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1. #How to know which is right and left amplifier drivers
2. #How to know which is right and left amplifier driver

This common signal (a low-level summation of the left and right channel) will generate low-level crosstalk and harmonic distortion in the headphone presentation.

#How to know which is right and left amplifier driver

This common pathway has some significant electrical resistance from the wiring, solder joints, contact resistance at the plug/jack etc., which causes a common signal to appear at the negative terminal of both driver coils.

#How to know which is right and left amplifier drivers

In normal headphone amps, the most important thing to note is that as the left and right channels of the amplifier drive the left and right driver coils, the return current from the drivers gets joined together and travels some distance before returning to the amp’s audio ground. This wire usually has a solder joint in the “Y” or in the earpiece where ground wire from the plug splits into separate wires that are connected to the negative terminals of the driver coils.īold Lines Showing Common Return Signal Path of Both Left & Right Channels The sleeve connects to a wire that goes to both negative (-) terminals of the driver coil. The tip connects to a wire that goes to the positive (+) lead of the left headphone driver coil the ring connects to a wire that goes to the positive lead of the right driver. THE UNASSUMING BUT ALL-IMPORTANT HEADPHONE PLUGĪ normal headphone plug has three connections on it: the tip is left the ring is right, and the sleeve is ground. Man, are we glad we did high-end balanced drive headphones sound pretty great!Īlthough our concept of balanced drive design is now found everywhere in the industry, it's still a fairly recent idea, so we want to help you understand what the heck we’re talking about in this article. We just knew it could potentially be done and that we had to give it a try. We didn’t know if balanced headphone drive was going to sound any better - or even if it would sound good. We didn’t know if headphones could be successfully re-cabled to a balanced configuration. We didn’t know if getting rid of the common ground on headphones would actually make much difference. We really didn’t know what was going to happen when we introduced the world’s first balanced headphone amplifier, the HeadRoom Audio BlockHead Balanced Amp, back in the day. So some headphones may sport an XLR plug connection - but are not truly balanced on the inside!Īrticle I - Balanced Drive vs. Simply swap out the stock headphone cable with an aftermarket balanced option and, bam, you now have a balanced headphone.Īlso, keep in mind only certain headphones can truly be effectively balanced due to connections at the headphone that requires a separate left/right, positive and negative signal. Of course, newer headphones with user-detachable cords make the cable changeover a breeze. How Do I Get a Balanced Headphone System?įirst, you need a balanced headphone amp and your headphone cord must be re-cabled to an XLR plug termination.įor 'hard-wired' headphones, balanced recabling is an aftermarket process which alters the headphone connection from a standard 1/4" stereo plug to left/right balanced 3-pin or to a single 4-pin stereo XLR plug (depending on your particular balanced amplifier connection). The end acoustic result lends an expansive, open-toned quality to the musical presentation with quicker dynamics, more refined detail, tighter low bass and very clearly pronounced mid-ranges. In essence, balanced drive is a headphone amplifier design scheme that delivers 'balanced' equivalent and opposing  audio signals independently to each side of the headphone driver coils.īalanced-drive delivers a noted increase in audio performance due to the doubling of the amp's voltage slew rate and voltage swing range, a reduction of THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) components and the avoidance of crosstalk due to the elimination of the common ground plane. See our selection of premium balanced amplifiers WHAT ARE BALANCED-DRIVE HEADPHONES? So no one knows more about balanced drive amplification and headphones than us.

Our friends at HeadRoom Audio were the very first to design and market balanced headphone systems with the HeadRoom 'BlockHead' Balanced Amp way back in 1999. Headphone aficionados will exclaim that balanced-drive is the nirvana of headphone listening, the creme de la creme of personal audio systems, the highest of the 'high end'. You may have heard some good things about 'Balanced Headphone Drive'.