WELCOME TO THE VISCOUNT ORGANS WEB FORUM
To join in discussion on the organ forum you must first login here or register with us. When registering you can choose to use your own name or select a nickname. Once registered you can join in or start a new topic straightaway. You can edit your profile here. With either option you will need to set up and remember an 8 character password so you can return to the forum. Sorry! yet another password to manage.
This forum is not moderated but we reserve the right to ban any contributor that does not remain polite or uses language that will cause offence or who does not comply with the forum terms of use. By registering you have agreed to accept the conditions of membership which can be read in full here.
Once you have contributed a comment you will receive an e mail as people add to the discussion. We hope you find the Viscount organ forum adds to your knowledge and enjoyment of the organ, its music and musicians.
Viscount VHD-1000 Headphones Used with Prestige and Other Sampled Organs (2 replies and 12 comments)
These headphones appear to be made and sponsored by Viscount. They look to be good quality but at around £100 I would say they are expensive. I see no reason why they would not work with ANY organ - provided the organ has a sufficiently powerful headphone output and a volume control.
What EXACTLY was wrong with your Yamaha and Sony headphones? Saying the results were "unacceptable" is technically meaningless.
Does your organ sound OK if you connect a good quality amplifier and speakers to the headphone output? If not it is probably faulty.
csw900
Thanks for your reply. In response to my meaningless description of "unacceptable," what I meant to say without spelling out all the details was that there was so much static and distortion that I could barely hear what I was playing and it was far more than distracting!
In pursuing this problem, a tech advised that perhaps cleaning the headphone jack of any possible dust or other debris that might have worked its way into the socket. I have not connected speakers to that jack as it was not specified for that purpose. Anyway, should that not work, I am exploring the possibility of using the Viscount VHD-1000 Headphone set, if it is compatible with the Prestige series. Hence, the point of my original question. Another tech and Viscount dealer wasn't able to answer this question with any degree of certitude and will pursue his own research on it on his own. He has a large order of these Viscount headphones on order and if it is compatible with my organ and the jack cleaning doesn't pan out, he will sell me one for about $150, which I believe is a fair price as my wireless Sony headphones cost about $130 and they don't work with my organ!!!
Static and distortion means that there is a fault in the organ - no reputable headphones would produce that!
You can connect powered speakers to a headphone jack whether speakers are specified or not. In the same way you can also connect any normal amplifier and speakers.
There is no reason to think that Viscount or any other headphones will work any better, though I am sure your dealer will be pleased to sell you a pair.
csw900
I get no static or distortion from the organ speakers, only from the headphones jack. Speakers (amplified) connected would probably end with the same result. If the organ conveys perfect sound from the speakers and amplifiers (inside the console) and external speakers with not even a hint of static or distortion, I don't think that indicates any fault of the organ but solely the fault of the headphones jack. Will try a spray electric contact cleaner to verify there is no dust or debris that might have accumulated over the years and see if that helps. Thanks for your suggestions though.
These headphones are suitable for any Viscount instrument. Regards David
Great! Our tech persons weren't sure about that as they always heard of them being used ONLY with Physis organs and never with older sampled organs like my old Prestige 100. I'll let them know that the VHD-1000s are compatible with ALL Viscount organs. Thanks again!
So, could THAT be the problem I am having with static and distortion coming from my Headphones jack? Would my Headphones be incapable of processing digital signals from my organ? Do headphones come in different classes, like analog vs. digital, as they come in wired vs. wireless?
All normal headphones require an analog audio signal. If the signal from your headphone socket was digital you would hear ONLY digital noise in your headphones not static and distortion. Your fault is probably due to a bad contact somewhere but is not necessarily in the headphone socket there are many other possibilities.
csw900
Thanks! My description of the headphone sounds as staticky and distortion could be my own ignorance in the digital world. My headphones definitely are analog, and I may have inadvertently been using the wrong description for the digital noise I am probably hearing. Perhaps I need to just invest in some digital headphones such as the Viscount VHD-1000s for use with my digital organ before I go to all the time, effort, and expense of purchasing an electrical contact cleaner, and unintentionally entertaining the possibility of messing with a perfectly functioning headphone jack. If I still have problems after using a digital headphone set, then I can entertain my options at that point!
The VHD - 1000 headphones are not digital. Their specification which I have copied below indicates that they are normal analog headphones.
Operating PrincipleClosed
FashionSupra-aural
Transducer TypeDynamic
Drivers50 mm
Impendance40 ohm
Max SPL98 +/-3dB
Frequency Response10 - 26.000 Hz
Output Power Max HF1800 mW
Rating Power300 mW
Included accessories3 m cable with 3.5 mm jack plug and screw on 6.3 mm adapter
Weight308 g
csw900
If the Viscount VHD-1000 Headphones are NOT digital, then WHAT digital headphones does Viscount recommend as compatible with my Prestige 100 digitally sampled pipe organ? I had thought, apparently wrong, that the VHD-1000 Headphone set had bween a digital headphone set for digital organs and now I have been advise that they are nothing more than the analog headphones that I already own!
And where would I go to purchase a set of headphones that ARE digital and would worka with my Prestige 100 organ?
This is getting silly - the headphone output of your organ is analog. Digital sampling has nothing to do with headphone outputs. From what David Mason said above I conclude that all Viscount organs have an analog output for ANALOG headphones. You must accept that the headphone output of your organ is faulty if it will not work with any normal (i.e. analog) headphones.
csw900
Sorry about my ignorance! I wasn't aware that digital organs used analog headphone jacks! We are now concentrating on cleaning the headphone jack to see if that helps. Thanks for your patient assistance, csw900 and David Mason!
.
Back to Viscount Organs Forum...
I own a Prestige 100 digitally sampled Organ. I tried using my wired Yamaha and wireless Sony headphones with totally unacceptable results. Then I came across the Viscount VHD-1000 Headphones. From my reading of the article, it looks like they may only work with Physis organs, but may be incompatible with digitally sampled organs like mine. I'm not sure if I was reading this into the article, or if indeed that was what was meant in the article. Is there anyone out there who might be able to elucidate me on this? Will or will not the Viscount VHD-1000 Headphones be compatible (work satisfactorily) with my Viscount Prestige 100 digitally sampled organ? Thank you!