[Logistics]

I have to wonder about alot of headphone comparisons I see because someone will say, "oh yeah these have way more bass" or simply sound better, but I wonder if people are just mismatching equipment.

For example, the old TEA2025 which was used on SB16's and like cards to power 4Ohm-32Ohm drivers had a specific formula for calculating the low frequency cut-off for a given impedance:

Hz = 1 / (2 * pi * C * 10^-6 * I)

where C = Capacitance and I = Impedance

1 / (2 * pi * 470uF * 10^-6 * 4) = 84.65Hz

but now say you have a pair of 32Ohm drivers and the cut-off is 10.58Hz!

Obviously a change in headphones is going to make a huge difference based on impedance alone! Especially, if you go from something like my MDR-V700's at 12Ohms per driver to a set of headphones with 300Ohms per driver.

The same IC, though will run 32Ohm drivers, will distort much more quickly than with lower impedance drivers and requires the voltage to be lowered significantly to avoid this. How many amps adjust the input voltage to the main opamp when changing impedance loads? lol! Or was the SB16 able to do that? I can't imagine it did.

 

[HFat]

Most HFiers are well aware of the influence amps can have on the sound... in fact, it's arguably overrated around these parts so I think you are barking at the wrong tree. The level of technical knowledge of the average HFier is quite poor however and there are some myths floating around.
If you search, you should find much discussion about the integrated amp of some Apple DAPs which also has trouble with low-impedance headphones for example.

I would think most HFiers use amps that aren't so picky (at least the ones who use solid state amps).