Enlighten me.

[nicholician]

So this will be a noob question, just a heads up.

 

What are the benefits to having a high resistance set of headphones? I mean really, they're less versatile and need more expensive equipment to be driven. So what are the upshots that make everyone go for them despite this?

[xtroria]

In the older days, the output impedance of most headphone amplifiers are high. To take care of this problem, they made high impedance headphones. Even to this date, many professional audio gears have higher output impedance compared to our phones

[nicholician]

In the older days, the output impedance of most headphone amplifiers are high. To take care of this problem, they made high impedance headphones. Even to this date, many professional audio gears have higher output impedance compared to our phones

 

So basically people just do it because it was like that in the olden days? This doesn't make sense to me. I must be getting it wrong.

[KaminKevCrew]

It's because the amp needs to have an impedance that is less that 1/8 (I think) of that of the headphones to prevent distortion. Without higher impedance headphones, the sound would have distorted. Also, your comment about high impedance needing more expensive equipment is incorrect. For instance, midst hifiman headphones have a low impedance, but they are significantly harder to drive than something like an hd650 (which has am impedance of 300-500 ohms, depending on frequency.)

[xtroria]

So basically people just do it because it was like that in the olden days? This doesn't make sense to me. I must be getting it wrong.

 

Well, because people still use tube amplifiers and most of them have either higher output impedance, or more noisy. I find it easier to deal with high impedance headphones rather than the super-low ones. At least with high impedance, i just need to supply more power to them

[Enderman]

there is less distortion/EMI when there is more power flowing

small EMI interference will be much more noticeable on low impedance than high impedance

[nicholician]

there is less distortion/EMI when there is more power flowing

small EMI interference will be much more noticeable on low impedance than high impedance

 

With my basic knowledge of how electricity works, I can see how this is and now understand why people like these sort of things. 

 

Although I probably won't be going for it anytime soon, since I just want one pair of headphones for EVERYTHING at the moment, since I'm a cheap student, and the added value doesn't seem all that worth it to me. Thanks!

[Enderman]

With my basic knowledge of how electricity works, I can see how this is and now understand why people like these sort of things. 

 

Although I probably won't be going for it anytime soon, since I just want one pair of headphones for EVERYTHING at the moment, since I'm a cheap student, and the added value doesn't seem all that worth it to me. Thanks!

as long as you have a good audio source, you dont need high impedance to get great sound