[Szadzik]

Quote:

Feel free to keep contributing to the thread, it has been interesting even if I'm still clueless.  
 
Edit: For what it's worth, I did some listening tonight, A-B'ing with my ATH-M50s.  I love the M50s, and if they didn't clamp so tightly I could listen to them all day at work.  Going from T1 to M50, there was a massive volume increase which is to be expected, but even when I raised the T1 volume to compensate, they didn't have anywhere as near much slam or impact.  The soundstage and detail of the T1 was much better, but they were less exciting than the M50s (which I do consider relatively neutral).  I am getting more and more sure by the minute that this receiver isn't able to drive the T1s sufficiently.  I'm all for neutral presentation, but it has to have some balls surely.  I'm moving house soon, but in the next few months, I'm sure a Bottlehead is on the cards.  If that doesn't do it for me, I'll sell them both and buy some high-end Grados.  

 
I am no expert here, but have had T1s for some time now and tried them with a few sources.
 
From my experience, T1s are pretty amp picky when it comes to amps. It may be driven to very high sound levels by pretty much anything, but that does not mean they are well driven then (sd you have already noticed too).
 
You have finally done the right thing and tested your equipment and compared to M50s.
 
Now, for your thoughts about both:
 
If you are looking for the same bass slam on T1s that you are getting on M50s; you got the wrong headphones. T1s are, IMO, and you will not get the slam that M50s give you. They will have very goo and tight bass with the right amp like WA2 or CSP-2, but for that you need another $1000. Even with those amps, though, it will not be as bass heave as M50s, they are not very neutral from what I understand, more bass-centric. 
 
If you really want to get high-end headphones with bass slam, sell T1s and buy LCD-2s. You will still need an amp. A good one.

 

[Zombie_X]

Yo,
 
The difference between amped and not amped is over exaggerated a lot here. There will be a nice difference, but it won't be massive in anyway. The T1's are super efficient to boot and are not as hard to drive as their impedance implies. I would say they need about the same amount of power that a HD600 would need, which isn't much.
 
I use my T1 from my NAD T-747 when I play video games and it has a nice headphone amp inside it. I had an older Yamaha receiver that powered most stuff really well.
 
My only suggestion to you is try them from something else, like you phone or Ipod then try them on your receiver.
 
Quote:

It seems to be semi-gospel here that high-impedance phones such as these *need* a dedicated headphone amp, and it would be a *massive* jump in quality over not having one. I'm willing to believe it but want to try and quantify it against what I have.

 

[BrownBear]

Quote:

Yo,

 
The difference between amped and not amped is over exaggerated a lot here.

+1. I believe this to be true. I too was taken aback a few years ago by the apparent need to have a headphone amp. I got one, and it does make a difference, and I do enjoy it (the important part I guess), but the difference is minimal. I guess this could be because of my particular equipment, but regardless, it's just my opinion.

 

[proton007]

Quote:

+1. I believe this to be true. I too was taken aback a few years ago by the apparent need to have a headphone amp. I got one, and it does make a difference, and I do enjoy it (the important part I guess), but the difference is minimal. I guess this could be because of my particular equipment, but regardless, it's just my opinion.

+1
Just to add: Sometimes the headphone characteristics are not what some ppl are looking for, and going by this expectation that the amp will affect the sound of the headphone, they'll try various amps before they can find that 'perfect' amp. A much easier way to do the same thing is to change headphones, and go for neutral amps. As I said before, what you hear is 95-98% headphone, the amp and source is the 2-5%.

 

[Szadzik]

Quote:

+1. I believe this to be true. I too was taken aback a few years ago by the apparent need to have a headphone amp. I got one, and it does make a difference, and I do enjoy it (the important part I guess), but the difference is minimal. I guess this could be because of my particular equipment, but regardless, it's just my opinion.

 
I would agree, as long as you stay within the hifi category of headphones that do not cost and arm and a leg. Once you buy a pair of ultra expensive headphones, running them unamped is just wasting your money.

 

[DoctaCosmos]

This most certainly should not be a discussion. Buy an amp.  To explain this in simple terms, you headphones will draw every ounce of power from what ever is supplying it.  If there is not enough of the right power then your headphone will not be able to replicate the constant dynamics that music requires, especially in higher quality music.  That's the main thing.  Of course on the other side of things is the fact that amps are made by people who know music and they can tune them to give off a very musical sound.  Yes your receiver is a good receiver but i highly doubt they put to much into making it musical as they have no idea what type of headphones will be put into it. 

 

[DoctaCosmos]

BTW i've always thought that companies that made headphone amplifiers should make a list of headphones that are well paired with the amplifier. It would make things a lot easier for us but they won't do it because i'm sure that more than half of their sales are from trial and error audiophiles.

 

[NightFlight]

Dude, get it over with and build the crack. You'll never look back. It's hard to beat. The T1 with a good source chain will make the Crack sing.

Let me take the question from another angle. Why settle for less when your headphone can do so much more? You have a Ferrari, but you never take it out on the freeway.

 

[NightFlight]

woah, sorry. old thread.