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12 inch powerbook with high end headphones
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Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Toronto, Canada
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I'm looking to get a pair of highend headphones something from Grado SR 125 - 352i or something from Sennheiser 600 series. Does anyone know if the powerbook audio out jack is good enough to drive headphones? or would I require a headphone amp as well?
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2.66Ghz Mac Pro 2GM Ram 160Gig HD Ati X1900XT, 24" Dell 2407WFP
13.3" Mac Book Core Duo 2GIG Ram 80Gig HD
12" PowerBook 1.5Ghz 1.25GB Ram 60Gig HD
12" iBook 600Mhz (Late 2001) 640MB Ram 30Gig HD
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Professional Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
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The PB's built-in amp works perfectly fine with my Sony MDR-NC11 NR headphones. If I max the PB output volume, I have to minimize the headphones' built-in volume.
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Houston, TX
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The power won't be a problem, but the quality might; look into getting an external USB or FW audio device if it doesn't sound good enough to you.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Plainview, NY
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grados probably won't be a problem, but i found the sound quality with my senn hd600 cans to be suboptimal with both my ipod and my g4's built in jacks. a Headroom Total Airhead solved that problem handily.
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: London, UK
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That's my experience too - it's not worth spending a lot of extra money on headphones unless you've got a good headphone amp or headphones with particularly low impedance. It's difficult to tell the difference. Your taste will play a big part here, obviously, though it comes down largely to how easy to drive your headphones are for the amp in your Powerbook.
A pair of HD595s I tried in a shop sounded worse on my iPod than my PX200s and a headphone amp fixed that perfectly. Let us know how you get on, though.
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Admin Emeritus
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Zurich, Switzerland
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A friend of mine with kinda lousy hearing already uses some kind of Grados with his PowerBook and has no volume problems.
tooki
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Professional Poster
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: brooklyn ny
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i've often travelled with my 12" (1.33), and used either sony pro headphones, or sony earbuds (not home, not sure of model #s).
no problems with the headphone out, using itunes (or reason, or logic, etc).
try it first, before u invest in a headphone amp...
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"At first, there was Nothing. Then Nothing inverted itself and became Something.
And that is what you all are: inverted Nothings...with potential" (Sun Ra)
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Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Sep 2000
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If you appreciate the difference between the headphones you mentioned and something cheaper, you're going to appreciate what an amp will do for your sound. The PowerBook's internal amp isn't horrible, but it's nothing spectacular, either. I find that even a simple amp (such as a CMoy) makes a noticeable difference even with inexpensive headphones, and of course with nicer 'phones as well.
Ultimately, it's all up to you. The PowerBook will be very likely to be able to drive most (within reason) headphones you throw at it so that they'll sound good enough for a lot of people, but an amp will really help.
If I max the PB output volume, I have to minimize the headphones' built-in volume.
...has no volume problems.
Volume is only one reason one might want a headphone amplifier (typically volume is only a problem with really high-impedance 'phones.)
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Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Toronto, Canada
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I got an official response from Sennheiser....
==============
Hello XXXXX
Thank you for your inquiry and interest in Sennheiser. The HD650's have an impedance load that is far too great for the amp circuit on a Powerbook. I strongly recommend the HD595; it has a lower impedance (50 ohms) yet still exhibits the detail and response of the upper eschelon of HD headphones. It makes a great home stereo phone as well; using it with either your PC or home setup will yield impressive results.
If you need additional assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.
==============
Also I found that Apple does post exact system specs but I had to google for this page...
http://developer.apple.com/documenta...kG4/index.html
http://developer.apple.com/documenta...468-TP30000519
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2.66Ghz Mac Pro 2GM Ram 160Gig HD Ati X1900XT, 24" Dell 2407WFP
13.3" Mac Book Core Duo 2GIG Ram 80Gig HD
12" PowerBook 1.5Ghz 1.25GB Ram 60Gig HD
12" iBook 600Mhz (Late 2001) 640MB Ram 30Gig HD
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: London, UK
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Hmm, he's right about it being lower impedance, but the 595 isn't 50 ohms; it's 120. The 650 is 300 ohms. It will make a difference (for the better) with the 595, though, but if you can go lower still (or get a headphone amp) you'll get better results. Then again, if you get a headphone amp you could get the 650s
Edit: Sennheiser need to update their website (where they list them as 120 ohms). Apparently the newer 595s are in fact 50 ohms. Hooray!
http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=152236
http://www.headphone.com/guide/by-ma...ser-hd-595.php
I'd like something that sounds like the 580s but with low impedance like the 595s. Does anyone know of any? Hopefully any advice might help the original poster, too - I don't want to hijack his/her thread.
(
Last edited by all2ofme; Jan 1, 2006 at 08:23 AM.
)
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Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Toronto, Canada
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2.66Ghz Mac Pro 2GM Ram 160Gig HD Ati X1900XT, 24" Dell 2407WFP
13.3" Mac Book Core Duo 2GIG Ram 80Gig HD
12" PowerBook 1.5Ghz 1.25GB Ram 60Gig HD
12" iBook 600Mhz (Late 2001) 640MB Ram 30Gig HD
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: London, UK
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What did you compare them to, if anything? I'm tempted by a pair of Grados too.
I've got some Etymotic Research ER-4Ps for when I'm travelling and some Sennheiser PX200s for around town but I'd like something else for when I'm going to be listening for extended periods.
Some Grados are tempting, as are the Sennheiser 595s, because it may just have been than I needed to get used to their sound.
Any info on what else you tried'd be great.
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