You need to consider amplification if you’re interested in “personal audio” and have a nice set of headphones. Is there any discernible benefit to using a specialized headphone amp to power your expensive cans?

Amplifiers are excellent audio accessories that are designed to please audiophiles. They are excellent at amplifying the sound of any audio device they are connected to. Fosi Audio amplifier is an excellent accessory which is easy to set up, and the BT20A amp is ideal for starters to experiment with sound.

The following information will help you decide when you need an amplifier for your audio devices.

What Makes a Headphone Amplifier Necessary?

Do a simple experiment with your headphones; the results will determine whether you need a headphone amp or not. Wire it to the audio device and increase the volume; if you get your desired results without going to the maximum, then you don’t need an amplifier.

If whatever you use to listen to music can get by itself: lack of power isn’t one of your problems. An amplifier will only increase the energy output of your source to the desired level. However, if there is some sound quality issue, you better check your audio equipment as you will find the fault there. s

What If Your Answer is “No”

Try and increase the volume of your audio devices; if you don’t get the desired level, then one of the following must be the issue;

• You’ve done it – you’ve covered your ears, causing your hearing loss
• You have damaged the headphones
• Your source can’t provide the necessary headphones powers

While there is no easy fix to problem 1, you can buy new headphones if you have damaged the existing ones. However, an amplifier is necessary to solve the third problem.

Before buying an amplifier, do some math for your peace of mind. Note the sensitivity and impedance of your headphone; you will typically find them in the manual. The impedance defines as the combined effects of ohmic resistance, and reactance is the effective resistance to the alternating current of an electric circuit or component. Sensitivity refers to the amount of loudness they will detect in one milliwatt of power.

This calculation will help determine if the device can provide the necessary power for the headphones to achieve your typical listening volume.

It will take some work, but these statistics will tell you whether you need a headphone amp or not. You can utilize this method and make an intelligent decision based on the findings.

Electrical and Metaphorical Plumbing

Your source must be capable of providing adequate power to your headphones. You are up against several obstacles, such as headphones’ inherent tendency to reject electricity, energy consumption, etc.

In many aspects, electrical circuits are comparable to water systems. Consider the pace at which water flows through pipes when you imagine “current.” When you encounter these words, think of “voltage” as “water pressure”, and “impedance” as “how little are the pipes?” (which restricts water flow to a specific portion). While this is not an ideal comparison, it is apt for our topic. Knowing the items can help you figure out what it will take to get a given quantity of water from a reservoir.

You need a certain amount of “water” for the plumbing to work excellently; the same goes for your headphone amplifiers. Your headphones can’t wait for the appropriate power quantity to build up. However, you may be able to hold it while filling the bucket at the hand pump, which is exactly what an amplifier does. To meet the headphone’s needs, it can amplify the output from a source using its power (or reservoir, to continue the analogy).

What is the Decibel (DB) Scale?

A decibel is a two numbers ratio, one of which is the reference (dB). The dB scale, like our hearing, is logarithmic, so every 10dB increase in power results in a tenfold increase in wattage. A 100dB signal has 100 times the power of an 80 dB signal and ten times the power of a 90 dB signal. Although loudness cannot be objectively measured, we know that a 10dB shift is comparable to a 2x increase in loudness. Also, 70dB is four times louder than 50dB and twice as loud as 60dB.

The current required to produce a specific volume level can be calculated using Ohm’s Law and our understanding of decibels.

The logic goes like this: for each 10dB increase in volume, you must add ten times the power. If you reduce the volume by 10 dB, you reduce the power by a tenth. All you have to do is plug your digits in the following equation:

Voltage(Vrms)=√[Power in Watts*Impedance]

Remember that since we’re working with milliwatts, you must divide any figure before milliwatts by 1000. Sound enthusiasts who are constantly experimenting and manipulating sound through this technique regularly make this calculation.

What About Wires, Though?

If you’ve ever considered, “What about the wires, though? Isn’t it irrelevant because they’re so short? You’d be correct! It is especially true for headphones, which frequently need faster connections and less power than speakers.

The Coat hanger cable experiment is interesting, showing that you can achieve high-quality audio without spending money on cables. It is only required when components exposed to the elements are high-quality materials or interconnects are necessary.

Do You Ever Require a Headphone Amplifier?

If it wasn’t clear previously, very few headphones on the market nowadays require a lot of power to work correctly. Most headphones, including the most expensive models, are designed for use with devices like iPods, cell phones, and Bluetooth, which are devices with low power. When looking for audiophile-grade cans, the only models that will suffice are those requiring a separate amplifier. Tale inspiration from above discussion and make a perfect decision when looking for amplifiers.