Been listening to headphones for 20 years had many settled on the Beyer T1 and the Senn hd600 the 600 were my first and after at least three pairs my last. With this amp DAC combo, I can say with confidence I am done and glad of it. The Sennheiser with balanced Cardas cable is awesome! I use the DAC-out on the XP to the beyer A20 and they have never sounded better. Very pleased camper here.
Matching notes: At 300 Ω and 97 dB/V, the HD 600 is a high-impedance load that needs voltage more than current: about 4.5 V (67 mW, 15 mA) for 110 dB SPL (calc.). Burson rates the Conductor 3X Reference at 0.58 W (XLR) / 0.3 W (SE) into 300 Ω, which is about 13.2 V / 9.5 V RMS (calc.), roughly 9 dB / 7 dB more than that. The Conductor 3X Reference’s 0.5 Ω headphone output impedance is 1/600 of the load. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Matching notes: At 600 Ω and 102 dB/mW, the T1 (2nd Generation) is a high-impedance load that needs voltage more than current: about 1.9 V (6.3 mW, 3.2 mA) for 110 dB SPL (calc.). Burson does not publish a 600 Ω rating for the Conductor 3X Reference; its nearest published rating is 0.58 W XLR / 0.3 W SE into 300 Ω. The Conductor 3X Reference’s 0.5 Ω headphone output impedance is 1/1200 of the load. [6] [3] [4] [5]
Specs from manufacturer data unless a source below says otherwise. “calc.” values are worked out from those figures (V = √(P × R); 110 dB SPL used as a loud reference level). Gear listed without specs is not in our spec library yet.
