Is wireless headphone with impedance 55Ω convenient for Macbook Pro 2015?

Question

I want to buy Wireless headphone for Macbook Pro 2015 :

Resistance:55Ω
Frequency Response Range:5-40000Hz
Sensitivity:105±3dB

Is the resistance value good for Macbook pro ? or Macbook pro's impedance is lower i and i must find another headphone with 32 ohm resistance ?

Answer 1

A headphone with an impedance of 55 ohms is cleary a one that is meant for use with high wattage devices like a pro DJ console or a studio mixer. The recommended headphones for a laptop should have an impedance of around 32 ohms. Impedance basically gives the idea of how much power the headphones need to produce maximum sound output. Using a high impedance headphone with a low powered device like a mobile phone will lead you to have a low volume of sound in the headphones even though the volume on the phone is at max. Using earphones (usually having an impedance of about 25 ohms) will solve this problem as they need less power to produce max output. On the other hand, low impedance headphones when used with high wattage devices (imagine plugging in your earphones to a DJ console) can be dangerous as excess power can cause the earphones to explode (yup!).

Besides impedance, the frequency response range also determines the recommended use of the headphones. Usually, the headphones that you might use for listening to songs have a frequency range of 20 Hz - 20,000 Hz. Headphones having the lower frequency limit below 20 (about 15Hz) are ideal for EDM music as they are sensitive to higher bass. Frequency sensitivity below that are needed for listening to a Bass Guitar. Frequency sensitivity higher than 20,000 Hz (usually found to be 35,000 - 40,000Hz) facilitate monitoring of vocal microphones or lead guitars.

I have a pair of HD 202 II headphones by Sennheiser. They have an impedance of 32 ohms and frequency range of 18Hz - 18,000Hz. I use it with my synthesizer (Roland XPS10) and it's perfect.

Now, the headphones that you talk about, having an impedance of 55 ohms and freq. range of 5 - 40,000Hz, is a one best suited for studio monitoring. They can perfectly enable the listener listen to Bass, Mid and Trebble (due to the large frequency range and impedance that can be balanced by a heavy device like a studio mixer).

For use with a laptop, I'd ask you to refer to my case in which I use a 32ohms impedance and 18-18000 Hz freq. range headphones that work perfectly with my Synth and PC. I read somewhere that Apple devices generally have more power than other devices (iPods and iPhones have headphones designed for them having an impedance of about 30-32ohms where usually headphones with an impedance of 25-27Ohms work fine with phones). However, Macs won't be anywhere near supporting a 55ohm impedance headphone. So for use with your MAC BOOK PRO, look for the following specs in the headphones to buy

Impedance: 35-40ohms (approx)
Freq. range: 18-18,000Hz (approx)
Sensitivity: 105 dB/mW ±10dB

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Its wireless. Impedence likely should not matter.Impedence determines how hard the headphones are to drive, (and a few other charecteristics). If its wireless, the headphones contain matched amplifiers internally and the transmitter likely is connected via USB or BT. If it takes a 3.5mm input it assumes its line level I'd guess.

Its utterly inconsequential for wireless headphones.

(As an aside, nwavguy has a great writeup on what impedence is -nonetheless he's writing it with respect to headphones connected to an amplifier or other source. It and the associated articles are a great read, just for education's sake).