headphone impedance

[aragorn723]

Hi,

Can someone explain headphone impedance?  I'm a little confused-is 35 ohms a high or low impedance?  Which is easier to drive, 35 ohm headphones, or 200 ohm headphones?  Thanks,

Dave

[Paul Birkeland]

Generally, I believe headphone impedance is simply the DC resistance of the wire in the headphone driver itself. 

For headphones, we seem to see impedances between 16 and 600 Ohms. 

For an amp like the Crack, driving 600 Ohm headphones will be much easier than driving 16 Ohm headphones.

For your cell phone, driving 16 Ohm headphones will be much easier than driving 600 Ohm headphones.

[mcandmar]

The way i understood it is low impedance headphones require more current to drive, but a low voltage.  High impedance headphones require more voltage to drive, but a lower current.   Hence low impedance headphones are better suited to low voltage amps in portable equipment, i.e. iPod or anything battery powered.