Headphone and portable amp question...

[onlyjoekin]

Hello, this is my first post so I will straight up apolagise if I haven't done something right. I currently have some <£30/<$35 on ear headphones which I'd like to uprade, except when I plug them straight into my iPod the sound is good but not great (reason for uprade), yet when I dock my iPod and plug them into my stereo, making use of the amp, they sound a lot better. Am I right in thinking that buying a fairly cheap portable amp such as this CMoy- http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180503567345&category=3274&_trksid=p5197.c0.m619
will not make much difference to the sound quality?
I am currently thinking of uprading to closed back cans such as an Audio-Technica ATH-A700 or A500.
So basically, should I just get better headphones first then possibly a portable amp, or chance an amp now? Only asking because my current headphones actually do sound a lot better through my stereo, so was wondering if the amp above could provide the same increase in quality
 
If you need them, stereo specs- http://www.sony.co.uk/product/hmi-ipod-hi-fi/mhc-ec79i 
 
And headphone specs-
 

[*] Driver unit: 57mm diameter dome 
Impedance: 64 ohms
Sensitivity: 107dB ±3dB
Frequency response: 5Hz to 30,000Hz
 
Thanks for reading

 

[onlyjoekin]

Can no one offer advice?

 

[morph2k4]

In my experience, portal players seem capable of amping IEMs plenty loud.  Are you using the same source material, or is the stereo playing CD's while the ipod plays mp3's?  I'd be more inclined to think you were listening to poor quality rips on the MP3 player.  

 

[onlyjoekin]

I was listening to the highest quality mp3 format you can select, on iPod, and then listening again from iPod but docked/ wired through Stereo  with its built in amp

 

[onlyjoekin]

And also, they are not in ear earphones, they're headphones. Is that what your mentioning? Also I don't need it to be louder, just better quality