Beyerdynamic A1 User Manual

OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS

A 1

Headphone Amplifier

Contents

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1. Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2. Important Safety Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

3. Controls and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

4. Application Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

5. Trouble Shooting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

6. Technical Specifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

FCC Declaration of Conformity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

A 1 – Introduction

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Thank you for selecting the A 1 headphone amplifier from beyerdynamic. This unit has been made from high grade
materials and assembled under stringent quality and performance conditions to provide you with an excellent product.
Please take some time to read carefully through this manual before using the product, even if you have experience
with similar devices.

Supplied accessories

• Please check if the delivery of the A 1 is complete. If any parts are missing, please contact your dealer directly,
where you purchased this product. The packaging should include the following components:

• A 1 headphone amplifier

• Power cable

• Manual

• beyerdynamic warrranty card

Why use a headphone?

There are many good reasons for using a headphone:

• With headphones music is perceived more intensely than when using loudspeakers, because the transducer are
worn directly at the ears.

• With headphones you can achieve an excellent music reproduction at a lesser price. For an appropriate loudspeaker
system you would pay much more. Regarding resolution and dynamics, high-quality headphones are comparable
to excellent loudspeakers, as these have to put more air into oscillation to achieve the same volume. The thin and
lightweight diaphragm of a headphone, however, starts to oscillate very quickly.

• With a headphone you can listen to music undisturbed, even in noisy surroundings or late at night without
disturbing the neighbourhood.

Why use a headphone amplifier?

• Integrated headphone amplifiers are often simple and inefficient operational amplifiers. Due to a high internal
noise and an insufficient performance of the original dynamics these circuits make music sound quite bland and
dreary.

• There are high-impedance headphones which need more voltage and low-impedance
models which need more power to provide excellent results. In comparison to integrated amplifiers, an external
headphone amplifier such as the A 1 features more dynamics and increases the sound quality of standard
headphones considerably.

• A headphone amplifier provides a higher volume and more powerful bass response, even with less output power.
When using a headphone and headphone amplifier, make sure that the desired volume can be achieved without
any distortions.