Crack w Speedball + Momentums

[Neilz]

Hi Guys,

I'm going to have a listening session and, most likely, buy a used (9 month old) Crack w Speedball ugrade later today and I already have the HD6XX on order from Massdrop with delivery in August. My question is, with the low impedence issue in mind, would it be possible to use my Sennheiser momentum wireless (with cable obviously)? According to specs they have an active impedence on 480 Ω and a passive impedence on 28 Ω. Reason for the question is that I'm new to the Crack and wouldn't want to harm the amp or the headphones, but would be nice to be able to use the amp before the HD6XX ships in august.

 

[Kitchener]

I don't think you need to worry about harming the amp or the headphones by using low impendance headphones.

I actually have the Momentum 2 On Ear Wireless, so not the same, but similar-ish.
They have similar, if not identical active/passive impendance ratings.

I tried them out when I got the Crack, can't remember what they sounded like, but I prefered the sound of my 80 Ohm Beyerdynamic DT770.
After upgrading my Crack with the Speedball however, the 80 ohm Beyers stopped playing nice with the Crack, I found.
Luckily by then I had a HD6XX.

 

[Neilz]

Okay, thanks for this. My main concern is that I don't want to harm the equipment in any way, and can accept that the sound won't be optimal as I know the HD6XX is coming in a while. I got a pair of old HD280's (64 ohm) as well that I could try.

 

[Kitchener]

I’m fairly confident there’s no risk to the equipment.
Bottlehead would definitely have made it clear if lower impedance phones could cause any damage.

The Sennheisers are very good, you’ve got good times ahead.
Have you used open back headphones before?
The HD6XX were my first, and putting them on for the first time was a strange experience.
They were much lighter than I expected and the feeling of still being completely connected to your surroundings with massive headphones on was almost surreal.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

It's not going to sound great, but it won't do any damage.

The 6XX are going to sound really good if you're acclimatized to Momentums on a Crack.

 

[Neilz]

I’m fairly confident there’s no risk to the equipment.
Bottlehead would definitely have made it clear if lower impedance phones could cause any damage.

The Sennheisers are very good, you’ve got good times ahead.
Have you used open back headphones before?
The HD6XX were my first, and putting them on for the first time was a strange experience.
They were much lighter than I expected and the feeling of still being completely connected to your surroundings with massive headphones on was almost surreal.

I’ve tried a pair of 650’s for a few songs so no huge experience, I agree that they felt light and the sound was very good together with the crack + speedball I tested them with.

I bought the crack earlier tonight and tried it with the HD280s and it works and they sound better than they do with other sources,  it no wow experience but most likely down to the cans. Will have to buy an adapter tomorrow to be able to test the Momentum’s as well. Can’t wait to spend some time with the HD6XX when they arrive!

It's not going to sound great, but it won't do any damage.

The 6XX are going to sound really good if you're acclimatized to Momentums on a Crack.

I really hope so, at the same time I hope to have some fun with it together with the momentum’s as well until August!