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I'm pretty new to the whole audio obsession but nonetheless I am very curious about all the stuff. I have seen some post about tube amps and their benefits over solid state but I am curious as to what headphones pair well with tube amps and why they don't drive all headphones like they should?
Heya,
High impedance headphones do well with tube amps. Specifically OTL (output transformer-less) tube amps (all tube). There are also hybrid tubes, which incorporate some solid state, and are suitable for low impedance. The reason is because OTL tube amps have higher output impedances and solid state has lower output impedance. You'll have to read in depth about how amplifiers generate voltage and current against a load and how output impedance and the impedance of the load interact. But to make a general statement, if the output impedance is higher, the impedance of the headphone will need to be much higher for it play together nicely. A low output impedance amplifier will not have this issue and is fine with any impedance headphone.
That said, and without knowing your budget, needs, preference, etc (hint hint), here's some basic suggestions:
Beyer DT880 250ohm & 600ohm
Beyer DT990 250ohm & 600ohm
Beyer T1
Sennheiser HD600
Sennheiser HD650
Sennheiser HD700
Sennheiser HD800
Fischer Audio FA-011
AKG K240 600ohm
AKG K501
As a tip, if you want to get the tube sound, without the limitation of an OTL tube amp and high impedance headphones, simply get a tube-dac. The Dac will have a tube based pre-amp out. Then hook up to any solid state amp. And any headphone.
Also, while waiting for replies, you should google some of these terms and read up a bit.
Very best,
