headphones and battery life

[tagardi]

(A very naive question probably) Do larger headphones have a noticeable impact on the battery? To clarify: would using a headphone as opposed to an earbud, for example, result in reducing the hours a fully charged battery would last? Thanks

[Matrixsjd]

yes using larger headphones would reduce the battery life, because the larger the diaphram in the headphones the more power that's required to produce the sound output

[tagardi]

Thanks. That is what I thought. Before I embark on a search for a good pair of headphones: is there an 'optimum' size, one that provides a really good sound without compromising the battery too much? I have been reading this forum and picked up a lot of good advice on quality and price but not much on this aspect. I know that judging the quality is highly subjective but I wonder what others have experienced when it comes to battery life.

[Matrixsjd]

you're welcome :D about the headphones ummm I'm not sure seeing as I'm using the stock earbuds, but I am looking for a good pair as well, but if I find out any info soon I'll be sure to let ya know

[KeyserNI]

U should pick a type of headphones depending on the sound quality u want bigger ones will drain the battery more but this can offset the quality check out the headphones reviews they give u a pretty good choice of decent headphones

[tagardi]

Thanks. Of course, I have been checking out the headphone reviews but none of them really says anything about the topic of this thread.

[kauffee]

I don't know if I agree with this logic. I may be wrong, but here's how I understand it. Basically, the iPod's battery drain is dependant upon the volume of the output. In other words, turning the volume up to 80% drains the battery faster than if you have it at 20%. I don't think the mechanics of the headphone have anything to do with it.

That being said, a lot of full-size headphones have high impedence and will require you to turn the output up to get the necessary volume. By contrast, the high-end canalphones with high sensitivities require very low volume levels to drive them.

Now, I could be totally wrong about this. Anyone know for certain?

[in the red]

Yes different headphones will have a different effect on battery life because different types of headphones vary in resistance which is measured in ohms. So simply Smaller headphones will have lower ohm resistance than larger ones which means that the larger headphones will drain more current.

[in the red]

but don't always believe what the rating is on the box. I find that I can get better battery life out of my koss' which are rated at 60 ohms than out of my dodgy JVC's which are rated at 32 ohms and both headphones have the same power output.