Sennheiser RS 180 ( recommend a good amp for these cans)

Quote:

Originally Posted by corpses3 

Hi there. Got a pair of RS 180, and was wondering if somebody uses an amp with these, 

How? They are wireless!!!

Im a little confused about that...

Amp is not required as the headphones have an inbuilt amp. Just connect the transmitter to a line out on the sound card and everything should be fine.

A signal amplifier maybe? 

I've had a pair of these since they were released and I absolutely love mine for watching tv and movies.  And yes, they are wireless and so they have a built in amp.  There is absolutely no need for an amp, no matter how expensive.  The only difference you can possibly get with sound is with a new DAC since you will feed the RS 180 through analogue signal.  In my opinion though, since these are wireless, you really don't see the benefits of spending much on a DAC or anything like that.  Just enjoy them for what they are :)

It is physically impossible to hook  them up to an amp because otherwise they wouldn't be wireless and a DAC is not going to give you more volume. 
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by corpses3 

Still would like to hear from somebody who has these thru a DAC/AMP. Would really enjoy more volume from these.

Quote:

Originally Posted by corpses3 

Well I imagine you hook the Wireless Stand to the AMP which amplifies the signal to the Headphones. Not 100% thats why I'm asking.

Um, that's not how it works son.  Take a hint from the overwhelming replies telling you that your logic is completely incorrect, thank everyone for their help, and bow out graciously.

If you amplify the signal that the wireless station gets then you will make the headphones distort MUCH more than if you didn't.  The signal you'll be sending to the headphones over radio waves to amplify will be clipping constantly.  If you amplify the signal that the radio base is outputting, you'll just get more range.  The only way to increase the volume of the headphones is to attach an amp inside the headphones before the transducers.  This isn't really feasible unless you really want to dig in and modify your headphones (and accept much more weight on your head). With your soundcard outputting a regular volume and the volume on the headphones turned all the way up, you still need more spl?

If you feed it too high of a signal, all its gonna do is clip the sound on the headphones at the most.  The amplifiers are actually on the actual headphone unit and that is what is powering the drivers.  Stop trying to act like you think you know so much.

It is interesting to note that applying theory to a complicated situation often gets you  the wrong answer.

I just received my Sennheiser RS-180 wireless headphones and all of the above posters - who happened to not own the RS-180, but just responded according to theory, were wrong.

I compared the RS-180s coming directly out of my HRT MSII DAC (which is known to have a higher output than most DACs), to connecting them to the headphone output of my Onkyo receiver (which is what I will normally be using, since I can then also use them for other sources like satelltite TV, Video, etc.).

To my amazement, the sound quality was definitely better adding the Onkyo receiver in between the DAC and the RS-180s.  With the receiver, I only heard the sort of positives mentioned in reviews, but without the receiver, I heard some of the things described in negative reviews of the RS-180s.

Possible explanation: the Onkyo receiver cost more than the entire RS-180s, let alone the portion of the cost that Sennheiser dedicated to a headphone amp.  So, if the output presented to the RS-180 is more than enough, the built-in amp would be doing little or nothing, and so would not add its "weakest link in the chain" qualities to the sound.

Moral of the story: If you answer a question without any experience with the actual equipment involved, please say "I've never actually used these, but it seems to me that..." to make it clear that you are trying to be helpful - but lack direct personal experience.

PS  It is typical that the people who were most wrong, were the ones who were the most aggressive in presenting their guess as unquestionable fact...