how to transform my audio out to 16ohms impedance?

i have 2 head/earphones. my 16ohm woodees and 60ohm koss portapros. the koss sound magnificent on the the sager. however the woodees sound very muffled. im guessing its becasue of the 16ohm impedance of the woodees which more suited for mobile gadgets like the ipod; and in my ipod it sounds phenomenal.
i want to get that same sound quality with my woodees on my laptop. is there any way to do this?

 

you need a headphone amp... your laptop can't provide the power/voltage/amp that your headphones want

 

My guess would not be a ohm issue in your case but maybe a low sensitivity.

The Kosses probably have a better sensitivity rating (100+) and the Woodees have a much lower rating which is needing more power to get them to the same level of sound the Kosses are reaching.

So yeah maybe a headphone AMP is in order

 

If your audio jack is on a separate board, you might try hardmodding it somehow.
However I think you would have to ask this in an electronics only forum to have it not be purely experimental.

Alternatively, you could circuit bend everything your house and listen to that instead.

 

FYI, I use one of these as a headphone amp, I have to be careful not to blow my eardrums/headphones....


$10 at goodwill/st. Vincent/etc




EDIT: I should add that I forgot to include the car battery that is powering my UPS

 

Look at the uDAC-2 and the Fiio E7 portable usb headphone amp/dac solutions.

 

Are you guys sure a dac would do it? The woodees has a lower impedance, meaning that it should actually require less power than the koss. So personally im not entirely sure if a dac would be the solution?

 

Yes I am sure, and impedance does not equal power.

The DAC would increase your sound quality anyways by a mesurable amount compared to your on board solution and the amp designed to be more targeted at powering headphones for max sound quality.

I have the uDAC-2 and love it, so much better than my onboard and it has powered my ultra low impedance IEM's and my higher impedance headphones.

I have not used the E7 but hear its pretty nice as well.

 

Ok thanks. I did see your review of the udac and have thought about getting one for a while.

 

but can anyone explain why my woodees with a lower impedance sounds more muffled than my koss portapros?

 

lower impedance means less resistance so the (cheap) amplifier may not be able to keep up with the current it needs to be putting out to properly power the headphones.

this can/will lower the sound quality.

higher impedance needs more voltage, but low impedance needs more current (ohms law)

 

so with the lower impedance in mind, do you think a dac would help?

 

yes for the same reasons I mentioned already.

dac - higher quality
new amp - higher performance

the E7 & uDAC-2 are a dac/amp combo designed for people who demand better audio quality and performance than you get from onboard.

 

reading thru your review atm and choosing between the two- well the udac-2 hp and e7 that is.