wrapper.
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