headphones in the studio

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kieran t

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Joined
Sep 22, 2009
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MANCHESTER
cut a long story short my hd650s in to my fireface 400 aint loud enough,
am i going to have to buy an headphone amp???
if so how will it set up ?
from fireface headphone out to headphone amp then headphones?
or direct from my mac missing out the fireface
or even though the back of the fireface and not the phone out on the front?

also if it goes through my fireface will the amp i stick on make the sound quality different. i mean will the amp effect the fire face quality or will it just make it louder .......
 
have you checked the headphone level in the mixer software? the RME headphone out should be plenty loud enough, even too loud at full volume tbh, are your ears ok?

amp will affect the quality you hear in the headphones, but it wont feedback into the RME and affect that at all.

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also check whatever software you are using, could be a gain/mix control you have overlooked
 
miszt said:
have you checked the headphone level in the mixer software? the RME headphone out should be plenty loud enough, even too loud at full volume tbh, are your ears ok?

amp will affect the quality you hear in the headphones, but it wont feedback into the RME and affect that at all.

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also check whatever software you are using, could be a gain/mix control you have overlooked
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^ This. That Fireface interface certainly should be providing enough output for your headphones. What DAW are you currently using?
 
logic 9
my rme software mixer is all the way up just touching red any more and il say overload.
i may have overlooked somthing but its no way near enough to what i would like. when my krks are turned on they are as expected.
 
Interesting. Let me ask around and see if any of my colleague have a suggestion. I'll also fire up Logic to see what, if any, options could be contributing to this...

Out of curiosity, have you tried plugging the headphones into something else to see if the sound is still quiet? This will at least help us eliminate the headphones as the source of the quietness in the A/D D/A chain.
 
cheers mate,
yeah i tried in my iphone and the headphone out in the back on my mac and they are a good level, i don't want ear crippling loudness just a good punch and clear lows, the fireface400 just doesnt do it. using my hd25s aint much louder either,but they are louder !!
 
What's the ohm rating on your headphones? I bought a pair of Beyerdynamic DT770's and they're ridiculously quiet - turns out it's because I bought the 250 ohms instead of the 80 ohms... Apparently you need an amplifier to get a good level out of a high impedance pair of headphones!

I've literally had impedance explained to me so many times, but it still goes completely over my head!
 
kieran t said:
cheers mate,
yeah i tried in my iphone and the headphone out in the back on my mac and they are a good level, i don't want ear crippling loudness just a good punch and clear lows, the fireface400 just doesnt do it. using my hd25s aint much louder either,but they are louder !!
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I asked and searched around a bit and will try to relay the info as best as I can (Admittedly, I don't know much about RME products aside from the fact that they've got a great rep.).

  • Check the TotalMix software to make sure that Channels 7/8 have been assigned to Phones 7 and 8, respectively.
  • Make sure you have "Phones" selected on TotalMix under "Monitor Main."
  • Set the output reference level for the headphones to "hi-gain."

Hopefully one of these will get you on your way.
 
Aren't they 300 OHMs? They'll be harder to drive than your standard 80 OHM set, as Terratactics said. Go down to a store and plug them into a few different amps or interfaces maybe.
 
terratactics said:
What's the ohm rating on your headphones? I bought a pair of Beyerdynamic DT770's and they're ridiculously quiet - turns out it's because I bought the 250 ohms instead of the 80 ohms... Apparently you need an amplifier to get a good level out of a high impedance pair of headphones!

I've literally had impedance explained to me so many times, but it still goes completely over my head!
Click to expand...

I would say that impedance refers to something "impeding" the current flow aka resistance. Ohms is a unit of measurement for resistance. So I would say that higher resistance could result in lower volume since less is getting through.

Maybe it doesn't apply that way in headphone world but I am just guessing
 
i've used 300ohm headphones in FF400 and they way way too loud at full volume (unless your ears are damaged), something needs turning up somewhere!
 
miszt said:
i've used 300ohm headphones in FF400 and they way way too loud at full volume (unless your ears are damaged), something needs turning up somewhere!
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yeah must be but i really don't know where it would need turning up. it is defiantly not loud

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lostnthesound said:
I asked and searched around a bit and will try to relay the info as best as I can (Admittedly, I don't know much about RME products aside from the fact that they've got a great rep.).

  • Check the TotalMix software to make sure that Channels 7/8 have been assigned to Phones 7 and 8, respectively.
  • Make sure you have "Phones" selected on TotalMix under "Monitor Main."
  • Set the output reference level for the headphones to "hi-gain."

Hopefully one of these will get you on your way.
Click to expand...


high gain!!!!!!!!! thats the one nice 1 !! rocking now :)
 
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