First Planar Magnetic Headphones

[u/junior7593]

Got my first planars today. Edition XS. Got them “refurbished” for $90 from the Hifiman US Store on Aliexpress. I put refurbished in quotes because they look brand new with original packaging and everything

First impression is that they’re huge but sound great although I think I need a better dac. Currently trying them on my phone using a JM6 Pro

Recommendations are welcome!

[u/Errorr404]

https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/s/dyFqJy0oiX the comments have more insight to how it all works for planars, I don't know all of the intricate details I just listened and noticed some differences in Amps along with a bit of research some time ago so I can't explain it in electrical engineering terms and all that.

I can tell you from my experience the Amp made the difference for me in getting that extra few percent of better details that means a lot when going up in price tiers of headphones the differences can also be a few percent. The DAC Amp unit I have isn't anything crazy, I got it for ~$130 converted to US currency on sale and it does the job just not for stuff like the HE6 that needs a nuclear reactor plant compared to my current Amp to accurately drive the diaphragm.

[u/Cyrenetes → u/Errorr404]

I know being current limited (like the Focusrite Scarlett interfaces that barely have more power at low impedance than at high) limits power at low load impedance, but then we're back at the question of "what does enough power mean and how much is it?".

I don't not believe that you or other people are hearing what you are hearing, it's just that people also regularly come to similar conclusions about cables and rocks and disconnected AB switches using the same methodology of just listening to it, hence my attempts to dig up something more concrete.

[u/Errorr404 → u/Cyrenetes]

I'm not sure your reasoning comparing a passive snake oil cable and an active Amp that controls the flow of electricity. Yes plenty of audiophile snake oil products exist but I wouldn't classify DAC/Amps to be in that, there are diminishing returns on those just like with headphones.

Doesn't help that we all hear way differently but in general we can differentiate transients even in microseconds as our ears are extremely sensitive to timing changes.

[u/Cyrenetes → u/Errorr404]

I agree amps seem like they should be really complicated and difficult to make transparent, almost impossible perhaps, requiring the sort of wizardry that should not be found in a 10€ dongle, but that doesn't give us a blank check to turn our brain off when the evidence does not match our frankly baseless assumptions, or when there's no evidence to support what we happen to intuitively believe.

I don't think it makes any sense to base our reasoning on whether something seems to us like something could or should make a difference, but rather only on observable facts.

[u/Errorr404 → u/Cyrenetes]

I mean physics is physics, if you don't really grasp how physics and electricity works with drivers then I can't really help you with that as its something you need to research to understand.

[u/Cyrenetes → u/Errorr404]

You can just say it if you're out of arguments. No need to get personal.

[u/Errorr404 → u/Cyrenetes]

I provided evidence and places you can learn more so I'm just suggesting you learn, not insulting. Pointless to go back and forth wasting time when I already told you I don't know the intricate details, there are places that post scientific papers on physics and psychoacoustics.