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whoa hang on there tiger, since when was audio not a subjective thing?

as i said, all of my opinion is just that, my opinion. there is more to properly driving a headphone than making it go loud

loudness can easily be defeated by increasing gain, proper amplification however involves providing enough current and voltage swing

like i said in my opinion, the DT770/80 Pros need amping to sound acceptable, eg. they sound only 60-70% of their potential without an amp, with an amp however they can sound 100% however with phones like the AD700s they sound 90% of their performance without an amp and with an amp sound 100% this is all subjective and completely my opinion. feel free to disagree, but in my findings this is what i have experienced.

i'm sorry if you feel that all of my opinion should thus be completely ignored if i actually have real world experience with some of the phones that the OP is considering and particularly in the SAME USES that the OP is considering, and that is computer gaming

but for your information the DT770/80 Pros only came in one version, that is the pre '05 version, the newer DT770s only come in 32, 250 and 600ohm varieties

well majority votes they work fine without being amped. just amped they're stellar.

The style of these two brands is quite different. I suggest that you will be glad to get any one of the AD series as they do the hyper job in most of the music.

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that's great, i'm not the majority. but at least let the op read ALL the various impressions rather than dismiss the opinions of the minority completely simply because they have a differing view

tbh why get something that can work and make noise when you can get something that really sings without an amp

each to their own...

You said, "Despite being rated at 80ohms the DT770s are still quite difficult to drive"...

This is not an opinion. It's a totally false statement. I think giving anyone those "impressions" is really not right though. Maybe you didn't mean to put it that way I dunno.

d-cee, EsthetiX, it's ok, no need to get defensive.

Mansize_tissue has a lot of good headphones listed here. Let's take comfort in the fact that he'll end up with an ok headphone if nothing else, even if it's not your personal favorite.
^_^

i still stand by my opinion that they're quite difficult to drive

difficulty in being driven is not merely governed by how loud they go..

anyway, i think there's enough of my opinions here

l8erz!

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I totally agree with that and never didn't.

my input on the amped vs unamped headphones? if you get a pair of headphones that would benefit greatly from an amp, you will want to buy an amp later... leading to more money. i would seriously consider the unamped route if you want to save money in the long run.

Thank you again for all of your comments. Say i got the Beyers, with view of getting a small amplifier sometime in the future, what would you guys recommend (in terms of an amplifier, that is)? Remember, i now absolutely nothing about this stuff, so any suggestions are welcome, and the cheaper the better. By looking at that graph (thanks for that, by the way), it seems these might struggle with some of the mids without an amplifier, so i'd just like to know what sort of thing i'd need to get, and what sort of price i'm looking at.

Or, i could just get the AT A700 or AD700 and never need to worry about getting an amplifier, since it seems they sound more balanced without one.

Beside putting funds aside for an amp, you also need to put a little aside for Larry too because sooner or later (probably sooner), you'll want to send it off to Larry to get them Darthed

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I agree with esthetix here for the most part. I only have a problem hearing footsteps when theres a lot of explosions around me but most of the time i can hear very clean and clear. I would actually say the sound im getting unamped is acceptable , I could actually play with this current set up the way it is, i want to make that clear to you . Now to me (not an audiophile and just a sound nooblet with no skills in sound perception) To me the mids and highs sound recessed like they are coming from the back of the headphone and i turn the volume up it seems to bring them closer to me but because the volume gets so loud it distorts on my set up. I believe for my tastes an amp while not necessary would help these reach thier full potential. I am currently using them just fine unamped. Also like others have mentioned you can take the beyers and have them modded to be better than d5000 headphones and thats a great option.

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Mmm, that doesn't sound to confidence-inspiring. See, i'd want them to sound really good un-amped, which is why the A700s are becoming more appealing.

To narrow down my options a bit, which would be better out of the A700s and AD700s? Then i can chose either one of those or the Beyers, making the decision a little easier.

If i do get the Beyers, what amplifier should i get?

just get the ad700's

To be fair there are plenty of very affordable amps that will drive most phones well (Go-Vibe, cmoy etc). I have a Go-Vibe V5 and it drives my 250 ohm phones quite well. And it was only 65$ or something like that.

In my opinion there is no reason to skip amp altogether when there are so affordable good sounding ones out there.