Advice sought using headphones with Kemper

  • As the title says really, I'm forced to use headphones for much of the time at home and I wondered how well the Kemper works with a decent pair of headphones? I don't know if they qualify as FRFR devices nor whether the Kemper can sound a bit harsh through cans as some amps in my experience do?


    If it is a flyer, any particular recommendations would be appreciated.


    Cheers for reading, I look forward to your replies.

  • The Kemper works great with headphones, thanks to the "space" parameter, which gives a sense of space (similar to reverb). It makes the sound not so immediate and dry.


    The headphones you choose will have a drastic affect on the quality of sound. There is no such thing as headphones with a truly "flat" frequency response but some are flatter than others. I recommend getting some with as flat of a response as you can within your budget. This will help to avoid harshness in the highs and excessive low end. Headphone.com is a great resource for checking out headphones. You can look at frequency response graphs for a lot of models.


    I also suggest you use open back headphones or at least semi-open back if possible. They sound more natural and don't give you that closed in and isolated sound. The downfall is that a certain amount of sound will leak in and out, but I've found that it's minimal. Also consider the impedance of the headphones. The higher the impedance, the more likely you'll need a headphone amp to get them to proper volume.


    I use a set of Grado SR60i headphones. They're not perfectly flat but they have a good sound and I find that my settings still translate well to my studio monitor speakers. They're fairly cheap. I've tried some more expensive cans (including Beyerdynamic DT770s- hated them) but always came back to the Grados.

  • Considering the HP Out impedance of 30 ohm, HPs of at least 300 ohm will give you more linearity. You'll need a good sensitivity to balance this kind of mismatch in terms of sound level (I'd go for no lower than 98-100 dB/V).
    We have one datum missing: the HP out nominal voltage. Hope someone from Mothership chimes in. From my experience the Profiler outputs a good amount of volts tho, so you should have no issues with getting high volumes anyway.


    HP, when properly designed and matched with both the amp ant the head, can be really flat: it's just that people's heads are like rooms: each one is different.
    OTOH, HPs can be really full range as well (like 5-25,000 Hz), if properly coupled.


    If you ever plan to use your HPs for music production in a larger sense, I'd strongly advise for closed ones: sound bleeding into mics is not nice :)


    HTH

  • Thank you very much for your replies, your detail is very helpfull.


    I just know from experience that I am going to end up using them more than a power amp and cab, so they will need to be comfortable too, I'll have to try a few of your suggestions.

  • Hey Bagatell and londonjeepster


    Not meaning to be rude at all. But I had both AKGs K240 STUDIO MKII and K271 STUDIO. K271 is sold. K240 is being sold at the moment. I was searching headphones also and I gave a try to praised (on Fractals Forum :D) AUDIO TECHNICA ATH-M50.


    ATH-M50 kick the s**t out of both AKG's in terms of sound, punch and dynamics provided. Believe me :) I started to play "TAF Evil Robot Blues" on ATH-M50 and I couldn't stop. At the end my ears became little warm. I came back to both AKGs. They were so lifeless compared to rich sound of ATH-M50.


    One thing: AKGs feel lighter on your head and you can wear them for longer time. ATH-M50 are more "closed" to your head/ears and after longer session with moderate to higher volume you need to rest. But soundwise AKGs are like putting towel inside the cans.


    I wanna try BeyerDynamic DT880 250Ohm, how they compare to ATH-M50. Anyway AUDIO TECHNICA are keepers for sure.

  • I've been using the same set of AKG 240's since the 90's and the sound from the Kemper is amazing, way better than my JBL studio monitors.
    Try a few pairs if you can, especially the new Beyer stuff.

  • I've been using the same set of AKG 240's since the 90's and the sound from the Kemper is amazing, way better than my JBL studio monitors.
    Try a few pairs if you can, especially the new Beyer stuff.


    So the sound of the ATH-M50 is amazinger :D


  • How HPs sound strongly depends on the amp driving them in relationship with their characteristics. Maube with a different amp you'd have a different experience

  • How HPs sound strongly depends on the amp driving them in relationship with their characteristics. Maube with a different amp you'd have a different experience


    I compared ATH-M50 to both AKGs on many TAF profiles and both AKGs were weaker and duller. This is just my experience. I sold AKGs immediately.

  • I compared ATH-M50 to both AKGs on many TAF profiles and both AKGs were weaker and duller. This is just my experience. I sold AKGs immediately.



    I used ATH-M50s for some years before I got the AKGs. I don't recall the ATH being that much better soundwise but the AKGs are more comfortable IMHO. FWIW I'm 60 and my high frequency hearing is nowhere near what it was.


  • I used ATH-M50s for some years before I got the AKGs. I don't recall the ATH being that much better soundwise but the AKGs are more comfortable IMHO. FWIW I'm 60 and my high frequency hearing is nowhere near what it was.


    Well, the differerence in sound was of that kind that I never looked back to AKGs. Fact is that AKGs are more comfortable. FWIW I am 36.

  • Very interesting.
    But now a next step. Suppose I want to rehearse on my own this way in the living room with just the Kemper and simultaneously need to hear the song to learn through my headphones. What do I need?

  • Very interesting.
    But now a next step. Suppose I want to rehearse on my own this way in the living room with just the Kemper and simultaneously need to hear the song to learn through my headphones. What do I need?


    do you mean an Aux in?

  • That would be an option but the Kemper hasn't that on board. Could the S/PDIF do the trick with a RCA-connector to the input?
    For this purpose I was thinking of my Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 WiFi using a mini stereo jack from its audio out to the S/PDIF of the Kemper. This RCA will be mono...but it's just for quiet rehearsal try.

    I haven't tried it because I receive no sound through headphones. However, in OUTPUT on page
    page 2/6 OUTPUT VOLUMES I linked HEADPHONES and adjusted Headphone volume but no effect.

  • Very interesting.
    But now a next step. Suppose I want to rehearse on my own this way in the living room with just the Kemper and simultaneously need to hear the song to learn through my headphones. What do I need?


    You can use the two inputs on the back as a stereo source for your player/computer :)