MP3 players forum: Headphone Impedance affecting MP3 players

Thanks. The reason I thought 300 was high is because every other pair of portable headphones i have bought ranged from 16-32 ohms. 300 seems like a significant difference.

This was the article from Crutchfield:
One issue that's especially important for portable headphones is impedance. The higher the impedance, the more electrical energy is required to drive the headphones' tiny speakers. Because of the limited power available from a portable player, headphones for portable use should have a maximum impedance of 64 ohms the lower the impedance, the more efficient the 'phones, and the more volume you'll get out of them.

Yes, you will indeed find that MANY headsets do not work well with your Zen Micro.

I tried the Sennheisers and they did not work well at all because the player was unable to drive them to acceptable sound levels.

I settled on a pair of Bose QuietComfort 2 active noise canceling headsets. Yes, they're bloody expensive. They do, in fact, sound really great though and the ANC circuitry works better than most.

The Bose CQ2s come with a variable impedance that allows you to set them for portable music players and then notch it up a level if you are going to be using them with home stereo or, more troublesome sometimes, airplane audio.

With that said, I often find myself jamming at near max, or even max, volume levels with my Micro and the great thing about that player is it will still drive cleanly at max volume if that's where you need to be to get high sound pressure levels. I tried a Rio Carbon, for example, and it would start to degrade and clip at two clicks from max and was unable to drive even my Boses at acceptable sound levels.

If you find another set of ANC headsets or ear buds that work well with the Micro, please post!