I'm a newbie to hi-fi headphones and this forum. After careful and extensive research, I'm upgrading from a pair of Sennheiser HD 435s to a pair of Denon AH-D2000s which I bought for 250 dollars. I haven't got them yet (should be here within this week). Anyway, I've heard the D2000s don't benefit a whole lot from an amp. Is that true? If not, what kind of portable amp would you all recommend? I'm thinking about getting something like a premade cmoy. Also, I'll be listening with an Auzentech Xplosion 7.1 sound card with mainly 320 kbps and flac sources. Mostly Classical, all kinds of metal, electronica, pop, rock, and many many other kinds of music. This is part of the reason I opted for the D2000s, as I hear they're pretty well rounded.

Any help is appreciated very much.

Edit: I'm probably also going to be listening with my Philips portable music player, which is the reason I want a portable amp (if I need one at all).

I'm not sure about the Philips source so I can't comment on what you'll get amping it with the D2000.

I've found the D2000 does benefit from an amp with iPod. Actually, it needs to be amped because the D2000 need some juice behind it to drive them. Mine has the MarkL mod so they sound different than the stock D2000. I use my iBasso P3 Heron (w/ opamps swapped). I actually like the Senn 600 better for Classical and acoustic jazz. All other music I prefer the D2000 sound.

Thanks, I'm going to look into getting an iBasso. I don't need the highest quality amp there is really. I just want something that will give my headphones an edge.

Try the Pico

I don't know for the Philips, but the Sansa Clip is not enough for the D2000. If you discover it's the same with the Philips, then you should check the HotAudio Thunderbolt II. Actually, it's only 50$ in special.

Denon D2k has really low impedance..you can pretty much drive it with any portable player~ I actually plugged my D7k in my sansa clip and it sounded better than my iphone lol~ however, to max its performance, I would recommend a hybrid amp like EF1 (cheap choice) ^ ^