The earphone itself is the wow part. The driver used in this earphone is amazing. Simply put, the quality of the sound produced by the driver used is top level stuff, like tippy top like I just shoved the highest end Seas or Scanspeak equivalent driver into this tiny earphone top level. The driver itself is ridiculously good. I will say the implementation of the driver isn't my favorite. I don't get why it's tucked away in the housing firing at an angle, and there is some resonance problems at higher output due to this that you can hear. I'm sure there was a reason for the implementation as it is, but I don't really know what it could be. I have personal preference of the frequency response too, but it is a very enjoyable earphone and extremely competent in a lot of ways. I often stepped back to the RE252 for general listening due to better balance, but the driver itself is a step down. If the RE262 had the balance of the RE252 but the same driver performance, there wouldn't really be a product on the market that could match it. Balance was the only reason I couldn't justify keeping mine, and that's a preference issue. The presentation works and is likable, but it's just not for me. Yet going back to the wow factor, these earphones wow. Every time I used them, they impressed me, and that's very, very rare. Mind you I had a pile of high end earphones sitting around too I was using. Every time I go back, it's just "wow, this driver is soooo good."
Amping in general is a product of adequate wattage for the volume level. I personally found the earphone easy to drive but simply ultimately quiet on a given device due to the voltage drop running high ohm. The driver isn't all that power hungry itself, but the sensitivity does require X voltage to get Y loud. This is what makes an amp a potential requirement. I just simply didn't find it to need an amp. It can get more interesting depending on the quality of the source device and the need for a good DAC. Often this is the bigger reason for me for owning an amp in the first place. It's not so much the power as it is simply the better DAC than the built in crap on my laptop. I do own and have owned a variety of earphones that are power hungry and are products I see having a greater actual need for moderate wattage to be there. I just don't personally find the RE262 to be one of them, at least as long as the source player is a competent product that can reach normal listening levels at that ohm load. Is a good amp better regardless? Kind of, yeah. It's very, very rare that I haven't found improvement using my amp. Most every earphone I've used, even low ohm, decently sensitive earphones have been helped at least a tiny bit by running a good amp. Talking about the RE262 specifically, it's more about the voltage than it is amperage. It's a scale issue, not a brute force issue.
