CaptainRusko
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2010
- Posts
- 61
- Likes
- 10
Let me start by saying I am very new to this hobby and really know very little about it and do not understand hardly any of the technical details regarding headphones and amps...
This can be illustrated by my purchasing of a DT880 (250ohm I think) with only a E5 amp to power it. I now have a better idea of what it means to have an underpowered headphone and the importance of amps. So it seems the only way to begin to remedy the situation is to buy a £100 amp, minimum.(?) For someone without a good amp thinking about purchasing a headphone that needs an amp, say a DT770 600ohm for £200... The real cost to get these headphones working properly (not absolutely optimally, but decently) seems to be something like £350+
Now I know some of the less needy headphones do not require an expensive (to me) amp to drive them yet still are decent quality, maybe not those of a well driven high impedance headphone, but still good.
As such, I am guessing there is some sort of point where you start to experience diminishing returns because it seems that the more expensive headphones generally need to be well driven to sound like they were meant to and of course that means the added cost of a decent headphone amp. Obviously those who already have a good amp do not feel the effect of this on any new headphones they buy, as they already have the initial investment, but for people like me, who are just starting out and don't have a lot of money to spend, it makes a big difference when deciding what headphones to settle on.
Hopefully you get what I mean. What I am really asking for is lots of recommended headphones that don't really need an amp to sound their best as I really cannot afford to buy the amp my DT880's deserve.
I would like to make a list of headphones that are good but do not need an amp, here is what I have so far:
DT770 80 ohm (Or does it need an amp?)
Denon 1001
Sony MDR-XB500 (brutish I know but I think I like bass heavy headphones)
Sony MDR-V6 (rustinpiece recommendation)
Audio-Technica ATH-M50 (kind of expensive for people in the UK, like all AT's)
If you have any other suggestions, preferably under £100, suggest
BTW these are observations based on my knowledge so far, so correct me where I am wrong.
This can be illustrated by my purchasing of a DT880 (250ohm I think) with only a E5 amp to power it. I now have a better idea of what it means to have an underpowered headphone and the importance of amps. So it seems the only way to begin to remedy the situation is to buy a £100 amp, minimum.(?) For someone without a good amp thinking about purchasing a headphone that needs an amp, say a DT770 600ohm for £200... The real cost to get these headphones working properly (not absolutely optimally, but decently) seems to be something like £350+
Now I know some of the less needy headphones do not require an expensive (to me) amp to drive them yet still are decent quality, maybe not those of a well driven high impedance headphone, but still good.
As such, I am guessing there is some sort of point where you start to experience diminishing returns because it seems that the more expensive headphones generally need to be well driven to sound like they were meant to and of course that means the added cost of a decent headphone amp. Obviously those who already have a good amp do not feel the effect of this on any new headphones they buy, as they already have the initial investment, but for people like me, who are just starting out and don't have a lot of money to spend, it makes a big difference when deciding what headphones to settle on.
Hopefully you get what I mean. What I am really asking for is lots of recommended headphones that don't really need an amp to sound their best as I really cannot afford to buy the amp my DT880's deserve.
I would like to make a list of headphones that are good but do not need an amp, here is what I have so far:
DT770 80 ohm (Or does it need an amp?)
Denon 1001
Sony MDR-XB500 (brutish I know but I think I like bass heavy headphones)
Sony MDR-V6 (rustinpiece recommendation)
Audio-Technica ATH-M50 (kind of expensive for people in the UK, like all AT's)
If you have any other suggestions, preferably under £100, suggest
BTW these are observations based on my knowledge so far, so correct me where I am wrong.
