Sounds different between kpa headphone and interface headphone

    Recently I bought a kpa and a focusrite6i6. The reason why I went to the Scarlett6i6 is it can choose the clock source so the interface can be slaved to the Kpa. I use spdif to reamp and it worked perfectly.


    But there is one thing that let me down.
    It is really sounds better when I monitor from the Kpa headphone. And it's so different when I
    Monitor from the interface headphone while the route always be: guitar-kpa front input-kpa spdifput-interface spdif in .


    To figure out what cause the difference i did a expierment: I recond a soundtrack by using the route above .
    Using the same headphone to monitor the playback soundtrack from Focusrite and the RME 802.


    The result is that both the interface sounds closed. So the D/A part is good enough


    the A/D part can't be the reason because my guitar is always connected to the Kpa front input and through the spdif to recond which can
    skip over A/D D/A


    The clock is synced and work fine


    So what caused the differences???
    why the Kpa headphone out always sounds pretty better than the interface headphone!?



    • Also much different from the signal recorded in the DAW .

    Check your output settings-things like Pure Cab and Space can be assigned to specific outputs, and if they're set for the headphones only and not also the main outs or S/PDIF (whichever you're running into your interface) the difference will be noticeable. Also, volume levels can influence the perceived sound, as in louder can sound "better."

    Silly question, but are your output sources the same for the Headphones and S/PDIF outputs? If the former is set to Master Stereo and the latter to, say, Mod Mono, you would hear stereo effects through the KPA's Headphones output that aren't going to the S/PDIF output.

    How can you describe the different sound between both outputs?


    I've always experimented this. When I listen to the sound coming from the interface headphones I can notice some kind of metallic sound, mostly when I play high notes. I can also notice that metallic sound in my recordings,(I also use the spdif output of my kemper). I did a search online and found out that some pleople were complaining about this particular sound of my interface, so I assumed the problem was coming from the A/D, D/A converters of my interface (RME Ucx).

    The headphone amp in the KPA is of great quality, the ones built-in in most audio interfaces is not. If You need great audio quality for Your headphones in your studio, a separate, good headphone amp is needed.

    Quote from Frodebro

    Check your output settings-things like Pure Cab and Space can be assigned to specific outputs, and if they're set for the headphones only and not also the main outs or S/PDIF (whichever you're running into your interface) the difference will be noticeable.

    This

    Quote from nightlight

    It could also be on account of the different impedance between the Kemper headphone output and the Focusrite. I have experienced this before.

    That:


    Focusrite uses quite low headphone amp impedance, just 10 Ohm in the case of the 6i6. Kemper seems to use 33 Ohm.


    Focusrite states:


    "It is worth noting that, whilst attaining higher power transfer to your headphones will ensure higher audio output level, higher voltage transfer (facilitated by having headphone impedance that is higher than the output impedance of the interface – the greater this difference is, the greater the voltage transfer will be) will provide the flattest frequency response (or, at least, the frequency response most true to your headphone’s performance specifications) from the interface.
    As was previously mentioned, higher levels of audio are attainable with higher power transfer in to your headphones, so, if high output levels are your ultimate goal, it is generally advisable to try and use headphones whose impedance is as close as possible to the impedance of the HP output impedance of your interface. It is worth noting that is not necessary to directly match the HP output impedance of the interface to attain sufficiently high levels to your headphones; Simply, HP impedances that are closer to the HP output impedance will yield higher output levels to the headphones."


    So, for many commonly used studio headphones the Kemper is closer (Beyerdynamics can have up to some hundreds Ohms!)

    Ne travaillez jamais.

    Like 2
    Quote from ivan91

    How can you describe the different sound between both outputs?


    I've always experimented this. When I listen to the sound coming from the interface headphones I can notice some kind of metallic sound, mostly when I play high notes. I can also notice that metallic sound in my recordings,(I also use the spdif output of my kemper). I did a search online and found out that some pleople were complaining about this particular sound of my interface, so I assumed the problem was coming from the A/D, D/A converters of my interface (RME Ucx).

    Are you recording in 44.1 kHz?