Node 2i headphone volume

Answered

Davywhizz

• January 28, 2021 15:30
• Edited

I'm truly delighted with my Node 2i in almost every respect, but have a query about its headphone volume. I don't think of myself as a fan of very loud music, but need to have the Node set at full, or almost full, output when using headphones. I'd have expected more headroom. The sound is excellent of course.

I'm using AKG K702s, which are 62 ohms impedance. So not particularly hard to drive.

Is this what others experience?  Is there a simple, very small, analogue headphone amp I could use without loss of audio quality?

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• Official comment

  

  Sam R.

  • January 28, 2021 15:53
  • Edited

  Hello there, 

  On the contrary, the AKG K702s are somewhat hard to drive.

  But in any case, the NODE 2i has a headphone driver rated 0.0055% THD @1kHz, 35mW. It is designed for use with most headphones, with a minimum impedance of 14 ohms. 62ohm headphones with a low SPL would sound somewhat underpowered with the NODE. 

  Regards,
  Sam R.
  
  Edit: rewording
• 

  Davywhizz

  • January 28, 2021 22:49

  I've now tried a pair of Grado's (32 ohm) with the Node 2i headphone output. Definitely more volume headroom available with them.

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  Davywhizz

  • March 14, 2021 21:33

  Further update. Even though the Grado's gave me more volume, I really wanted to be able to use my AKGs. So I bought a not too expensive external DAC/headphone amp and run it from the Node 2i coaxial output. More than enough spare volume and the sound quality is great. It's a Fiio K5 Pro, which I picked for its excellent reviews and design. It has an input selector toggle switch on the front panel (optical/coax, RCA analogue or USB) and another to select three levels of output gain. There's a line out for use with powered speakers/hifi amp, as well as the headphone socket. 

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