[JamesL]

Well, this is more of a general question...
How do mid/high impedance(250'ish) headphones sound unamplified(run off of a pc)?

I'm upgrading from px100's, so these would be my first nice set of headphones.
Obviously, I don't own a headphone amp, and I'm already queasy thinking about spending even $200 for a pair of dt880's or k601's. More money for an amp would be out of the question.

I will probably end up spending another $50-100 on a amp the next time I have some left-over spending money, but I think it'll still be a hassle carrying an amp around with my zune all the time.

Am I better off spending $100 less on something like an akg270s, or denon d1000's?

 

[Jaska]

Have you already established whether or not you like Grados? If you haven't heard them, you may want to give them a shot. You'll save a bunch of money and not miss the headphone amp.

 

[JamesL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaska /img/forum/go_quote.gif Have you already established whether or not you like Grados? If you haven't heard them, you may want to give them a shot. You'll save a bunch of money and not miss the headphone amp.

I've heard the sr60's before, and I could have done with a little more comfort. I also didn't hear too much of an appreciable increase in sound quality. Maybe my ears' just aren't good enough to discern between good sound, but I want to give a poke at what everyone's raving about =P ...

 

[RedSky0]

Just out of interest when people talk about needing an amp for certain phones, do they mean just a portable amp or a PC audio amp as well?

 

[Jaska]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedSky0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just out of interest when people talk about needing an amp for certain phones, do they mean just a portable amp or a PC audio amp as well?

Generally, both.

 

[Zorander]

The DT-880 is quite power-hungry and requires a good amp. Unamped, you will most likely struggle to get much volume out of it and even then it will not impress. Get something more easily driven such as the Sennheiser HD-25, etc.

Cheers!

p.s. I'm not surprised by your finding of the SR-60 vs PX-100. I myself prefer the PX-100 over the Grados by a good margin.

 

[d-cee]

Audio technica are another brand that has full sized, yet generally easily driven headphones

 

[redrich2000]

My DT-880s sounded really bad unamped. Like all phones not driven properly they sound thin and flat. All the aspects of music collapse together. It makes me think of jumping on a jumping castle that's only half blown up.

 

[texashorn91]

I recommend getting some Sennheiser HD595s, they sound pretty good unamped. Grado is also another option because they are very efficient, but for my tastes I prefer the Senns. Good Luck!

 

[GreatDane]

I predict Zune+880 will suck. As mentioned they really need an amp so don't go there. Even low-end portable amps won't work imo/ime.

Yes,Grados do work very well unamped but are the oddball sounding HP from my collection. Choosing blindly there are better options.

 

[eruditass]

i found my dt880's to be quite good unamped. honestly not too much of a difference with this crap cmoy, but my 0404 is coming and i have a soha sitting around waiting to be built, waiting for a 6680 tube...

and i get quite loud volume out of my laptop unamped, but i need to max the volume on my clip, when the volumes are normalized to 85 db with mp3gain.

 

[Uncle Erik]

The DT880 sounds terrible without an amp. It needs a lot of power and, preferably, tubes. With the right amp, it turns to liquid gold - one of the best. Without an amp, it is lifeless, has flabby bass and is shrill up top.

If you're not willing to get a good amp, consider a Grado or an AT headphone.

If you are strapped for cash, build an amp. I think the SOHA is the least expensive desktop, but almost any of the popular DIY desktop amps will do fine.

 

[majkel]

Some say quite good, others say terrible, so I'll mention mine - DT880 Pro '05. Connected to a decent mp3 player they sound surprisingly good but because of high impedance it might be not loud enough for some from certain players. They are not power hungry at all, they are just high impedance and that's it. I owned the HD595's and while being significantly louder they sounded further from what is to obtain from the amp than the DT880's. I'm not saying the DT880's scale lower but the HD595's sound pretty poor unamped. It's actually misleading that the HD595 play loud from portable sources giving impression they are well amped, while they are not. They need very low output impedance and good current efficiency of the amp. For 250 ohm headphones you need mainly voltage. The portable sources lack both but lacking voltage is just limiting the volume while lacking current kills dynamics, imaging, impact, PRAT and the like. The DT880's are really great dynamic headphones, and let you hear the differences between the $500, $5000 and $15000 sources, when the amp is well matched. But on the other hand they don't sound awful like some other headphones do without dedicated amplification. Listening to the DT880's form Teclast T39 is quite pleasant while obviously lacking musical complexity of good desktop rigs. But when you need to walk around in your house - the DT880 with a good player will do the trick.

 

[Dobro]

Quote:

Originally Posted by majkel /img/forum/go_quote.gif Some say quite good, others say terrible, so I'll mention mine - DT880 Pro '05. Connected to a decent mp3 player they sound surprisingly good but because of high impedance it might be not loud enough for some from certain players. They are not power hungry at all, they are just high impedance and that's it. I owned the HD595's and while being significantly louder they sounded further from what is to obtain from the amp than the DT880's. I'm not saying the DT880's scale lower but the HD595's sound pretty poor unamped. It's actually misleading that the HD595 play loud from portable sources giving impression they are well amped, while they are not. They need very low output impedance and good current efficiency of the amp. For 250 ohm headphones you need mainly voltage. The portable sources lack both but lacking voltage is just limiting the volume while lacking current kills dynamics, imaging, impact, PRAT and the like. The DT880's are really great dynamic headphones, and let you hear the differences between the $500, $5000 and $15000 sources, when the amp is well matched. But on the other hand they don't sound awful like some other headphones do without dedicated amplification. Listening to the DT880's form Teclast T39 is quite pleasant while obviously lacking musical complexity of good desktop rigs. But when you need to walk around in your house - the DT880 with a good player will do the trick.

Thats a very good explanation! I don't know if it helped th OP, but it helped me.

Are there any specs that one should watch for when shopping for an amp to make sure it has the proper amperage?

 

[legcramp]

I can listen with my Zune 30gig that I sold with my ksc75 ampless on max volume without getting fatigue, and they are 60ohm. You won't get decent volume without an amp with the dt880 250ohm unless you listen at very low volume, even then it won't sound good.