Output impedance of dap/dac + iem impedance

IEMs / Other In-Ear Monitors (IEM)
1

greetings forumites!

could someone please help me understand the correlation and effect of the output impedance of a dap/dac, in this case a Fiio M11 Plus and BTR7

m11 plus
Recommended headphone impedance 16~150Ω (SE output)/16~300Ω (BAL output)

BTR7
Recommended headphone impedance 16~100Ω（SE）16~150Ω（BAL)

and in this case penon Fan 2 (Impedance: 13ohm) that i recently purchased.
this is the first and only iem in my collection with an impedance below 16 ohm.

is there something to pay attention to or to mitigate for optimal performance?
i am asking because looking at newer daps i see them listing 8-xxx ohm ranges and now i am confused!

thanks alot for any insight your are willing to share. :slight_smile:

P.S . sorry if this question is stupid or ignorant

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2
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3

Thank you for this information.
So bottom line is that for optimal performance of the fan2, which is a hybrid, with its 13 ohm impedance i would need to somehow add another at least 3 ohm (impedance adapter?) For the sources that i have in use ? Or did i get this wrong or it doesnt really matter?

I am still learning the intricacies of this hobby…

4

Just aim for something under 1ohm and then dont think about it…almost everything is like that except Fiio.

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5

When checking the specs of the devices … the output impedance is < 1 ohm.

I was referring to what they list as recommended headphone impedance that is between 16 and xxx ohm while newer lines state 8 - xxx ohm

6

That is pure BS and shouldnt even be looked at pretty much.

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7

I have never paid attention to the recommended impedance of amps😅. The Fan 2 sounds great on BTR7, and I have used IEM`s with under 4 ohms impedance on it without any issues😊

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8

i understand and wont look at it any further ! thanks for your patience :slight_smile:

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9

did you use the 4.4 for the fan2 or 3.5 with the btr7? i like the sturdiness of the 4.4 so i order iems with that plug if given the option.

and yes the fan2 sounds great with it, just wondering if it can sound greater :smiley:

btr7 balanced OI 2.8 (which according to the 1/8th rule would be too high) vs SE out OI 1.2

10

Either tweaking with different tips, physical mods or PEQ is how you can change/upgrade the sound.

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11

I have probably used them with both without noticing any big differences in sound😅. I am not aware of anyone having measured Fan 2 with impedance adapters, and the difference would probably be small if any with OI as close as that. It depends how the drivers and crossovers would react to higher impedance.

I also like the sturdiness of the 4.4, but nowadays I order with 3.5 if the possibility is there, just for the unmatched compatibility of 3.5. Also with a lot of IEM’s coming with high sensitivity and/or low impedance it’s of the easiest to match amps with the single ended output😊