Headphones Question

Factual Questions
1

It’s common knowledge that you can "blow out "stereo speakers by playing music too loudly. But is it possible to also “blow out” a pair of high-quality headphones by playing too loudly?

I’ve been trying for a while to find an answer to this, and the responses I get are usually along the lines of: “Yeah, I guess it’s theoretically possible, but nobody would listen to music THAT loud with headphones on, so don’t worry about it.”

Now, of course I wouldn’t deliberately listen to ear-splitting squalls with my Sennheisers on. But I use my cans in my home recording studio a lot, and sometimes, thanks to bad signal routing, I’ll get a burst of static or feedback or other assorted unpleasant SQUEEEEEAAALLLS. I’m worried that, besides ruining my ears, such uber-volume sounds could damage or completely ruin my headphones.

I even e-mailed the Sennheiser company, asking this same question, but they’ve never responded. Might somebody here with some technical knowledge of audio equipment know the answer?

2

Speakers properly matched to the amp setup shouldn’t blow even if played loud.

In the case of headphones your eardrums would probably blow out before the headphone speakers.

3

Most headphones are high impedance, meaning low current. The only ones I have ever seen “blown” were cheap ones that I diagnosed as being poorly designed and cheaply assembled.

Most headphone output circuits use the NJM4558 Op Amp which is capable of less than 10mA output current.

4

What model sennheisers? (I’ve some HD280s :D) I’m sure that the higher end they are the more punishment they can take, as long as they’re matched to the proper amp.

5

I’m using HD265s, connected to a Soundblaster Audigy2 ZS.