Hifiman he-560 - really hungry, but only comparatevily, because 90db per mWatt at 50 omhs is an easy load for almost any amp. So plug them into my smsl m6(130 mWatts in 50 omhs) - 40 out of 60 volume - they sound wrong, worse then my 400i 2020. Then i plugged them into a Topping a30 - better, much better. Then i plugged them into a speaker amp - the mighty 560 were underdriven the whole time. The difference was soo brutally obvious that even Zeos would pick it. Any on those amps were pushing my headphones to the volume 
You can say that the difference was just in the design of those amps, but 560 were exhibiting clear simptoms of underdriving - slow transience, weak bass, no slam, harsh highs. He400i sounded better with A30 than the he-560. Which is a clear sign for me.
Itâs ok to have an opinion, but throwing something like that out there just misleads people. Power scaling is just objectively real and anyone with difficult to drive planars (or occasional dynamics) that has tried powering them off entry level amps or dongles can attest to that. Iâve listened to free plane earbuds with better control off of a phone than $1000+ planars, because the planars werenât being powered well enough despite getting plenty loud. You might not have experienced it yet, but itâs pathetically obvious (as in anyone with ears can hear the difference, you donât have to be into audio) when you arenât driving planars well enough. Itâs not just raw power either, itâs headroom, capacitor capacity and discharge/charge rate (really shows in sub bass heavy tracks how tight bass is and how fast the amp runs out of steam), power quality (shitty cheap speaker amps have tons of power, but also very low quality sound) and other things as well. Itâs not just a cut and dry âit gets to listening volume so itâs being powered fullyâ and amp quality DRASTICALLY effects the amount of detail and control that actually make it from the DAC to the headphone so that point you tried to make is not just slightly incorrect, itâs blatantly wrong, opinions aside. It might make your wallet feel safer to think like that, but it quite simply isnât true.
If you say so, dog.
Hi, new here.
Just got the Edition XS. Love them so far. I noticed something today, after playing some music, I notice the left driver was doing some âclicksâ (like a metallic sound) when I moved my head (like a loose diaphragm). Happen while really gently shacking the headphone on the left side.
This happen for some times, then stopped. And then rehappen after putting headphone is on my head.
Is this normal occurence for planar? Could it be air pocket on the diaphragm? Thought?
aking, since I am new to the planar world.
Mine make sound on the left side aswell⊠Mine is more like a creaking sound though which is probably just something rubbing on eachother on the hinge
In your experience, what is the best way to burn a headset? Pink noise or music.
Both methods have breaks.
Mine do the same thing with the right driver. Itâs the so-called planar crinkle, apparently itâs kinda normal for planar headphones. On the other hand I donât think every headphone does it to the same degree where it becomes annoying, otherwise it would be always noticeable with both drivers, instead in my case the left one is hardly noticeable, while the right one kinda gets annoying, especially when the sound source isnât a constant barrage of sound (i.e. gaming).
Considering this and the fact that some people resolved this thing by requesting a replacement, Iâm also trying to get a replacement. But I am aware that I could get another pair that does the same thing, so keep that in mind if you have to make a decision.
All good points. So let me ask this, then - what is the ideal kind of amplification for these phones or planars in general - do we want more voltage gain amplification or more current gain amplification? And what is that magic number for these phones - has that been determined? Seems there is still some confusion out there.
So about this topic I found this video and the comments pretty interesting: The ULTIMATE Hifiman Susvara Review - YouTube
The author basically claims that more power = better performance. In the comments thereâs a user named Passion for Sound that disagrees and thinks that more power doesnât necessarily mean better performance, but the quality of the amplification would indeed impact performance.
TL;DR itâs likely that a more expensive (and therefore better quality) amp will give you better performance, even if the power output is not much greater.
Iâm a total noob and I donât have much experience, so I canât choose a side for sure, but I find this topic interesting.
The truth is more power more volume and thatâs it, some frequencies do need more than others but the whole putting 45 watts through a headphone is laughable
Unless Iâve missed it somewhere it seems there is a lot of dancing around the actual issue here. The need isnât for raw power as measured by number of watts. The need is for quick and accurate power delivery. The amp needs to deliver the right amount of power in the right frequency range(s) at the right time, and do it quickly enough so as not to sound slugglish, cause distortion, or in essence stumble over itself. Then, because real music waves are complex, the amp will have to be able to deliver the necessary power at say 60Hz (a challenging area for dynamic drivers) while at the same time delivering power at 1KHz, 8 KHz, etc all at once. Generally, the more expensive an amp gets the better it gets at doing these things. A big reason is the higher price point allows for higher quality parts, like capacitors and power supplies, that can meet those ever-changing power delivery demands.
Yeah but itâs 2022 and 99% of amps measure with inaudible distortion unless theyâre tubes
And that has nothing to do with what @WaveTheory has said
He was talking about the right power delivery feom the amp for all frequencies and in the fastest possible way, ergo over sized caps and Trafos
Distortion measurements are done in one frequency band and that itâs, one point of data of the 20 - 20k Hz band we listen to
You can do a multitone distortion test, and still my point is most amps are 99% transparent, measurably, but people still hear stuff that isnât there, I have a âwarmâ liquid spark and an âanalyticâ L30 here for example, spoilers theyâre linear, sound the same and measure the same.
And the power thing is separate, yeah some headphones are hard to drive as in they require a couple watts, not 45 lol
at no point did i say they need 45 watts. thatâs absurd. i was only making a point that volume is not inseparable from power. you can listen with 45 watts being pumped into them with them playing at 70db. power isnât volume.
Yes but your point was also that if this power quality isnât proxy testable by any specific measurement It could only rely on subjective tests. So It hard to indentify what kind of amp has enough âpower qualityâ at some specific required mW (mW I mean for loudness).
never said you need a speaker amp to drive a headphone 
But peronally i can hear differences when i switch between my asgard 3 and my g111, will i hear them the moment i switch between them? Not always in an instant but if i concentrate youll hear differnces. Only time ill spot differences is if i have a day when i have more trouble with treble then all the spots when its difficult do come down with the asgard.
Yeah and itâs really difficult because raw power itself means almost nothing. Like take the topping a90 for example, it has just absolutely trash control with an HE6 (despite getting plenty loud at medium gain and with the amp being rated at 6.4w@32ohm and a Vpp swing of 49v). It has similar amounts of control as something like an sp200, 789, magni, and others that are way cheaper so it must be coming down the the power supply being incapable of fast enough power delivery (or recharging capacitors after a quick drain) even though itâs âdistortion freeâ. Itâs a night and day difference jumping to a more capable amp and just because itâs an example of a much harder to drive headphone and is exaggerated by the power demand, it still applies to other headphones, just to a lesser degree but once you hear well controlled planars itâs hard to unhear it going back. If more measurements of amps were available, Iâm sure it would be easier to nail down exactly the reason some amps run out of steam really easily on planars but most companies donât publish any meaningful measurements like that so trial and error (with some common sense and guidance from others experience) is really the only way to be able to experience it, especially since just spending more doesnât always mean quality goes up whatsoever (just like more power doesnât automatically mean more control).
It is really strange that any producer, website review, or audiosciencereview forum was gone to measure or discuss this type of measurement about this specific âPower qualityâ if It is possibile.
Instead if this âpower qualityâ is only perceptible by our brain congition/psycoaucustic It is hard.
I donât wanna start a war, but my biggest gripe with the ASR and measurement crowd - not that Iâm disputing measurements - is that their argument boils down to, âYou actually canât hear a difference because we canât measure that. Therefore itâs all in your head/placebo.â