I need to add that new tool to the overall landing page. Maybe I’ll get to that, and tart it all up a bit, tomorrow. But it can be access directly for now.
Updated the landing page to include the “Headphone/Amplifier Max SPL” tool.
Some stylistic/formatting/rounding (math) changes made, also. Not sure I care for the new font on non “retina class” displays, but I do like it on properly-high-DPI stuff; we’ll see on that one.
Stop bugging me to include Feliks Audio amplifiers … bug THEM instead, to publish USEABLE power numbers. They have every measurement except the useful ones … i.e. POWER into LOAD (telling me your output power is 250mW without specifying a load is about as useful as a chocolate tea-cozy).
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Added a new feature … a “Max SPL for Headphones for a given Amplifier”.
You choose an amplifier, and the minimum SPL you want to be able to achieve in your listening, and it’ll list all the headphones that your chosen amplifier can drive to that level (as well as the maximum level they will reach):
This is a simplified version of this request (per @raindownthunda). And I mean simplified in that it does not account for OI or other unreliably available specifications (max voltage swing, current and thermal limits) … just raw quoted power ratings and headphone impedance/sensitivity.
It’s also on the landing page.
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I finally got around to moving these tools to proper hosting (AWS).
You can access them at: http://www.headphoneresource.com
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I’ve published a tested, release, version of the “Music Library Crud Purge” tool, for those that want to minimize the size of their libraries (especially for mobile use):
It differs from the pre-release version only in its version number, updated command line parser, and the fact it has been tested.
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Just a general note … since I see a few hits on posts in the middle of the thread …
You’ll want to go to headphoneresource.com for these tools now.
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Great set of tools! Very handy! Thanks for sharing them.
Any chance you could make the URLs so they’re easier to share? Or a link directly to something? e.g. say I wanted to share the headphone power/drive reference for the HE6se:
https://headphoneresource.com/headphone_power/headphonepower.html?manufacturer=hifiman&headphone=he6se
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Very cool and helpful tools. Thanks for putting them together. Too bad my Fiio K9 Pro isn’t good enough to make the database… 
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Yes, absolutely … already in the plan.
The URLs will follow the REST model, so they’ll be deterministic and resource references will be consistent over time. You can to do the lookups using the interfaces as they are now, and then click “Get Permanent Link” and get the necessary URL.
You’ll also be able to formulate URLs manually.
Your example will be closer to:
https://headphoneresource.com/headphonepower/hifiman/he6se
And for absolute consistency, a simpler URL that just uses UUIDs for the final product will also work (and is what the “Get Link” button will yield):
https://headphoneresource.com/headphonepower/486bb462-cbdf-459b-8cdc-bbbccb3b2d6a
Just a question of time in getting to different manufacturers; especially those that use weird ways of expressing their specifications.
FiiO’s gear, and a bunch of other manufacturers, will be in the next data update.
The other thing that should make the next update is the connection/cabling/pin-out tool. That let’s you choose a source/amplifier, and a headphone, and it’ll give you the necessary pin-outs for the cable (both balanced, where applicable, and single-ended). Along with wiring diagrams.
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Well, color me lazy …
… and distracted (lots going on).
I did get all the FiiO gear into the database … which spans amplifiers, DAC/amps (including dongles etc.) and IEMs.
I haven’t pushed the direct URL reference capability nor cable pin-out updates yet. I’ll probably get to that this coming week. The code, graphics and data updates are done, they just have to be properly tested.
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And …
I decided to switch the direct-link scheme to a form that is closer to that which @deafenears suggested, rather than the pure REST model.
In part, that’s because the pages are all actively rendered client-side … so all that the REST endpoints would give you is the raw data rather than a renderable HTML stream.
The new Schiit and Cayin amps will be in the next update, also, with some other bits and bobs, updates, and fixes.
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I’ve added (well, enabled) the direct-link feature for the “Headphone Power/Drive Reference” tool:
You can use it in a number of ways, but the “proper”, and simplest, way to do it is just to select the manufacturer and headphone you want, click “Get Link”, and you’re done. The necessary URL will be copied to your clipboard, so you can paste it into whatever link/anchor/post you want.
Here’s a link for the ZMF Atrium.
Note: The page will come up “locked” to the manufacturer, or manufacturer/headphone when using this feature. To unlock it, so you can choose other values, just click “Reset”.
See “Details”, below, for other ways you can use this feature.
I added the Schiit Vali 2++, Lyr+ and Folkvangr, as well as all of the Lotoo DAPs and Dongles to the database.
Next I’ll add this sort of “direct-link” capability to the other three tools.
Details
Specifying a “direct” link just requires adding a “query string” to the end of the base URL.
The base URL is:
https://headphoneresource.com/headphone_power/headphonepower.html
Four parameters are available:
- manufacturer_id - The UUID for the manufacturer.
- manufacturer - The NAME of the manufacturer.
- headphone_id - The UUID for the headphone model.
- headphone - The NAME of the headphone model.
If you specify just the manufacturer_id or manufacturer, the page will load for that manufacturer and be locked to it - so all you can select is one of that manufacturer’s headphone models. For example, this link will get you just Sennheiser headphones.
You must provide the manufacturer or manufacturer_id when specifying a headphone or headphone_id. You cannot just specify the headphone or headphone_id.
When specifying a manufacturer or headphone name (instead of a UUID) it will be treated as lowercase, it must be the full name as displayed in the drop-down list, and you must replace any spaces in the name with a %20 sequence (using + also works, but is not the “proper” way to do it).
For example, to get the Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC by name you would use:
?manufacturer=abyss&headphone=AB-1266%20Phi%20TC
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I haven’t touched this in months … seven, in fact.
And I can’t say I’m interested in dealing with manufacturer nonsense on getting sane data from them, nor constantly updating the thing, just “for the hell of it”.
So …
In the next week or so (depends on how much “down” time I get between/during travel), I’ll release a desktop version of these tools … all in one app. It’ll be cross-platform (macOS, Windows, Linux). It’ll add some other tools.
And, most importantly …
It’ll let you add new manufacturers, headphones and amplifiers. And those additions will get fed to the web-based version (subject to approval).
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I spent a bit of time over the last week on this. That has gotten things to the point where the desktop application has the same capabilities (minus linking into a page) as the web version:
This is in a shareable form as-is (for macOS, both AS/arm64 and x64), so links are here:
Headphone Tools (macOS Apple-Silicon [arm64])
Headphone Tools (macOS Intel [x64])
Download the .ZIP file, extract it, and copy “Headphone Tools.app” to wherever you want it (nominally “Applications”, but it’ll run in-place).
The .app is signed and notarized, so you should not need to disable any security/approve any exceptions.
–
Next I’ll add the ability to add new manufacturers, headphones and amplifiers, the “submit” function to send that data to a central repository, and the “Check for Updates” both application and data) features.
And then I’ll add builds for Windows x64 (maybe ARM also), followed by Linux.
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Thanks for your ongoing efforts Ian!
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I setup the build environment for the app on Windows today.
What a farce.
The long and short of that is that Windows users will have to deal with Windows Defender SmartScreen if they want to run it (or build it from source):
To avoid that, I’d either have to:
-
Get an EV class code-signing certificate.
This is several hundred dollars a year (~$750), requires I tie the certificate to one of my businesses (not happening, this software has nothing to do with any of them), and go through a multi-day/week verification process.
OR:
-
Get an OV class code-signing certificate.
This is also several hundred dollars a year (~$250), requires I provide government ID and other identify verification*, and go through a multi-day/week verification process.
But then Windows will STILL throw that warning until some undefined number of users (which it’ll almost certainly never reach) have elected to trust the application and install it anyway to build “community trust”.
OR:
- Setup Azure Trusted Signing which requires an Azure Subscription, Tenant, Entra ID, all of which are associated with a company (again, not happening), and then a bunch of other steps and hoops to jump through. And then it’s $10/month on TOP of all the baseline Azure costs to use that.**
So, fuck it, it’ll go unsigned.
I’m not putting up a “No, really, it’s okay to install this, just follow these stupid steps to bypass Window’s Nanny™, you can’t trust me, yep, uhuh!” page to get users past WDS.
Not withstanding that such disclaimers are cringingly scammy sounding.
*I didn’t read the fine-print because my “oh … FUCK off …” reflex had already been triggered, but I wouldn’t rule out it requiring a DNA sample and an anal probe too.
**I see people whining about Apple’s $99/year fee to do this (which also gets you the ability to publish on all of their app-stores), but that’s a bargain, and vastly simpler, less invasive, doesn’t require tying to a corporation etc., and is a much faster process in comparison to even the cheapest-but-not-worth-bothering-with Windows option.
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