Good Headphone Amp

Gold said:

Apple takes its audio seriously. They are always recruiting at AES shows. Every time I've seen tests done on the audio hardware in iOS devices it has been quite good.

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I had lots of strange results with apple devices. They tend to reverse polarity between l and r sometimes (but not always). At least they were... i stopped using them to check my PA settings once i discovered that problem.

Cheers,

Thomas

I used this little module (CJMCU-1308) for a recent custom project.
It sounds pretty damn good and pretty damn loud.
Just add a stereo 10K log pot at the input as a passive volume control.

But if you want to go DIY, the basic CMoy circuit is also a good headphone amp according to many who has built it. Unfortunately tho, mine sounds heavily distorted.

totoxraymond said:

I had lots of strange results with apple devices. They tend to reverse polarity between l and r sometimes (but not always).

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Reverse polarity or swap left and right? I know that if a PCM stream misses a leading edge the channels can get swapped. That used to happen with TC Electronic devices.

Gold said:

Reverse polarity or swap left and right? I know that if a PCM stream misses a leading edge the channels can get swapped. That used to happen with TC Electronic devices.

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Not LR swap, actual reversed polarity on one channel (not both). Got the problem several times from different sources (all apple devices of different generations).

squarewave said:

Then I want to know who makes headphones with the lightning connector and a deliberately very flat frequency response because I need some.

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Just got "belkin ROCKSTAR Headphones with Lightning Connector" and they sound completely different. So the iPhone ear buds do appear to be boosting bass which is a little absurd if I must say.

squarewave said:

So the iPhone ear buds do appear to be boosting bass which is a little absurd if I must say.

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But it's because it's what people want, and why they sell so well, despite their outrageous price.
There is the same absurdity with touring sound systems, grossly inflated bass, that makes every kickdrum stroke a hammerfist in the chest.
Fortunately, studio monitors have not followed the same trend...yet.

New technology that's not better than the old tech is starting to become "a thing" and it's super annoying. I could recite 5 examples right now without blinking.

I don't doubt that it sells better especially if people are listening to pop music and they are in business to sell stuff so .... But they should make it possible to disable it. No doubt it's the DAC in the connector doing it so it would think it should be fairly easy to make it a controllable property.

I miss Steve Jobs.

squarewave said:

New technology that's not better than the old tech is starting to become "a thing" and it's super annoying. I could recite 5 examples right now without blinking.

I don't doubt that it sells better especially if people are listening to pop music and they are in business to sell stuff so .... But they should make it possible to disable it. No doubt it's the DAC in the connector doing it so it would think it should be fairly easy to make it a controllable property.

I miss Steve Jobs.

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Yeap, if its not being used by the mainstream or being promoted by Dr. Dre, people don't care about the sound of headphones. Why get decent headphones when you can get crappy, bluetooth, overpriced earphones for 4 times the price and sold by the apple store?

squarewave said:

New technology that's not better than the old tech is starting to become "a thing" and it's super annoying. I could recite 5 examples right now without blinking.

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not a new thing, the three legs of successful sales 1) the SKU people want, 2) for the price people want, 3) when and where people want. Sometimes the merchandising win is from being similar to old, but for lower price.

I don't doubt that it sells better especially if people are listening to pop music and they are in business to sell stuff so .... But they should make it possible to disable it. No doubt it's the DAC in the connector doing it so it would think it should be fairly easy to make it a controllable property.

I miss Steve Jobs.

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I don't.

Apples success appears to come from providing a superior customer experience(?) that supports premium pricing.

Over the years Apple has taken some other company's invention, but did a better job executing. Now apple is threatening to make and sell electric vehicles... I guess that technology is mature enough for them to put their apple spin on it.

JR