Ok, I lied! At least I got your attention. I have a decent amp and the AKG 702 sounds amazing out of it, but I have never tried the 702 straight out of an Ipod until today.

I'm shocked that straight out of the Ipod Touch 2g the sound level is actually quite high. I couldn't believe it! With my old Ipod Classic and the AKG 701 the sound was so low that the experience was ruined. Of course the sound is probably degraded a bit, but it's nothing too horrible. No, i'm not going to start using my 702 without an amp, that'd be crazy!

The volume level out of the Ipod Touch 2G is actually much louder then the D2000 and even the Beyer Dynamic DT-880 32 ohm version!!

Of course i'd never use or suggest anyone to get the 702 without and amp, but it's nice to know that if I absolutely had to I could use the 702 without an amp. I might do this when I'm exercising and can have no distractions like an amp AT ALL. It might be OK, since when i'm exercising I don't need the absolute best sound quality ever. Of course lifting weights with the 702 on my head might feel strange.

Perhaps the Ipod Touch just is capable of powering more larger headphones? I don't know. I'm just really surprised!

EDIT: oppps, im an idiot and somehow posted this in the wrong forum. You can delete it or move it.

I'm not sure, but if you're been operating the K701 from the battery / usb powered amp like the Airhead then the difference would be smaller than between a home amplifier and no amplifier. Frankly I can't honestly say I like the K701 out of my Icon's headphone port or a PMP, both the Denons and ESW10JPNs sound better out of these less powerful sources...

IMO synergy is actually more important than raw power as far as enjoying K701 goes. I find the K701 good out of the puny USB powered uDAC, since they help out with K701's fault and tone down their weaknesses. It may not be as detailed, crisp, wide, or speedy as it would be with better amps but get the job done well.

Which decent amp do you have?

AKG K702 unamped to amped with a FiiO E5 is a far greater improvement in SQ over the FiiO to the X-CANV8P. Depressing considering the price difference between the two amps.

I recently got the AKG K44s for £11 and again the difference between them and the K702s is not as big as I would have expected or hoped for.

I should be happy to know I can get brilliant sound for not much money. But it is sad I may never be able to justify a really big expense on seriously high end cans.

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I have the Headroom Airhead. I posted this in the wrong forum, so I didn't mean to say I have a desktop amp. The Airhead is only $99 and sounds decent enough to me. It's not a perfect match for the 701/702 but gets the job done. If I set the volume to extreme levels (without on my head of course) it starts to blink red telling me I'm overdoing it! I still surprised at how loud it can get with this cheap amp.

I almost never listen to music at my desktop, but eventually i'd like to upgrade to the best portable amp I can find for under $400. I just need to do something research.

enough volume doesn't mean it's powering it well, just means it's gain is high enough.

They're your toys, my friend. Play with them however you want.

On a sad note, my Airhead blew up today due to my own fault. I accidentally used the wrong AC adaptor. I immediately smelled burning electrical parts. $99 down the drain. That was pretty stupid. Right before it died my headphones started sounding really bad and it's because the batteries were low. I also started getting a lot of static. Lucking it's not new and i've been using it for at least 3 years.

I opened it up and it's definitely dead. One small fried chip. Oh well. I guess I learned my lesson.

Luckily I can still listen to my AKG 702 tonight. I ordered a new amp earlier today and it should arrive on Friday. Another cheap one that's a bit smaller.

I'm still surprised it still sounds OK or even good straight out of my ipod touch. Weird.

What's funny is that I tried a $30 amp I had around called the "Boosteroo" and it turned my AKG 701 into what sounded like a $20 headphone. Kinda funny. Obviously a defect, or at least I hope so.

yeah, I too tried listening to my 702 through a laptop in it's first 2 weeks... but once you have a real amp, it will be impossible to go back. : )

how does the little dot mkII drive & pair with the AKG K701/K702?

i can never remember which LD amp is which. but, whichever amp is the dual mono solid state - MkV i think?? - is reportedly a great match.
MkII is a classic, however. i just can't say if it synergizes with the k701, as i've never heard it nor read about that particular pairing...

Oh man I'm sorry your amp blew but this is a pretty funny thread all the same. Your title as you say is to grab attention, you really do have an amp but surprised how well in comparison your 702s sound directly from the ipod... which is odd. Then the 'ah that explains it' comes from finding out your running full size headphones from a portable which ends up exploding!

For the same money you could of bought a used Zero which despite the little love around here will sound almost identical to any solid state desktop amp for low impedance headphones.

Yes it is always surprising to hear how good they sound from an ipod when every1 hear says that they sound like crap. The truth is that the differences are very subtle and if you are listening to the music instead of the gear then you might not even notice a difference. This might shock and horrify some people here but the other day I did the unthinkable and listened to my ipod stock buds on the train and guess what the music still sounded good!

AKG 702 without an amp sounds great!
Yes it sounds great, I assume. I've been listening for around 4 months from my K701 without amp and with just a portable amp. I'm happy with it that sounds great or even greater than my SR60.