Corda Headphone Amp

[Nick250]

About five years ago I went through a headphone phase. During that time I purchased Senns HD580s, Grado SR 80s and a Beyer DT 931. I also decided I absolutely had to have a headphone amp and purchased from Europe a Corda Headamp-1. A couple of months after getting the Corda I came to the conclusion it did not improve the sound that much and it went into the closet. Recently while setting up a stereo system in the den I figured what the heck, I already have this headphone amp why not put it to use.

Here's the question: The Corda has two headphone outs, a 0 ohm and a 120 ohm. For the life of me I can not remember the logic for choosing one over the other. Any ideas on this?


Regards, Nick

 

[sdheda]

I do not know the answer to your question, but you may find good input at:

http://head-fi.org

Good Luck.

 

[WmAx]

Here's the question: The Corda has two headphone outs, a 0 ohm and a 120 ohm. For the life of me I can not remember the logic for choosing one over the other. Any ideas on this?


Regards, Nick

Most headphones today seem to be designed for a low output impedance(the 0 ohm output), but many older headphones were intended to be used with a 120 ohm output impedance[IEC 61938 international standard]. Such headphones may have such an impedance characteristic as to have an audibly different frequency response when used on a 0 vs. 120 ohm output impedance, thus it should be used with the intended one.

-Chris

 

[Nick250]

Thanks Chris

 

[Steve1000]

I have an old Corda HA-1, too. It's nice to have both the 0 and 120 ohm outputs. I like the big volume knob too. I find it to be fairly immune to ground loop noise too, and exceptionally quiet, even with Sony V6s. Overall, massively overpriced for what it does, but much better than your run-of-the-mill headphone amp, IMHO. The more recent models of the HA-1 have been stripped down quite a bit and the manufacturer seems to be drinking a little too much audiophile kool-aid in making more and more expensive amps. Nowadays I mostly use a wonderful $60 Behringer mixer for headphone amp purposes (it's got flashing lights and lots of cool knobs and adjustable gain and multiple inputs!), but I've still got my trusty Corda HA-1 hooked into my headphone rig as well.

About five years ago I went through a headphone phase. During that time I purchased Senns HD580s, Grado SR 80s and a Beyer DT 931. I also decided I absolutely had to have a headphone amp and purchased from Europe a Corda Headamp-1. A couple of months after getting the Corda I came to the conclusion it did not improve the sound that much and it went into the closet. Recently while setting up a stereo system in the den I figured what the heck, I already have this headphone amp why not put it to use.

Here's the question: The Corda has two headphone outs, a 0 ohm and a 120 ohm. For the life of me I can not remember the logic for choosing one over the other. Any ideas on this?


Regards, Nick