Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Headphone Amps (full-size) › Do I need an amp if I listen at low volumes?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Do I need an amp if I listen at low volumes? - Page 2

post #16 of 25
11/16/06 at 11:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by HiJon89
It was a joke. I was calling you a girl for listening at low volume
Jon....STOP IT

And a class "A" amp would either blow up the skirt {insert marylyn monrowe imagery} or blow back the hair {insert that JVC dude chair sitting imagery}

No JOKE
Reply
post #17 of 25
11/17/06 at 12:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by norseman8485
But if I run the amp through the headphone jack of my laptop or pda, won't it be boosting the signal from the crappy internal amp in the first place? Won't it be worst?
Nop.

copied and pasted shpiel

First, there's the clear issue of coloration. Take the hornet, IIRC its a unbuffered high current opamp design. Of course the way its designed, it changes the FR of the signal and colors the sound. Some like it, some dont. That's pretty easy to understand. people build amps to color sound, an opamp may sound bassy, trebely .. whatever.

OTOH there are definate EE based reasons to use an outboard amp.. consider the headphone out of an ipod. I'm willing to bet that the output impedance is obscenely high (by audiophile standards) to lower the noise floor. There's also the issue of return ground current.. I know of no player that correctly handles returned current. Most stuff just sinks current directly to the rails.. since the rails arn't exactly ideal sinks.. you get issues. Even a CMoy has rail caps that alleviate this problem (to an extent.. ideally you want a buffer to sink current). And last but not least, the amp input impedance is VERY well behaved.. most low-power opamps dont like driving capacitative loads (overshoot / undershoot / IMD) and when you feed an opamp with 5Megs of non-capacitative impedance, rather than a 32 ohm, god-awful load, you get MUCH better noise figures out of an opamp.
Reply
post #18 of 25
11/17/06 at 5:09am
Thread Starter 
I'm gonna pretend I understood half of that and conclude that an amp is a good thing no matter what volume and plugged in where.
Reply
post #19 of 25
11/17/06 at 6:08am
i find that sound improves with an amp at low volumes with my e5c's, but, i feel that the e5c perticularly needs amping. so depends on your cans.

i would suggest that the improvements that an amp provides would be more obvious (to hear) at normal levels as opposed to quiet ones.
Reply
post #20 of 25
11/17/06 at 7:59am
Or you need it, or you don't. If you need it because you feel that your equipment need it, doesn't matter if you listen to low volume. IMO is always an improvement at high or low volumes.
If you are talking about portable equipment and you are satisfied with how your setup sounds, I would say that you do not need an amp .
Reply
post #21 of 25
11/17/06 at 9:17am
...No, yea! Although, not necessarily...Maybe, so it depends upon what you want to hear...

Depends upon your answer to alot of questions, and that is why my answer above is valid...My answer is only as rediculous as the question asked without a great many qualifiers. mainly what quality of sound do you want to hear. Two dixie cups and a string transmits sound and is amazing to us all at one point in time ;-}
Reply
post #22 of 25
11/17/06 at 9:29am
You don't "need" one. But you won't regret buying one.
Reply
post #23 of 25
11/17/06 at 2:46pm
Thread Starter 
My biggest dilemma so far is whether to buy the amp or use the same money and get another can. Listen to something new or improve my current sound?
Reply
post #24 of 25
11/17/06 at 5:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Erik View Post
Meyvn pretty well summed it up. However, I wanted to add that a dedicated amp will give you nice stuff like class A operation and much lower distortion figures than a so-so amp inside an iPod. It's not just about power, it's also the linearity of the amp. If you play back through a good one at a low volume, distortion will be at a minimum and you'll have great sound.

It's also about resolution, a good amp should provide the same level of detail at a very low volume as it does at a higher volume level.
Reply
post #25 of 25
11/17/06 at 6:36pm
Get one because they look cool and having shiny expensive equipment that lights up is cool and you aren't cool unless you have it.

For reference, here's a picture of me when I'm listening to music with my RS-1's plugged into my amp:
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Headphone Amps (full-size)
Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Headphone Amps (full-size) › Do I need an amp if I listen at low volumes?