300$ none amp'ed, nice, deep bass, fast (separation), warm mids and great highs, over-ear...

Let me be the first, just by impedance alone on those headphones, let me say it straight, the only ones that don't really need a drive is if the Ohm is from 8-60. Inbetween them or less is better, no drive is need. My A900X (not A900) can be heard very loud and clear with a psp, android phone, and especially ipod. The PRO 750 can also drive well, the Denons are even easier to drive than the above products, none need amps however. The AKG is on par, just a bit above 60 but can also be driven well without an amp, I haven't heard it, but it should be audible. I'd be safer towards the other products though.

Well, from what I know for now Ohms alone won't be done to drive unless you also count the sensitivity from the headphones. Most of them have it on the 100s, so it should definitely be easy to drive. I don't know much about amps I'm afraid, just hope you get a response from someone.

Ultrasone 900s or Dennon AHD 2000s.

http://www.amazon.com/Ultrasone-PRO-900-Professional-Headphones/dp/B001F00F0E

http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AHD2000-Performance-Over-Ear-Headphones/dp/B000MVEC0Q

You'll love either. If you want more bass go with the 900s. Both have lovely base and don't need to be amped. You can amp the 2000s for a better sound though.

Cheers;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by tals 

Also how is the Lepai Tripath TA2020 Class-T Hi-Fi Audio Amplifier for the AKG K702's?

There's a bit of info here.  In a nutshell, though, I wouldn't suggest it. It'd require DIY work and still probably come out to a meh product. 
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by vlenbo 

Let me be the first, just by impedance alone on those headphones, let me say it straight, the only ones that don't really need a drive is if the Ohm is from 8-60. Inbetween them or less is better, no drive is need. My A900X (not A900) can be heard very loud and clear with a psp, android phone, and especially ipod. The PRO 750 can also drive well, the Denons are even easier to drive than the above products, none need amps however. The AKG is on par, just a bit above 60 but can also be driven well without an amp, I haven't heard it, but it should be audible. I'd be safer towards the other products though.

No. No. No. NO!

The AKG K701 derivative series are difficult to drive headphones, harder to drive than the HD600 and HD650s, which have around 300 ohm impedance! It is a complete urban legend that impedance is the best method of determining how hard it is to drive a pair of headphones!   
 

The AKGs pretty much need an amp. You need to take the sensitivity rating into account.

Quote:

Originally Posted by loliwin 

Ultrasone 900s or Dennon AHD 2000s.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Ultrasone-PRO-900-Professional-Headphones/dp/B001F00F0E

 

http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AHD2000-Performance-Over-Ear-Headphones/dp/B000MVEC0Q

 

You'll love either. If you want more bass go with the 900s. Both have lovely base and don't need to be amped. You can amp the 2000s for a better sound though.

 

Cheers;)

I suggest against the AH-D2000s because they have slower bass, not fast bass. 

I suggest against the PRO 900s because they should be paired with a portable amp with more power than a Fiio E7, not used unamped. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by SanjiWatsuki 

I suggest against the AH-D2000s because they have slower bass, not fast bass. 

 

He said he liked the sound of Beats, surely D2000 bass will not be too uncontrolled or loose for him. In fact I would recommend them far and away above other options based on his criteria.

I have really been enjoying my audio technica ATH-ESW9A easy to drive good bass and can be had for a decent price and the look is very nice.

An urban legend? That's not exactly true. Impedance has a great deal to do with how "hard" something is to drive. Impedance AND sensitivity together are a good way at determining if something may or may not be hard to drive. But yes, even then they don't tell the whole story. Some headphones are just picky and don't match up well with some equipment.

While reading somewhere about the difference between voltage and current and how they relate to headphone impedance, I'm lead to believe that since higher impedance phones need more voltage and lower ones need more current, I look at the K701 and it is stuck somewhere in the middle while still being decently sensitive. That leads me to believe that it can just be really picky with some sources that just don't power it in the correct manner. Just my theory though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by B-Dawk20 

While reading somewhere about the difference between voltage and current and how they relate to headphone impedance, I'm lead to believe that since higher impedance phones need more voltage and lower ones need more current, I look at the K701 and it is stuck somewhere in the middle while still being decently sensitive. That leads me to believe that it can just be really picky with some sources that just don't power it in the correct manner. Just my theory though.

Sort of, yes.

P = I * V

P = V^2 / R

Using those two equations, the relationship between I (current) and R (impedance) is pretty clear. As power goes up, either voltage or current has to go up. If impedance goes down and voltage stays the same, power goes up. So at the same voltage, low impedances need more current. You can get this equation from the above two if you do fancy high school algebra:

I = V / R

However, "pickiness" isn't always determined by current. Mostly it's just psychological, or the desire for coloration. There are plenty of amps that will be current limited into low impedances, because they can swing relatively more voltage than current. But most headphones are so much easier to drive than people think that it's rarely a problem. Low impedance low sensitivity headphones like the K701 and most planars are where the problems will arise, but they're still not very hard to drive. The Fiio E9 and ASUS Xonar Essence STX will both do about 6 Vrms into 60 ohms, after considering output impedance and current limits. By the equations above, that's 600 mW of power and 100 mA of current. That's enough for even the HE-6 to play very loud, if you go by Hifiman's specs (which might be wrong ).

"Powering it in the correct manner" doesn't make much sense. If there's enough power available to reach a certain volume, there will be enough current. You can't have enough power but not enough current, because power relies on current. It's all about volume. If you have enough for the peaks of the music you're playing, you're adequately powered. If you have enough for peaks much louder than you listen at and have enough headroom for very quiet recordings, you're going to be fine no matter what. What matters after that is distortion, noise, and frequency response (among other things) which are often intentionally altered to create a colored, euphonic, inaccurate and objectively poor performance.

Oh right, this thread has a topic. OP, the Denons seem to fit the bill pretty well. Very easy to drive, legendary bass response. They'd be lacking in mids, so I've heard.

Maybe I should of said power in a satisfying manner. Since that is what I meant. Whether that is due to coloration or whatever isn't something I care about. Just getting it to a point that the people using them are satisfied and think they should sound like. Not simply just if they get the volume level they want. But all that is of course subjective.

And I too think the Denon is what the topic creator is looking for.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SanjiWatsuki 

There's a bit of info here.  In a nutshell, though, I wouldn't suggest it. It'd require DIY work and still probably come out to a meh product. 
 

 

 

No. No. No. NO!

 

The AKG K701 derivative series are difficult to drive headphones, harder to drive than the HD600 and HD650s, which have around 300 ohm impedance! It is a complete urban legend that impedance is the best method of determining how hard it is to drive a pair of headphones!   
 

The AKGs pretty much need an amp. You need to take the sensitivity rating into account.

 

 

 

I suggest against the AH-D2000s because they have slower bass, not fast bass. 

 

I suggest against the PRO 900s because they should be paired with a portable amp with more power than a Fiio E7, not used unamped. 

Thanks, I thought something was weird, but I also said sensitivity had to do with it. However, didn't kno wthat, so impedance a lone won't suffice? thanks for correcting me

The impedance argument came from headphones like the HD600 or the Beyerdynamic DT880 600 ohm -- they have very high impedances that do influence the power requirements pretty significantly. At the same time, though, there can be high impedance headphones that are easy to drive and also low impedance headphones that are incredibly hard to drive (HifiMan is the king at this). I explain the exact formula here. 
 

No worries, though. A lot of people here use that myth as a rule of thumb without knowing enough about sensitivity. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by vlenbo 

Thanks, I thought something was weird, but I also said sensitivity had to do with it. However, didn't kno wthat, so impedance a lone won't suffice? thanks for correcting me