even if the impedance is low, it doesn't mean they are necessarily easy to drive. the 32 ohm dt**0's are known for being kinda difficult and not sounding as good as their bigger siblings. Also, most people will say the ipod can only sufficiently drive 8 ohm, and in my experience this is accurate.
Wow crazy how these questions are still floating around....
Impedance has NOTHING to do with how easy they are to drive. It only has a bearing on which amp design your headphone will like best (read not have roll off in the extremes).
The SENSITIVITY is what determines how easy or difficult a headphone is to drive.
Low ohms suck up tons of current, high ohms suck up tons of voltage.... how then is either easier to drive? They aren't - just different.
High ohms like OTL amps best, although any solid design will do. The higher output impedance of OTL amps is a non issue.
Low ohm headphones like amps with an output impedance as close to 0 as possible. This is because the dampening factor needs to be high as possible. The higher the output impedance, the lower the dampening factor for low impedance headphones.
8 ohms seems to be like it would be a pretty demanding load on an iPod rather than easy. Most headphone amps have a hard time going below 32 ohms without giving of tons of heat.
It's true that if you were to design a headphone that had 32 Ohm impedance, it wouldn't automatically mean that they will be able to be driven by lower-power sources such an an ipod or laptop. However, when the big companies design a headphone, they take the intended source into account, and if a headphone from them has an impedance of 32 Ohms, you are pretty much guaranteed that it was a product designed to be run out of something as "weak" as an ipod.
It's true that if you were to design a headphone that had 32 Ohm impedance, it wouldn't automatically mean that they will be able to be driven by lower-power sources such an an ipod or laptop. However, when the big companies design a headphone, they take the intended source into account, and if a headphone from them has an impedance of 32 Ohms, you are pretty much guaranteed that it was a product designed to be run out of something as "weak" as an ipod.
Exactly. For practical purposes, 95% of the time low impedance phones are purposely designed for use with voltage-limited devices (ie. a DAP). It doesn't mean that bumping the current won't help, mind you.
I disagree that the DT-990s are worse than the DT-770. I haven't heard the DT-880 yet.
Back on subject, the DT-990s do need an amp to sound right. Also a good DAC would help, unless you use your ipod as a source (apple puts good dacs in them)
As far as amping. The E7/E9 combo is incredible and versatile. FiiO also has a portable E11 amp that is supposed to be more powerful than the E7's amp (without the DAC) coming soon and for an affordable price.
I apologize for no more recommendations, but I remember the T3D powered the DT-990 250 to decent volume when I had those cans. I don't know if it's enough.
I agree with alot of the above comments. I just purchased the DT990's (250) a few months ago. They need some power. I had an old e3 that worked fine with my MDR-V6 and Cowon (ipodish thing). Not good enough for 990's. I bought a udac2 for $99 usb right to labtop and that had pently of power. It's small and has a nice little knob for volume control. My experience and some reviews here and just the need to always upgrade led me to get a desktop tube hybrid amp (pic). I have it in my office with desktop and it really goes well with and warms up the sound of the DT990's. I really notice when I switch from my Sony's to the 990's that they require alot more juice. The nice thing about this amp is it comes with a bigger power supply. Anyway, that was the path I followed. Anything portable I do, I just use my Sonys. But the udac2 was clearly enough power for them imo (tubes just help in this instance). So check the specs of that one aginst e7 and others.
Just as a final thought. I really fell in love with some different headphones after I bought the DT990's. They were the Denon D5000 and as much as I like my setup (I really like) I would have spent more on the headphones up front and figured out the right amp solution after that. This Hybrid amp clearly is a great match for the Byers whereas a good SS amp might be better for my next set. It's hard to get all your ducks in line but for sure it starts with the headphones.
If you want them to sound OK (much better than unamped but still not reaching their potential).. you'd probably be happy with a decent CMOY amp driving them (less than 50 bucks). I have experience with this on the DT770 250ohm. Yeah it could be better, but it's still far better than no amp.
If you are looking for something directly out of those sources, I really don't think the the Beyer 770/880/990 series is for you. They really like amps with plenty of headroom. I've had the 250 pro version and the 990/600, and neither of them sounded any good out of weak sources.
If you want to get into the Beyer sound from those sources, I'd take a look at the DT150 or DT250.
If you're insistent on getting open headphones, a different brand might be a better choice considering your sources. I'm not sure what I'd recommend off the top of my head, though.
As a side note, I absolutely love the DT990s, especially the 600 ohm model.
I'm not reading anyone's post and just posting because I had this same experience.
I bought a pair of DT990 (250ohm) and ran them out of both my Macbook Pro and my self-built desktop machine for a few months. This was a good way to burn them in and since I didn't know what their full potential was, they sounded great to me! I even used them out of an iPod Touch sometimes. Yes, it wasn't until I finally picked up my first integrated amp/dac did I start to release their full potential (I don't think I still have, until I build my desktop tube amp), and these headphones really came to life. Also, one thing I noticed is that the sibilance really pissed me off when I was listening straight off my MacBook/Desktop, and when they weren't burned in properly. However, between using an amp/dac and putting over 250 hours on these headphones, the shrill sound is still there a little but its really weened off and isn't very bothersome -- so thats something to think about when people tell you "oh they're so shrill don't waste your money" -- they don't know apparently that that goes away a bit.
Anyways, I think you should go for it. These are FANTASTIC headphones, and for the price of $180 (when I bought them) its some of the best hard earned dollars I've ever spent.
By the way I wrote this whole post while listening to them
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