What is ohms in headphones

Impedance is very technical measurement that is hard to explain without equations and scientific jargon. We'll simplify it and break it down in terms of headphones with low and high impedance. Most headphones with low impedance less than 25 ohms, approximately require little power to deliver high audio levels. For example, low impedance headphones will work well with equipment with weak amplification like portable music players, phones, and other portable devices.

Headphones with higher impedance 25 ohms and over, approximately demand more power to deliver high audio levels. The thinner wires have more windings layers of wire on the voice-coil than the lower-impedance Beyerdynamic headphones, which have thicker and heavier, easier-to-manufacture voice coils. The lower moving mass of the and ohm headphones' voice coils is lighter than the ohm models, and the lower mass is part of the reason high-impedance headphones sound better.

The smaller diameter of the ohm voice coil wires allows the wires to fit tighter, so there's less air between the windings, and that makes the electromagnetic field of the voice coil stronger. All of that reduces distortion for the high-impedance versions compared with the low-impedance headphones. Weidemann pointed out that while most speakers' impedance range covers a narrow band between 4 and 8 ohms or 16 ohms on my Zu Druid V speakers ; headphones can be as low as 8 ohms and as high as ohms!

That's why Beyerdynamic's high-end headphone amps like the A2 have a switch to optimize their sound for use with low- or high-impedance headphones. Weidemann's explanation for why battery-powered devices perform best with low-impedance headphones is based on this: Most portable players use from 3-volt to a maximum of 5-volt batteries, that means the signal voltage at the output is low, but they can still deliver high current with low-impedance headphones, and the sound will be fine.

However, if you plug in a high-impedance headphone to a portable device the voltage and current will be low, so the headphone won't play loudly at all, and dynamics will be reduced.

Summing up, if you're interested in headphones that'll be used with portable battery-powered music players and at home with a receiver or integrated amp, stick with low impedance, under ohm headphones.

If it's going to be a strictly stay-at-home headphone, high-impedance models from Beyerdynamic, Sennheiser and other brands should be considered. It's worth noting that Beyerdynamic and Sennheiser's very best headphones are only available in high-impedance versions. The Purpose? When properly powered, a headphone has enough juice to perform to the best of its ability. The extra power helps in dealing with demanding music like bass-heavy tracks or orchestral music.

This is where that extra reservoir of power comes in handy to provide the much-needed extra power to perform.

Some headphone DACs also offer a little bit of amplification. This helps a headphone perform admirably. What about headphones with higher impedances? Good question. The 32 ohm variant can most likely be powered by most smartphones, DAPs and laptops. Because the amplifier on these devices do not have enough juice to power the headphone. Plug in the wonderfully versatile Schiit Magni or even the popular Chord Mojo and check out the performance.

When buying a headphone with higher impedance than say what your smartphone or DAP can provide, try and research which amp would be best for your headphone. Too much power can definitely harm your headphones. Plus some headphones need a very peculiar amplifier to match. As impedance is an inherent quality of a headphone, some in-ears mostly audiophile and professional ones need amplification too.

This, however, is not true. High impedance headphones also serve another purpose. Case in point - DJ headphones. Headphones with 32 ohms can easily be blown if used in this scenario.

Hence, a high impedance headphone would be more at home handling the power supplied to it while delivering admirable audio performance. Exposure to knowledge leads to wisdom. Yeah, you can quote us on that. We hope you now understand how impedance and subsequently impedance matching play a crucial part in its performance.