A Better Explanation of Impedance for Audio Signals

I have one update/correction I'd like to add to this video that has come up since I put it out. I mention in the video that impedance tends to go up as frequency goes down. This is true for ribbon and dynamic microphones as well as piezo based pickups, however it is not true for traditional electromagnetic guitar pickups. Wound pickups have an impedance that peaks usually somewhere from 2kHz - 8kHz or so. The same general principles from the video apply, however impedance mismatch will lead to loss of voltage more at the resonant peak of the pickup rather than in the low end. I have continued to learn more about impedance while designing products for audio, and may post an updated video in the future. If that would be of interest to you, please let me know here in the comments section if you would like.

I have been working in sound for about 30 years and this is the clearest and most useful explanation in a practical sense that I have seen. 👍

Another good analogy is acoustic impedance. Sound travels well through air (which has low acoustic impedance) and sound also travels well through concrete (which has high acoustic impedance). But it doesn't easily transition between the two mediums, because there's an impedance mismatch. When a sound-wave in air hits a concrete wall, most of it will bounce back rather than continue through. And the reverse is also true. A sound-wave in a solid-body guitar doesn't propagate out into the surrounding air much.

Fantastic explanation. Leaving out the wild math and just using relative values really helped illustrate the basic principle. Suddenly, the “high-z” jack makes sense lol. Thank you!

I'm a guitarist researching DI and line isolator boxes for the first time and you're right, useful/informative explanations are hard to come by. Strong work here. Great vid.

It took me a few repeats but I got there in the end. It explains why plugging upright pickups into non-specific audio inputs can be hit or miss... Thanks for the explanation.

Thank you so much for this video. I was going through a lot of videos with so much math, but I just wanted to understand how this applied to audio signals, but I've been building tube amps and everyone is always talking about impedance, but no one is gonna tell what it really is. The fact phase shifting doesn't actually apply to audio was veeery enlightening. Thank you again.

Ahhhhh. I make a living from audio and just follow the rules of thumb on impedance. NOW I finally understand the logic to some degree. THANK YOU for this excellent content and delivery.

Thank you! A lot of audio videos on this don't explain the physics, and a lot of physics videos on this don't explain how it applies to audio.

Thank you so much for this video! Sharing with my Berklee Critical Listening class since this is the best "impedance matching" description I have ever heard.

Thank you. I am going to have to watch this video a few times to let the concept of impedence really sink in, and also how it applies to headphones. It looks like I was lucky to find this video early on in my search to understand impedence, so you saved me a lot of time. Thank you for generously sharing

After your intro and explanation I can't help but like you brother. Subbed.

This is the best explanation I've seen . Great color coding and use of language; it is appreciated. I subscribed in hopes of you doing the video about how to measure impedance. There are no videos about it on YouTube for audiophiles incapable of reading, and I am wanting to measure the impedance of a headphone jack on an old keyboard. So please do it. At least one person is interested.

Thanks so much for those explanations. I knew about impedances matching but I didn't know why and how it could affect the sound. Congratulations for the time and energy you spent sharing those precious infos for musicians.

Genius! Absolutely bloody brilliant that (as we say in Yorkshire (England) - what a fantastic explanation. Won’t go over my background or areas of knowledge, but that was a real ‘light bulb moment’ for me, and I can’t believe I didn’t see it that way before. In fact, just the simple point of explaining that the impedance is the ratio of where a signal sits in terms of voltage to current was such an obvious, but devastatingly useful way of looking at it, it was worth watching the whole video for that. However, it totally makes sense from that starting point how the signal is affected when it hit an input with a difference impedance. Now I properly understand the rule of thumb of x10’s input impedance to output impedance I feel rather pleased with myself. Thank you so much 🙌 🙌 🙌

Thank you so much for this video, I'm in my final year of a university degree and building a piezo based noise box / effects pedal sound device using a daisy seed and some basic circuitry inspired by guitar effects. I also had zero electronics experience before starting this. From being a musician into hardware for quite a few years I sort of knew the rule of thumb and negative consequences of not considering it when connecting certain devices, however when designing one my lack of knowledge really became a barrier. This is the video I randomly stumbled across whilst not intending to research the matter that just switched on a huge lightbulb of basic understanding. I am going to check out the rest of your channel in the morning plus the website etc and look into your products as one of my case studies 🙂 you have just had a hugely positive impact, a final Christmas present of 2023! I am excited to dive into the above first thing tomorrow.

I wish I could give this video an infinite number of thumbs up. Really really helpful! thank you kindly.

Thanks for this. I'm a guitarist and I've gotten into the rabbit hole... Best explanation I've had

This is hugely helpful for a basic understanding of impedance. THANK YOU!

THANKS, A LOT, now I get (at least conceptually) why everyone talks about the impedance of a device driving the signal at the same time they talk about the impedance of an input, why I would like a Hi-Z input if I want to directly record a guitar or a base, why isn't necessary when it goes through a effects / amplification / SIGNAL chain and how it changes the frequencies and shape of the sound instead of the intensity only.