Quote:
Originally Posted by
igySK 
what do you mean by an amp for headphones? Does it make a better sound compared to using a phone or laptop?
An amplifier for headphones makes up for inadequacies in the source of your music. Phrased simply, many high-end cans are too powerful for an iPod or phone to properly power. It will either play the music at full volume with aspects of it not as good as they could be, or will refuse to play at high volume. An amp acts as a go-between, creating the volume of the sound so your portable device can focus solely on the quality of the audio. The need for an amp is based on a combination of impedance and sensitivity of the headphones, but the evaluation is relatively complicated to do, so I'll just say that you're probably going to want an amp for optimal sound out of many of your suggestions here. However, that's not to say you can't get good sound without an amp. There are plenty of cans that are easy to drive without an amp, but almost universally they improve with one.
Lower-end portable amps include the FiiO E6, JDS Labs CMoyBB 2.03, and Headroom Total Airhead, but home and desktop amps can run in the thousands just like headphones.
