Headphone Amp Ohm Impedance

[umyrick]

I am looking to buy an amp and I understand everything but what headphone amp ohm impedance mean. I am looking at two different amps and one amp has 2.2 ohm and the other one has 1 ohm. What is the different, and how is this difference noticed?

[Majestic]

Output impedance has to be as low as possible. And at least 1/8th of your headphone impedance for the best match.

[SSL]

I am looking to buy an amp and I understand everything but what headphone amp ohm impedance mean. I am looking at two different amps and one amp has 2.2 ohm and the other one has 1 ohm. What is the different, and how is this difference noticed?

 

Can you link the amp that you're talking about? I'm assuming that you are referring to output impedance, but I'm not sure.

 

In the case of output impedance, it's generally best if the impedance of a headphone be at least 8x the output impedance of the amp. 2.2 ohms is low enough that just about any headphone should be unaffected.

 

The reason that low output impedance is desirable is because high impedance reduces electrical damping of the attached headphone drivers, which results in more distortion in the sound. Keeping output impedance low ensures that the amp does not interact with the headphone in this way, avoiding that distortion.

[umyrick]

Thanks

[umyrick]

http://us.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-x7-limited-edition

[SSL]

http://us.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-x7-limited-edition

 

Ok, like I thought. Should be fine.