[Raidersfan8118]

So I recently just heard about portable headphone amps and all this stuff and it sounds cool. I recently upgraded my ipods to 250gb so thats what i will be listening to my music from i was wondering if you guys could recommend an amp for me i was thinking of getting a pair of Sony MDR1 headphones too. I'm new to this so any feedback/recommendations is appreciated

 

[Beyakusenn]

For the MDR-1 you won't get much improvement with an amp. It might make the bass a bit better and give a bit more clarity overall, but unless you're doing critical listening, an efficient low-impedance headphone with just above average isolation like the MDR-1 will sound good enough with your iPod for all portable purposes.
I prefer other music players myself, but 250GB is not something you're likely to find in any portable device. I wish I had that on my Fiio X1.

 

[Raidersfan8118]

Seems like everywhere I've read people say you need to bypass the iPod dac to actually get the best sound

 

[thejammonster]

If you want something portable and possibly with a bass boost switch there are a lot of options. You didn't mention what type of music you listen to, though. If you want a lot of bass you could get a Cayin C5 which is about the same size as your iPod and has a bass boost switch. I think they cost around $150. If you don't need or want that then an amp is mainly going to allow you to crank up the volume past what the iPod can do.

 

[Raidersfan8118]

I listen to rock and metal mostly, and that's all an amp will do is make them go louder? No help to sound quality? Hopefully I don't sound like a noob lol

 

[thejammonster]

There will probably be slight changes to sound quality, dynamics, etc but the MDR1 aren't the most resolving headphones so you may not even notice. It won't make things worse, at least

 

[Raidersfan8118]

What would you recommend for headphones?

 

[thejammonster]

That mostly depends on your budget and the type of music you listen to.

 

[Raidersfan8118]

Rock and metal and probly about 400 on headphones and then not sure what I'd spend on an amp

 

[Beyakusenn]

Seems like everywhere I've read people say you need to bypass the iPod dac to actually get the best sound

Line-out is what it's called. The iPods don't have it. If the amp section of the iPod was poorly designed (high output impedance for example), you'd benefit from an external amp even without bypassing the internal amp. The iPods from earlier generations have around 4 Ohm output impedances, but as long as it's not more than 1/8 of the headphone impedance, it should be fine. (rule of thumb)
 

I listen to rock and metal mostly, and that's all an amp will do is make them go louder? No help to sound quality? Hopefully I don't sound like a noob lol

It's probably going to be the only obvious difference.
Don't worry, we all started inexperienced and we still learn every day.
 

What would you recommend for headphones?

One thing you should know: never get headphones for an amp. Get an amp, if needed, for the headphones.
 
Portable headphones are designed to be driven easily by portable devices, so you often don't need to worry about lack of volume for example.
 

That mostly depends on your budget and the type of music you listen to.

Rock and metal and probly about 400 on headphones and then not sure what I'd spend on an amp

I honestly think that the type of music you like is much less relevant than the type of sound you like. Yes, those are two completely different things.
The type of sound you like can be dark (elevated bass), warm (elevated mids and maybe a bit of mid-bass), bright (elevated treble), V- or U-shaped (elevated bass ánd treble).  Or like me, you might like a neutral sound signature that doesn't emphasize any frequency range.
You may also like a huge soundstage (like the open AKG headphones), or a more intimate soundstage (like most on-ear headphones), or a more balanced soundstage (like the Sennheiser HD600 or the Beyerdynamic DT-880).
 
What is it that you like yourself? No one other than yourself can tell. The best thing you can do is to listen to the headphones yourself to find out what you like. You can read reviews about the headphones that you like and get familiar with the terminologies.

 

[Raidersfan8118]

Thanks for the info haha this stuff is a bit more complicated than I thought