[unkoman]

I am currently pairing a hd280 w/blutak with either a Yamaha rx-v490 from my comp's soundcard, or sony dvd player linked to denon avr-1802 with optical cable. I've noticed that my denon reciever, which (I think) the headphone output is more powerful than the yamaha reciever, but it sounds its under powered. On my yamaha, I get very good deep bass and overall sound, but on the denon reciever the I cant really hear the bass lower than 100hz even if I turned the bass eq all the way up. I am planning to buy a HD555 or 595 but those phones are almost has the twice the impedance than the 280, so will the yamaha/denon amps will be enough to feed the phones with enough juice? Thanks.

 

[3lusiv3]

I don't know those receivers but it's possible that one is suitable and you don't need a headphone amp. I have read a few times that Denon receivers don't have good headphone jacks but I don't know if this is true.

 

[neueziel]

If your listening to it and your happy, don't get an amp. Chances are the differences will be subtle if you have inexperienced ears. If you do notice a difference and you like it...well do you remember the greeting you got on your first post?

 

[chillysalsa]

I recall using Grados with a Yamaha RX596 and the results were acceptable, but a modest CMoy sounded better in every way.

If you're satisfied with it, that's fine then.

 

[unkoman]

Thanks for the replies guys. I did a research on my Yamaha reciever and the headphone output is 560mv, up to 330ohms. Will this be enough to power hd555-595? Thanks

 

[Mr.Radar]

That should be more than enough to power them, though like others have said a dedicated headphone amp, even a basic one (like a CMOY or Headsave Go-Vibe/Home-Vibe) may be a better choice based on sound quality alone.

 

[3lusiv3]

I don't think a headphone amp would be better than a receiver unless you spend $500+.

 

[unkoman]

Thanks for the inputs. I was just wondering if a cheap amp (around $80) would sound better than a reciever. I'm currently wondering which headphone I should pick from my list:
HD-555
Hd-580(Is this phone REAL hard to drive?)
HD-590
HD-595
If anyone have any comments about these phones, please inform me. I mainly listen to varaity of musics from classical to metal. My budget is around 150-200.
Thanks