[Prog Rock Man]

Are you satisfied with the sound that you get straight out of your ipod, mp3 player and computer?
 
Do you think that the sound would be better if you added in an amp?
 
I know ipods etc have amps in them, but for £20 you can get a FiiO amp and attach that to your ipod or laptop and get additional amplification or bypass the sources amp all together.
 
IME adding an amp makes virtually all but the most sensitive headphones better. The reason for that is the sweet spot (where the headphones are on song and you can hear all of the dynamics and details of a track clearly) is much larger with an amp and is easier to get.
 
I find straight out of an ipod you have to max the ipod's volume and IME I am missing dynamics and detail compared to when other amps are added in. I also find that straight out of a computer I can hear background hiss and noise which is like listening to my old cassette collection.
 
So I vote no, i am not happy to use headphones unamped.

 

[Mr Joboto]

I'm perfectly satisfied with my ESW9 + iPod combo. Adding in the PA2v2 didn't really do much.

 

[VALIENTE]

Grado SR60 rocks unamped!

 

[clou91]

All the cans I've tried so far sound better with an amp. I kind of want to give the es10s a shot, but I have a feeling that even if I did like them I'd still feel compelled to amp them.

 

[krmathis]

Yeah, perfectly satisfied with the iPod nano + PortaPro, without any external amplification.

 

[Prog Rock Man]

Some great examples. Mine are (all using an ipod Classic and FiiO E5 amp with LOD)
 
Goldring NS1000, better amped with greater volume control.
Sennheiser PX200, better amped and sounding really good with the FiiO E5 bass boost on.
Sennheiser mx500, no real difference as there is sufficient power form the ipod to drive them.
Grado SR80, better amped as the dynamics improve.
AKG K702, better amped as the details sound clearer.
 
Then straight out of a Sony Vaio
 
None of them as all have background hiss, loss of detail and dynamics.

 

[Kukuk]

V6's are beautiful without an amp, except from iPods. I guess iPods just have naturally terrible sound quality, it's like Apple built the iPod to emulate ibuds sound on any headphone.

 

[ironsnakemx]

I too am very happy with my Touch and portapro , however i have ordered a FIIo E1 because i wanna add more juice to the Senn PXC250 (in my opinion they sound very good but volume is low because of 300 Ohms impedance , hope E1 makes a difference), i was gonna ordered ATH-m50 (in fact started a Thread to discuss m50 vs HD555 with 595 mod) but my video card burnt so now i have to buy another one (at the moment my portapro are enough so i can wait a little longer but without Street Fighter 4 and PES 2010 i am slowly stepping into madness..............@_@

 

[Prog Rock Man]

Rather than all the posts about unamped, we would be better asking questions such as "is there a better amp out there than the one in my ipod?" or "is my soundcard any good with the such and such headphone?"
 
My answers would be "yes there are loads of amps better than the one in an ipod" and "I have only used stock sound cards, but found them all to be very noisy through headphones".

 

[ANinjaBurrito]

I find it a more enjoyable experience using an amp, especially when on the go, but I find it a pain to drag out all the stuff. So, I don't mind using headphones/iem's unamped.

 

[zappp]

I keep on saying that e.g. PK2, PortaPro and PX100 are fine from an iPod unamped.
 
I am not sure whether there are people who really use an Ultrasone Edition 8 (€1200) on an iPod unamped.
 
But in comparison to any full size headphone, todays portable amps add only little, bulk, weight and hassle to the naked iPod. The latest version come with tiny lithium batteries, long battery life, no memory effect and charge from any USB port. Hence, why go with amp?
 
I do not like the Fiio E1 which drains the iPod battery's charge and life.
 

 

[Deep Funk]

The only headphones I use unamplified are the PX200 II, HD428 and RP-HTX7  and sometimes the Pioneer Monitor 10R. The Pioneer and Sony D-33 are a good combination. 
 
The others get power. 

 

[loopfreak]

Senn px 100 does a hell of a job with sansa clip and they are most comfortable cans in my set up .
Akg k450 are the most power efficient 'phones that  I've tried .

 

[tds101]

No amp at all, I'm an "au' natural" kind of guy. And if my HP's need an amp I'll sell them for 1 that doesn't.

 

[Ypoknons]

I amp the headphones that need it and don't worry about those that don't. The K701 is extremely boring out of a portable as far as I can tell. The ESW, it's fine everywhere.