Quality and watts on the monitor jack question

[Crwoo]

Hi, I use a SQ5 for editing and training (me).

I also use the console to listen to high quality audio using the mixer as a DAC.

My question is how good is the monitor jack on the sq? Will it output 96khz audio like the rest of the outputs? Will it have enough power to drive my Sennheiser headphones with 300ohms without compromise?

What do you recommend i do to get the best quality from USB to my headphones.

[volounteer]

very confusing question

where is the music coming from and in what format?
where is it going to and in what format? do your headphones have a usb input??

isnt the monitor jack analog so what does that have to do with 96kcps audio still in digital format.

what does usb have to do with that question? do you mean to send usb into the SQ and then to your headphones?
then just plug them into the monitor out and use the usb in from wherever.

if you want to go from usb to your headphones there are many devices to do that besides the SQ for much less money
some even go way past a mere 96Kcps. personally I prefer 384 and 786 would be best until they sell 1562Kcps digital

one example for usb to headphones. google will find many more.

[Crwoo]

Hi, Thank you for the response, and sorry for not being more clear.

What I am trying to do is using the equipment I already have and use to edit audio, for hifi audio listening.
I am playing the sound from a computer into the SQ5 via usb and have my Sennheiser HD800s plugged into the monitor jack, and am wondering if I am getting any loss of quality this way. Second question was if I need a headphone amp with the Sennheisers and SQ5.

[Mfk0815]

300 Ohm is nowadays a very high impedance for headphones. Usual values for impedances is now between 50 and 80 Ohm. But it will work fine with the SQ headphone output unless you want high volumn. In this case it would be recommended to use an extra headphone amp that can deal with higher impedance. I own an older AKG K240, from the seventies, and can use it as well, but the result is softer than with a modern headphone.
You said „ I am playing the sound from a computer into the SQ5 via usb“. What kind of source is that what you want to play? If it is some kind of compressed audio like mp3, or similar, the result would be quite the same as when you use a inexpensive audio interface for DAC. Even CD Audio at 44.1 kHz has no benefit from the 96 kHz which is always used internally at the SQ. But becausethe SQ always work at 96 kHz also all DAC of the device will convert 96 kHz to analog.
So,if you use high definition audio sources at 96 kHz and want to listen at not too high levels everything would be fine for you with the SQ.

[volounteer]

@Crwoo

You will be limited by your PC/DAW and its DACs to the usb, as well as the original quality of the audio.

The SQ can make your ears bleed with that headphone if you really want to do that by cranking up the levels.

[SteffenR]

DACs to the usb

there are no DAC to the USB, since it is a digital connection

[volounteer]

you are right
but to get the digital to the usb it has to go through mikes preamps and ADCs somewhere before that audio got into digital inside the pc to be sent to the usb to the SQ. and those will be a bigger limitation than the SQ

44.1 offers all the quality you can hear from digital in spite of some golden eared folks claims about what they think they can hear. although you might hear things with truly inferior ADC/DACs, or a bad design, in really cheap consumer grade equipment,
or from a badly created CD that is not the norm.

96 only offers real benefits for editing and mixing then downrezzing to CD quality better than from 48 to 44.1 so as to keep the valid bit length long enough.
unless he actually has a good 96 ADC up front and good processing from audio sound creation to PC before going to the SQ then he gains nothing with using the SQ but he sure will not lose any quality with it

[Crwoo]

Ok. Thank you. I feel confident that im good to go.

🙂

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