[captcj]

hi,first post here. i'm planning to buy a headphone amp that i can carry anywhere with me. i just want to know if it is really a necessity to have one and will it change the sound quality. i have a grado sr80i headphone and my main player is my 4th gen ipod. i'll be buying a cowon player and upgrading my headphone from the sr80i that i have to a Grado SR325i or a Grado SR225i within a couple of months from now.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  hi,first post here. I'm planning to buy a headphone amp that I can carry anywhere with me. i just want to know if it is really a necessity to have one and will it change the sound quality. i have a grado sr80i headphone and my main player is my 4th gen ipod. i'll be buying a Cowon player and upgrading my headphone from the sr80i that i have to a Grado SR325i or a Grado SR225i within a couple of months from now.

I would suggest any budget you had for a headphone amplifier, be added to whatever DAP (Digital Audio Player),Cowon?, budget you have. As the better the DAP, the less you would have a need to get an add-on portable amplifier.

 

[captcj]

my budget for my DAP is just 200-250 dollars. can you recommend DAPs that i should buy? my budget for a headphone amp is 100-150 dollars. thank you for the help. 

 

[rubinstein]

welcome to Headfi.
 
 
why do you want to buy cowon? 
you could consider buying DAP (such as this, http://www.amazon.com/HiFiMAN-HiFiMan-HM-601-Portable-Player/dp/B004DHOHYQ).
Then you do not need a headphone amp.

 

[captcj]

i just read in it one of the reviews that cowon is a good low budget DAP.

 

[lostinthesauce]

For 200 USD the FiiO X3 is a great choice.

 

[RochRx7]

My vote = go after the DX50 from iBasso!