HD595 Impedance

[Quake120]

I looked at the specs of the HD595s at HeadRoom - Right Between Your Ears and Guitars, Musical Instruments, and Musical Equipment from Guitar Center and they say 50ohm impedance, but the official Sennheiser PDF available on their site says 120ohm. Which one is it?
Am I going to have a problem driving them out of a 5G ipod or a laptop without an amp?

 

[musicmind]

The older version was 120 ohm. The new production models of the last 2-2.5 years are 50 ohm.

 

[Nocturnal310]

Ya..same goes for HD555.

both are in 50 Ohm now.

 

[Coop47]

As for your second question, while they would benefit from an amp, they'll still sound fine straight out of you iPod or laptop.

 

[QQQ]

Better not to buy them at all. At any impedance.

 

[musicmind]

They work very well out of an iPod, and for their price the Hd-595 are decent headphones. I've never had a complaint about mine.
If you have an amp of some sort, then of course the HD650 is better, which is maybe what QQQ is hinting at.
I'm not sure how powerful your laptops headphone output is, but my PC's onboard soundcard can give the HD650 a fair bit of power and make them far more usable than with an iPod where the HD650 lacks impact and energy. You can enjoy them while you save up for a small amp or CD player with a headphone out, like the Marantz.

 

[QQQ]

If someone needs Ipod-friendly cans and don't mind them to be open-there's Grado. End of discussion.

 

[Quake120]

Quote:

Originally Posted by QQQ /img/forum/go_quote.gif If someone needs Ipod-friendly cans and don't mind them to be open-there's Grado. End of discussion.

Quite a boastful claim!

I chose the 595s for a few reasons: I like the Sennheiser sound, HeadRoom has them cheap, I like circumaural cans as opposed to supraaural like Grados, and the main reason I didn't choose the 650s is because those are WAY above my price range, even for a pair of used ones.

 

[QQQ]

But Grados just a better pair of cans than hd 595.

 

[Quake120]

There needs to be a Head-Fi meet in Utah somewhere so I can listen to all of these and see what you guys are talking about.

 

[broodwich]

I'm glad I found this. I was also confused by the Sennheiser PDF. Why don't they update the spec sheet on their website?

BTW, The search feature works.