[Ubijza]

Size, make and price are not important (as long as they are up to or not much over $200 that is

) My PCDP is Sony D-NE920 and has a typical modern headphone output of 5mW (perhaps, given time, i'll hunt down a good vintage player which will give more juice - 9mW+ - but for now I'm stuck with the modern underpowered one). I am NOT going to use an amp. Size is not important, sound isolation is not important - only sound quality

Please do not suggest canal phones/in ear types - I already have e2c for portable use.
I've heard good things of A900 for example - are they good without an amp?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Turner_Brown]

I will whole-heartedly suggest the grado sr-225. There are some for sale in the FS forum for $165. And I would also suggest the flat pads $30. There you go. I love spending other people's money.

 

[go_vtec]

A900 is good and should give you ample volume from your Sony PCDP.

 

[Ubijza]

Turner Brown
Thanks for the reply!
But as the saying goes: "It's not your opinion that interests me, but you reasoning!"

Will it work to anywhere near its full potential without an amp? I 'm
almost certain, that I've read sowhere in these forums that it *can* work unamped, but an amp *is recommended*... just brousing through headroom catalog - "an amp is recommended"...
Any other suggestions?

 

[Turner_Brown]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ubijza Thanks for the reply! But as the saying goes: "It's not your opinion that interests me, but you reasoning!" Will it work to anywhere near its full potential without an amp? I 'm almost certain, that I've read sowhere in these forums that it *can* work unamped, but an amp *is recommended*... just brousing through headroom catalog - "an amp is recommended"... Any other suggestions?

Out of a portable device, unamped, I will say that you will get about 95% of the sr-225's. Other's may argue but that's just my experience.

 

[MetalManCPA]

Quote:

Originally Posted by go_vtec A900 is good and should give you ample volume from your Sony PCDP.

I 2nd this (I just ordered my own)

 

[Ubijza]

Quote:

Originally Posted by go_vtec A900 is good and should give you ample volume from your Sony PCDP.

It is not just volume though - music's detail of underpowered headphones suffers too. So do ATH900 fall into sr225 category - *good*, but *recommended with an amp*?

 

[Turner_Brown]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ubijza It is not just volume though - music's detail of underpowered headphones suffers too. So do ATH900 fall into sr225 category - *good*, but *recommended with an amp*?

I seriously don't know why they say the 225 need an amp...I lived with them for 9 months unamped out of a portable and it was great. I even auditioned them with the sr-71 and it didn't make that big of a difference at all....so little in fact that I turned down the sr-71 at that time. Can anyone else back me up on this? I feel that headrooms description is unfounded.

 

[Ubijza]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turner_Brown I seriously don't know why they say the 225 need an amp...I lived with them for 9 months unamped out of a portable and it was great. I even auditioned them with the sr-71 and it didn't make that big of a difference at all....so little in fact that I turned down the sr-71 at that time. Can anyone else back me up on this? I feel that headrooms description is unfounded.

What was th output of your portable though? 5mW?

 

[Turner_Brown]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ubijza What was th output of your portable though? 5mW?

I'm not sure...it's an iriver h120.

 

[Ubijza]

Haha, HD players have output of about 20mW on average... No wonder

 

[Turner_Brown]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ubijza Haha, HD players have output of about 20mW on average... No wonder

20mW(R) + 20mW(L) (16ohms) at Max. Volume
11.6mW(R) + 11.6mW(L) (32ohms) at Max. Volume

 

[Ubijza]

20mW it is then! Like I said - no wonder your SR225s are happy with the power of the output. My DNE920's 5mW will not suffice...

 

[Turner_Brown]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ubijza 20mW it is then! Like I said - no wonder your SR225s are happy with the power of the output. My DNE920's 5mW will not suffice...

well...the 225's are 32ohms...so it's actually 11.6mw. I guess I never realized how weak pcdp headphone outs are. I used to run my 60's out of a pcdp and I was very happy at the time.

 

[fr4c]

the A900 with the blu-tak mod seems very interesting.