Player to pair up with the Sennheiser HD 25?

Yeah, the Nano's output doesn't match well with the Senns.  The Nano seems to have "tin can" output and certainly doesn't seem to be overly powerful.  An amp and a LOD - then you might be in business.  The Nano still has a much thinner output than some of the other Ipods, IMO.

 

I personally use (or have used) with Senn HD25-II: Sansa Clip Rockboxed (does pretty well unamped, but won't knock your socks off volume-wise); Sony E-Series and Sony A-Series (these work very well unamped with the Senns); and Cowon J3 (best sounding unamped).  The Cowon might be a budget-buster, and the Sony might be too limited on storage and formats it plays.

 

Sure that someone else will chime in with something that works well.

 

It should do.  I had a LOD and CMOY with my 25-1 IIs for a long time, and the sound was far better than directly through source.  It sounded more open, the bass was punchier and the mids were warmer.  Had to EQ my highs down a touch as the CMOY made them a little too sibilant. 

 

Also, where possible use lossless.  That makes a pretty big difference with the 25s, as they are very revealing of poor source sound.

Just be sure you buy the Senn HD 25-1 II (has the split headband) and not the other HD 25 variations. They do sound vastly different from each other.

Also, i use my HD 25-1 II with a Cowon D2 which is great pairing. No external amp needed. And the Cowon S9 and J3 are supposed to be better than the aging D2.

Sorry to hear that.  If you're still after an amp, perhaps you'd consider a CMOY?

 

BSG's CMOY is first rate.  Quite a few reviews of it on here as well if you're interested.

 

Ebay Link

Cool, no worries.

 

Let us know what you think of it when it arrives.

I personally use my e11 with my HD25-1-II's and afte a 1-2 hour burn in the bass stays about the same but the highs begin to pick up a bit and and more clearly stated.  Just last night i forgot to charge it and its dead right now. It is torture trying to listen to my HD25's now without it, Of course they arent bad but i just feel like the e11 and the hd25's has great synergy. especialy LOD'd from and ipod. I dont think youll be disapointed. P.S when u get it the black sides kinda feel like plastic but there not, there aluminum. the only plastic part(ironically) are the metal collord sides. there plastic. also the guared over the nob is aluminum. its a very light, portable, and powerful amp. Blows the cmoy out the water, especially with hd 25's. okay doesnt destroy the cmoy but its deffiantly noticablly better with the hd25's. you wont be dissapointed.

I'll happily +1 the recommendation on the E11. I've had mine for about a week, and already very impressed. Very light, about the same footprint as a credit card (and as thick as a deck of cards, I guess), and gives a good shot of mustard to your DAP. Very noticeable difference, especially with better headphones (ie with my earbuds, I can pick up that there is a difference, but with my M50s, it's night and day). For just under a hundred bucks (that's with tax, shipping, and extra cables), I'm very pleased with it as an entry-level portable amp, and I can't imagine much out there that gives you better bang for your buck.

 

Player-wise, I'm currently using a iPod Touch as my pocket player, though I'm strongly eyeing some of Cowon's offerings such as the J3 as a way to go the FLAC route (currently, I have to use my EEEPad if I want to bring FLAC with me) and get away from Apple products. I believe the Cowons are held in fairly high regard for the sound quality they offer, so one of their players may be worth checking out.

dont you use ALAC?

There is a FLAC app for itouch and iphone. Works a charm!

but if u dont want to use and application and want to use the touches regular library just convert the flac to alac witch is also a lossless codes so therefore you lose NO quality. i use dbpoweramp to convert my files after EAC rips it to flac.