Question About Setting In Audio Driver?

[SAT01]

In my audio driver (Realtek), there is a setting called "Amplifier" and it has two options: Front Panel and Auto Switch.My headphones are plugged into the rear of the computer. When I select "Auto Switch," my audio gets a bit louder. What does the Amplifier setting do, and should I enable it?

[191x7]

Is that some ALC1220? The "amplifier" detects the impedance of the headphones and adjusts the output voltage to compensate for higher impedance. On such realteks what it does is provide a tiny boost to the low range and the high range making the audio a bit bassier and also seem like more enjoyable.

Real amplifiers amplify everything.

[SAT01]

Just now, 191x7 said:

Is that some ALC1220? The "amplifier" detects the impedance of the headphones and adjusts the output voltage to compensate for higher impedance. On such realteks what it does is provide a tiny boost to the low range and the high range making the audio a bit bassier and also seem like more enjoyable.

Real amplifiers amplify everything.

I believe it is ALC1220. I'm just going to leave it off, makes everything too loud. When you say "real amplifier," do you mean a physical one?

[191x7]

Yeah, it might make everything too loud if it's not set properly. Strange that it detects your headphones need amplification, what model are they?

Feel free to turn the "amp" off or lower the sound volume in Windows/etc.

 

By a real amplifier, I mean a separate device, not something that "smartly senses the impedance".

[SAT01]

7 hours ago, 191x7 said:

Yeah, it might make everything too loud if it's not set properly. Strange that it detects your headphones need amplification, what model are they?

Feel free to turn the "amp" off or lower the sound volume in Windows/etc.

 

By a real amplifier, I mean a separate device, not something that "smartly senses the impedance".

Audio Technica M40x. It could be because my headphones are plugged into the rear I/O (green jack), which is more commonly used for speakers, I believe. 

[SAT01]

8 hours ago, 191x7 said:

Yeah, it might make everything too loud if it's not set properly. Strange that it detects your headphones need amplification, what model are they?

Feel free to turn the "amp" off or lower the sound volume in Windows/etc.

 

By a real amplifier, I mean a separate device, not something that "smartly senses the impedance".

Also, I think I notice a little bit of buzzing with the amplifier enabled, though it's honestly difficult to tell, as it could just be a placebo, or something like that. Is that to be expected?

[an actual squirrel]

It enables the headphone amplifier on the motherboard on the rear jack. This has 2 benefits - it increases the power, so you can go louder with headphones, that's pretty obvious. But it also lowers the output impedance of the rear jack. You want to have low output impedance with headphones. High output impedance will increase the ~100hz frequency more than intended on many sennheiser and beyerdynamic models, for example.

[SAT01]

Just now, an actual squirrel said:

It enables the headphone amplifier on the motherboard on the rear jack. This has 2 benefits - it increases the power, so you can go louder with headphones, that's pretty obvious. But it also lowers the output impedance of the rear jack. You want to have low output impedance with headphones. High output impedance will increase the ~100hz frequency more than intended on many sennheiser and beyerdynamic models, for example.

Okay! So I should enable it? It doesn't seem like there are any reasons not to. Also, I have my headphones connected to the green port on the rear I/O. Is that correct for headphones?

[an actual squirrel]

4 minutes ago, SAT01 said:

Okay! So I should enable it? It doesn't seem like there are any reasons not to.

You are in a tough place, since you said you could hear noise with it enabled, which I think is unacceptable. But I also think that turning it off and having high output impedance is unacceptable.

[SAT01]

Just now, an actual squirrel said:

You are in a tough place, since you said you could hear noise with it enabled, which I think is unacceptable. But I also think that turning it off and having high output impedance is unacceptable.

To be fair, It's very difficult for me to tell if there is actually any buzzing. I have tinnitus, and it tends to show up when I'm listening to music. It could also just be a placebo or something along those lines; it could even just be that the music is too loud with the amplifier enabled, and so it feels like there's some buzzing.

[an actual squirrel]

Well, if you can enable it, and it causes no audible problems, I would then. Btw, this headphone amplifier isn't a standard thing you get with realtek, but what a lot of motherboard companies like Asus have realized that the realtek chip isn't good at driving headphones, so they started adding their own headphone amplifier IC to their boards.

 

The thing people don't realize, is that you often have to configure the driver from the motherboard company, to enable them. Just because the motherboard advertises that it comes with a headphone amp doesn't mean it is automatically turned on!

[SAT01]

Just now, an actual squirrel said:

Well, if you can enable it, and it causes no audible problems, I would then. Btw, this headphone amplifier isn't a standard thing you get with realtek, but what a lot of motherboard companies like Asus have realized that the realtek chip isn't good at driving headphones, so they started adding their own headphone amplifier IC to their boards.

 

The thing people don't realize, is that you often have to configure the driver from the motherboard company, to enable them. Just because the motherboard advertises that it comes with a headphone amp doesn't mean it is automatically turned on!

Yes, I have an Asus board, which I've had for several years. I never even knew this was an option. By default, it's set to Front Panel, probably because they presumed that most headphone users would use the front panel as opposed to the rear I/O.

 

Thanks!

[SAT01]

7 hours ago, an actual squirrel said:

It enables the headphone amplifier on the motherboard on the rear jack. This has 2 benefits - it increases the power, so you can go louder with headphones, that's pretty obvious. But it also lowers the output impedance of the rear jack. You want to have low output impedance with headphones. High output impedance will increase the ~100hz frequency more than intended on many sennheiser and beyerdynamic models, for example.

One other quick thing; Could you explain what you mean by your last sentence? I don't quite undderstand what you mean by output impedance and the "~100hz frequency".

[an actual squirrel]

9 hours ago, SAT01 said:

One other quick thing; Could you explain what you mean by your last sentence? I don't quite undderstand what you mean by output impedance and the "~100hz frequency".

tldr - low output impedance that you get with headphone amps is good.

 

So what you'll notice on a lot of good audio gear is the output impedance spec is really low on the headphone output. For example, Benchmark dac 3 - 0.11 ohms, rme adi 2 dac - 0.1 ohm. The main benefit of this has to do with the fact that high output impedance lowers power output, but it lowers it much more for low impedance loads than high impedance loads. The issue with this is that due to mechanical resonance, the impedance is often high at around 100hz for many open back headphones. You can see that here https://www.innerfidelity.com/images/SennheiserHD598.pdf . So what ends up happening is that you can get much more power into that 100hz region than is really intended, messing up the frequency response.

[SAT01]

2 hours ago, an actual squirrel said:

tldr - low output impedance that you get with headphone amps is good.

 

So what you'll notice on a lot of good audio gear is the output impedance spec is really low on the headphone output. For example, Benchmark dac 3 - 0.11 ohms, rme adi 2 dac - 0.1 ohm. The main benefit of this has to do with the fact that high output impedance lowers power output, but it lowers it much more for low impedance loads than high impedance loads. The issue with this is that due to mechanical resonance, the impedance is often high at around 100hz for many open back headphones. You can see that here https://www.innerfidelity.com/images/SennheiserHD598.pdf . So what ends up happening is that you can get much more power into that 100hz region than is really intended, messing up the frequency response.

I'm new to the world of audio, so I'm not sure I understand all of that, but I'll take your word for it and leave it at Auto Switch. 

Thanks so much for your help! It is greatly appreciated : )

[SAT01]

2 hours ago, an actual squirrel said:

tldr - low output impedance that you get with headphone amps is good.

 

So what you'll notice on a lot of good audio gear is the output impedance spec is really low on the headphone output. For example, Benchmark dac 3 - 0.11 ohms, rme adi 2 dac - 0.1 ohm. The main benefit of this has to do with the fact that high output impedance lowers power output, but it lowers it much more for low impedance loads than high impedance loads. The issue with this is that due to mechanical resonance, the impedance is often high at around 100hz for many open back headphones. You can see that here https://www.innerfidelity.com/images/SennheiserHD598.pdf . So what ends up happening is that you can get much more power into that 100hz region than is really intended, messing up the frequency response.

Actually, one more quick question, since you seem to be really knowledgeable about this stuff! I'm considering picking up a pair of DT 770 Pros @ 80 ohms. Would this be okay without an Amp or DAC, and just my integrated audio? I'm not trying to get into audio engineering or anything like that, so it would just be for games, music, and other media.

 

Edit: I would start a new thread, but it's just a quick question!

[an actual squirrel]

17 minutes ago, SAT01 said:

Actually, one more quick question, since you seem to be really knowledgeable about this stuff! I'm considering picking up a pair of DT 770 Pros @ 80 ohms. Would this be okay without an Amp or DAC, and just my integrated audio? I'm not trying to get into audio engineering or anything like that, so it would just be for games, music, and other media.

 

Edit: I would start a new thread, but it's just a quick question!

I think it is very likely that it will be fine with the integrated audio.

[SAT01]

Just now, an actual squirrel said:

I think it is very likely that it will be fine with the integrated audio.

Is the jump to a dedicated amplifier enough to justify the cost for an 80 ohm pair of headphones?