[T-bag]

Okay so I'll just get straight into it. First of all, I am not an audiophile and I can't consider myself as one,but I'm not a newbie. I have a Sennheiser HD-598's and I love them. I've done 50+ hours burn in and they're amazing. I used to listen to music from my macbook and then shifted the songs to my Lumia 920 windows phone. When I copied my music to my iPad, I was blown away by the sound. It is so much clearer and much more louder than my phone and the macbook. I just got the iPod classic 160gb latest gen and when I plugged the headphones, I noticed it wasn't as loud as the iPad. Could someone explain why is that? Is it the sound card of the devices itself that dictates the volume/clarity or is it something else?

Also, I've done some research on which Amp/DAC (Portable) to get that could fit my audio set, iPod classic and my HD 598 but I just don't know what would suit best with the iPod classic. Could some one please help me? When I heard the sound coming from the headphones via the iPod compared to the iPad I was quite annoyed. Nevertheless, what kind of amp/DAC would I need to drive these babies? Budget would be somewhere between from 150$ to 250$.

 

[PurpleAngel]

For a portable headphone amplifier, Fiio E11, $62.99, it can be plugged into any headphone jack on your Apple products.
With a Fiio L cable, you can connect the L cable from the apple's LOD (Line Out Dock) to the line-input (3.5mm) on the E11.
The cable bypasses the apple's headphone amplifier, providing a slightly cleaner signal, to the add-on amplifier
The Fiio L cable only works with the LOD port, not the newer apple lightning port.
Lots of different companies make an LOD to 3.5mm cable.
 
Or sell off you iPod and get a Fiio X3 ($200) digital audio player, X3 will sound fine (great) without the need of an add-on headphone amplifier (E11).

 

[dementor338]

For enhanced audio quality get the digizoid zo2. It also boosts the bass by 18 decibels if you need it

 

[formula1]

   
Or sell off you iPod and get a Fiio X3 ($200) digital audio player, X3 will sound fine (great) without the need of an add-on headphone amplifier (E11).

 
I have compared the X3 vs the iPod and i'm decided to get one. If you buy it, you wont regret it.