# Will an RME Babyface be able to power the Senn HD600s?



## Dan Mott (Aug 10, 2014)

What the title says 

Or will I need an extra amp?


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## Guy Rowland (Aug 11, 2014)

I have the Babyface and HD25s, not sure what the impedance difference is. It is ok for moderate levels but it won't make 'em go LOUD. I solved the problem cos I needed a headphone amp with multi outs anyway when recording with anyone else, so I just take the Babyface output into that.


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## Dan Mott (Aug 11, 2014)

I guess if it doesn't power them well, I would have to get an amp. I do not listen loud, but it still needs to power the headphones properly. I hope it does because id rather not fork out more cash:D


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## AC986 (Aug 11, 2014)

I use 600s.

Get this if you can.

http://www.thomann.de/gb/spl_phonitor_mini.htm


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## Nick Batzdorf (Aug 11, 2014)

Pretty much all garden variety headphone amps power my 600Ω AKG 240Ms just fine. It's always been one of the things I test when doing reviews, and so far I haven't encountered one that had a problem.


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## Virharmonic (Aug 11, 2014)

Hi Dan. 

I would probably say that you will need separate amp. The baby face will struggle to deal with 55 Ohm impedance to give you decent output levels, so headphones with resistance higher then that will most likely not produce sufficient volume for lets say monitoring...

Edit: This information is incorrect if you have 2 USB slots available to power the Babyface or external power source.

Warm Regards

Ondrej


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## Nick Batzdorf (Aug 11, 2014)

So there you have me saying it probably will work and Virharmonic saying it probably won't.

My suggestion is that you go to a store and try it. Or at least try those headphones in other built-in headphone amps.


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## Virharmonic (Aug 11, 2014)

Hi Dan,

I'm only going based on my personal experience, as I have used babyface on my laptop in the past and when I used my AKG 271 MKii headphones with impedance of 55 ohms I found it to be just about loud enough for monitoring when I was in a slightly noisy environment, so higher impedance might cause it trouble. Of course I can't guarantee that it won't work well enough as I have no way of testing it and I'm going by maths alone when it comes to the headphones in question. Saying all that, I very much agree that testing it in a store is the best call if you are unsure and personally I would be interested to hear the resulting opinion 

Edit: The experience was based on a single USB powering Babyface as only one slot was available without additional power source, thus it is inaccurate if you take up 2 USB slots or external plug. 

Warm Regards

Ondrej


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## Nick Batzdorf (Aug 11, 2014)

Ah okay. My comment was general, yours is specific to the Babyface, so I'd be inclined to take your word over mine in this case. The Babyface may just have a weak headphone amp.


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## Dan Mott (Aug 11, 2014)

Thanks everyone.

Unfortunately I cannot try it in a store. Here in AUS we do not exactly have a huge variety of gear. Which is why I get this kind of stuff from sweetwater. I actually do not know of one store here in Melbourne which sells them. Puzzles me really.

I have just been looking at headphone graphs and reviews and it seems the 600s are at a good price and quite flat. Exactly what I'm after.

So I guess I can only take a risk or look at other headphones sold in Melbourne.....


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## ptbbos (Aug 11, 2014)

I use HD600s with the babyface on a regular basis. I don't tend to drive them overly loud, but I find them to be loud enough for at night when I can't use my monitors.

Not sure if there's any way to quantitatively measure the output?


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## Dan Mott (Aug 11, 2014)

ptbbos @ Tue Aug 12 said:


> I use HD600s with the babyface on a regular basis. I don't tend to drive them overly loud, but I find them to be loud enough for at night when I can't use my monitors.
> 
> Not sure if there's any way to quantitatively measure the output?



Cool. Good to know.

Say you are listening at a moderate level. How far up is the headphone fader in the babyface software mixer?


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## ptbbos (Aug 11, 2014)

I don't know off hand. I'll check tomorrow when I'm using that PC.


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## Dan Mott (Aug 11, 2014)

ptbbos @ Tue Aug 12 said:


> I don't know off hand. I'll check tomorrow when I'm using that PC.



Cool. Appreciate it.


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## ptbbos (Aug 12, 2014)

Listening to a mastered track (Amaranthe - The Nexus), I've got the main fader in TotalMix at -10 db, and the meter is peaking between -25 and -30.

This is a comfortably loud listening level.


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## Dan Mott (Aug 13, 2014)

ptbbos @ Wed Aug 13 said:


> Listening to a mastered track (Amaranthe - The Nexus), I've got the main fader in TotalMix at -10 db, and the meter is peaking between -25 and -30.
> 
> This is a comfortably loud listening level.



Ah that's plenty.

Thanks a lot for trying that out.


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## Beat Kaufmann (Aug 14, 2014)

> What the title says Smile
> 
> Or will I need an extra amp?



Those of us who are using RME Audio Interfaces can confirm that the headphone amps are close to "just-headphone-amps":
They are very(!) powerfull, have a very clean sound with low distortion values etc.
With the baby face we have the special case that it also can be powered via USB but also with an external 12V power supply.
The USB cable comes with a dual connector so that if one USB bus cannot provide the 300mA of current needed a second bus can be used for extra power.

Also: Be sure that RME wouldn't sell a headphone output which cannot be used together with most of the headphones and with the well known RME-quality...

The test from "musicradar.com". confirms my statement.

Beat


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## Virharmonic (Aug 14, 2014)

Beat is definitely correct. I completely forgot that you could power it independently or use the dual connector. It has been 2 years since I've used babyface for anything, so I completely forgot about the minor, yet very important details. RME products are stellar no argument there and personally I can't sing enough praise to RME UFX I've been using for few years now as it's drivers or the unit never let me down.

Ondrej


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