Not a good idea using that amp for headphones. Save up a little more and get a decent amp for them, Imo..they are power hungry. 

K701's need a $400 minimum setup to sound good.

They MIGHT be able to sound good from a receiver.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BotByte 

They MIGHT be able to sound good from a receiver.

A vintage receiver would be great. Can be found for few bucks. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by BotByte 

K701's need a $400 minimum setup to sound good.

 

They MIGHT be able to sound good from a receiver.

No, they need around 50-100mW of power (for really loud volume) with flat frequency response, low output impedance, distortion, and noise. Price has nothing to do with it. A receiver would work fine if it meets those requirements.

Whoa! Your link is for a speaker amplifier. Beware!

Congrats on your purchase. The K702 are very nice indeed! Unfortunately, you chose a demanding headphone. Demanding in that in order to sound their best, they need to be properly driven. This doesn't mean you need a $1,000 beast but $50 is ambitious. You haven't stated what your source will be. If it is a home amp, you might be fine. If you are using a portable source or a computer, then an amp is recommended. Don't let size fool you. Good things can come in small packages. There are portable amps that can drive the 702s properly but they will be out of your budget. I suggest you try and save a bit more for a proper amp or, if possible, return your 702s for a headphone that is easier to drive.

Since you linked to a tri-path amp, there are others that do have headphone amps that might do the trick. You might have to push your budget though unless you can find a used one. Do a search on "tri-path" on Amazon and you will see a Dayton Audio for $100. Though I don't have personal experience with Dayton Audio I do have experience with a tri-path amp and they offer a good amount of power to dollars ratio. I have one powering a pair of Swans in my living room and the little beast does quite the impressive job.

Another possibility is DIY if you are handy. You can build quite the amp for relatively little money.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cokelover 

So, I just bought a pair of AKG K702's which will be the first true high end headphones I've ever bought and I was shopping around for a decent amp and I'm totally lost. First I really don't want to spend over $50 for now and I'm a bit confused about the whole power thing.

Some light reading before the purchase might have served you better, particularly because any posts you make about sonic issues you may have with the k702 will only net you "you better amplification" responses. If you have a hard limit on your budget, I'd suggest returning the k702's and picking up something that is less picky about amping, or something lower-cost to allow funds for amplification.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ph0rk 

Some light reading before the purchase might have served you better, particularly because any posts you make about sonic issues you may have with the k702 will only net you "you better amplification" responses. If you have a hard limit on your budget, I'd suggest returning the k702's and picking up something that is less picky about amping, or something lower-cost to allow funds for amplification.

A good alternative that doesn't need a amp is the Shure 940. Sounds eerily close to me. But it's colored, so don't use it if you're using the headphone for music monitoring.

For casual listening, it's great.