Generally, higher-impedance headphones require more power from the headphone output of your interface than lower-impedance headphones.
You do not need to match your headphone impedance value to the Scarlett impedance, or impedances below. Almost all headphones will work with the headphone outputs.
If unsure what to buy, follow these guidelines, though you may find that our products can drive higher impedance headphones than the values listed below without issue:
- For all 1st Gen, 2nd Gen, and 3rd Gen Bus-Powered Scarlett interfaces (Solo, 2i2, 2i4, and 4i4), iTrack Solo and Saffire 6 USB look for headphones with a maximum impedance of 200 ohms.
- For all 1st Gen, 2nd Gen, and 3rd Gen mains powered Scarlett interfaces (6i6, 8i6, 18i6, 18i8 and 18i20) look for headphones with a maximum impedance of 250 ohms.
- For all Clarett Interfaces (Clarett Thunderbolt, Clarett USB and Clarett+) and Red (Thunderbolt) interfaces, headphones with impedances of up to 600 ohms will be fine.
Closed-back headphones are useful to prevent bleed if worn by vocalists or by performers near microphones, while open or semi-closed headphones are ideal for control room use and for long sessions.
Whether this specific equipment combination will be loud enough for an individual varies, depending on many factors. Even if the person has the same model units and headphones, other aspects need consideration. These factors include the loudness of the source material and the environment in which they will be listening.
For more information, see this article:
What is impedance, and how does it affect the volume of my headphones?
If this article hasn't helped you, please feel free to search again at the top of this page or, to contact support, please click here.