Why this feature is often found in studio headphones with better audio quality

Shopping for a pair of headphones can seem like a pretty daunting task, considering they have spec sheets covering a wide range of details like battery life, digital sound processing, and even extra features like active noise cancellation. We recently explained how noise cancellation works, and it’s clearly an important detail for consumer headphones. But something you may not know is that there is a key specification of high-end studio-quality headphones that tells us that these headphones might have better audio quality. This specification is impedance.

Simply put, the impedance factor of any electronic device is the resistance that an electrical current may encounter as it passes through a set of components. In the case of headphones, this translates into power and amplification requirements. A pair of high-end studio headphones contains components that tend to be more complicated and complex. This is because high-end headphones require a lot of engineering, with an emphasis on well-tuned components and specially selected materials. With special care given to the components, the energy requirements of a headset are often greater. These expanded power requirements translate into higher impedance, which can tell us something about sound quality.

So why is high impedance often associated with better sound? These higher-powered components can have a significant effect on audio, but perhaps the most obvious factor is that higher-impedance headphones can sound quieter when plugged into a standard device such as a laptop or phone. This is why lower-end headphones can often be considered better suited to the average listener who uses simpler playback devices. But let’s not stop there; High-impedance headphones can offer many performance benefits to audiophiles.

Since high-impedance headphones feature high-end components that, when driven by a proper setup, can have more power, these complex components are designed to use this higher power to provide additional detail, nuance, and depth in the audio. Since low-impedance headphones are the result of simpler, lower-power components, they won’t tend to offer the detail or response of higher-impedance headphones, even if you drive them with an amp. All of this means that premium headphones from premium brands might have a better chance of delivering better sound with the right playback stack. That’s why we recently ranked the best audiophile headphones, to determine which ones stand up best to this type of test.