RE: Solid state headphone amp with SET sound

Posted by triamp (A) on September 16, 2016 at 04:54:13

In Reply to: Solid state headphone amp with SET sound posted by aarocks on September 3, 2016 at 06:27:52:

I think it would be useful to more clearly characterize what you mean by "SET sound." You can't actually hear an amplifier just by itself- you have to connect it to speakers or headphones first....

Do you mean the sound of a good quality SET amp driving high-efficiency horn speakers? That's how most of us have "heard a SET amp," it's what I think of when I think of "SET sound." You won't get that sound from headphones, really. A horn speaker of 2-way or 3-way (or MORE-way) design presents a fairly complex load to the SET amp and there will a deviation from flat frequency response due to ohms-law interactions between the amp's source (output) impedance and the impedance of the speaker which will vary with frequency. Headphones don't exhibit so much impedance variation over frequency as do speakers, so the SET amp and headphones just can't sound the same as that same amp with the 2- or 3-way speakers.

A single-driver speaker would be closer to the impedance characteristics of headphones, but even here the speaker will show a lot more variation of impedance over frequency than headphones will.

So, if by "SET sound" you mean the way a SET sounds on speakers, well, you're just not likely to get that particular flavor with headphones, no matter what amp you use.
Science doesn't care what you believe.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Solid state headphone amp with SET sound - aarocks 06:27:52 09/03/16 (17)

RE: Solid state headphone amp with SET sound - triamp 04:54:13 09/16/16 (1)

RE: What is "SET sound"? - genungo 07:23:57 09/16/16 (0)

RE: Solid state headphone amp with SET sound - triamp 01:52:27 09/09/16 (0)

Try the new Pass Labs headphone amp! nt - RealStereo 13:21:42 09/05/16 (2)

Expensive, partly because the HPA-1 is a preamp/headphone amp - genungo 14:14:05 09/05/16 (0)

RE: Try the new Pass Labs headphone amp! - aarocks 14:12:48 09/05/16 (0)

The Pass SIT amp only makes "some" sense - RGA 20:47:27 09/04/16 (0)

RE: Solid state headphone amp with SET sound - SoundMann 07:55:50 09/04/16 (2)

RE: Solid state headphone amp with SET sound - aarocks 13:37:11 09/04/16 (1)

Headphone amp converters - genungo 15:04:26 09/04/16 (0)

RE: Solid state headphone amp with SET sound - hahax@verizon.net 20:30:53 09/03/16 (2)

Try this for SS triode - Frihed89 21:03:37 09/03/16 (1)

RE: Try this for SS triode - horn kid 06:14:08 09/04/16 (0)

Is there a DIY recipe for point-to-point headphone tube amp? - FenderLover 10:53:42 09/03/16 (1)

RE: Is there a DIY recipe for point-to-point headphone tube amp? - Awe-d-o-file 07:12:07 09/04/16 (0)

RE: Solid state headphone amp with SET sound - mkuller 10:07:08 09/03/16 (0)

RE: Solid state headphone amp with SET sound - genungo 07:03:59 09/03/16 (0)

Follow Ups

RE: Solid state headphone amp with SET sound - triamp 04:54:13 09/16/16 (1)

RE: What is "SET sound"? - genungo 07:23:57 09/16/16 (0)

RE: Solid state headphone amp with SET sound

Post a Message!