[ffdpmaggot]

I currently own a pair of shure E2C and I am very happy with them, but I'm curious what an amp would do to the sound. could you explain this to me and recommend a good starter amp to me, somewhere around the 80 dollar range.
 
Thanks

 

[PhoneLover94]

What an amp does is just what you may think it does, it amplifies the sound. With this, you can power higher impedance headphones. The impedance is the amount of power (I believe) that the headphones need to drive it. The higher the impedance, the more power it needs. Being an earphone, it does not have a very high impedance. The impedance on these happen to be 16; a normal headphone is at least 32. 16 is very low impedance and should be easily driven by pretty much any source. I wouldn't think that an amp would be needed, especially if you are thinking about spending more than the earphones are worth. The only thing I can recommend is upgrading your earphones to RE0's ( I hear a lot of good things about them) or get an Amp/DAC to improve the sound quality. One of the cheapest AMP/DAC's is the new Fiio E7. I hear a lot of good things about it, and you could probably get it used for around $80. 
Hope this helped and good luck =)

 

[Ypoknons]

It doesn't exactly amplify sound, the amp takes power from a source - wall outlet or battery, and adds that power to the signal so it can moves headphones' drivers. Some headphones need more power, some less, and there are various interactions with impedance and control the signal has on the driver coils. Impedance is not the amount of power required, power is power - the number and energy level of the electronics flowing through. A higher impedance headphone is not necessarily harder to drive; the 25ohm HE5 probably takes more power to drive than a 600ohm DT880; speakers are also often 4-8ohms and take much more power. 
 
In the OP's case, I have not heard the E2C's but they do have a few years on them and IEMs (unlike other areas in headphones) have gotten substantial better and cheaper in the last few years. I would recommend an IEM upgrade first before worrying about portable amps.

 

[ffdpmaggot]

well I just got my E2C and my next pair will be a pair of KC3, so I wanted to see if an amp could improve sound quality for the time being. I would have gone with the RE0s except for some false preconceptions of harshness, i don't exactly love earphones with the long stick either.

 

[logwed]

Quote:

well I just got my E2C and my next pair will be a pair of KC3, so I wanted to see if an amp could improve sound quality for the time being. I would have gone with the RE0s except for some false preconceptions of harshness, i don't exactly love earphones with the long stick either.

An amplifier provides power to the headphones, if it is a good design, it shouldn't color the sound in any way. The purpose of an amplifier (sonically) is to allow the headphones to sound as they are intended, and to reach their full potential. Some headphones require more powerful amplification to be able to sound their best, based primarily on the impedance and sensitivity ratings. The KC3 is about $150, correct? I don't really know too many portable amplifiers in that price range that will provide significantly more power than your average DMP, so I'd be inclined to just upgrade the headphones. 

 

[Ypoknons]

I wouldn't be surprised if a $150 IEM is better than a $100 IEM + $50 amplifier. Of course, feel free to try an amplifier sometime after the IEM upgrade, in the name of experimentation, if nothing else.

 

[logwed]

Quote:

I wouldn't be surprised if a $150 IEM is better than a $100 IEM + $50 amplifier. Of course, feel free to try an amplifier sometime after the IEM upgrade, in the name of experimentation, if nothing else.

Exactly. Plus, portable amps are controversial anyway in their sonic benefits. Desktop amps are where it's at.

 

[Jack C]

To me, the primary benefit of a headphone amp is the ability to provide power amplification to a good line-level music signal, and in the process provide volume control as well as possibly a good EQ profile or few.
 
Line level signals are where its at: properly designed a line level signal coming out of a DAC or DAP represents the ideal best-case scenario in terms of audio performance from that piece of hardware. It will offer the best of everything: frequency response, noise, distortion, separation, etc.  The device's built-in headphone amp may not be well designed (noisy, distorted, etc), not powerful enough (e.g. Teclast T51), or just a poor match for certain headphones. In this case, a dedicated headphone amp will be able to provide the kind of high quality amplification and headphone driving capabilities that enthusiasts look for.
 
A properly executed headphone amp will not only preserve the fidelity of the music signal, but also potentially enhance its enjoyment by providing high quality modifiers in terms of boost/cut EQs, crossfeeds, and etc.
 
Jack

 

[Prog Rock Man]

I find that using headphones straight from an ipod requires the ipod's volume to be at or very near maximum. An amp, such as the FiiO E5 means that there is a much bigger range of usable volume.
 
Have you ever noticed with an amp that at low volumes it sounds dull and uninvolving? Then as you turn the amp up it hits a sweet spot where the music is clear, dynamic and detailed. Then as you keep going distortion and drop outs and buzzing occurs. I find that straight from an ipod many headphones are barely into that sweet spot. Adding an amp means you can get your headphones properly into that sweet spot and if anything, amped the headphones now sound better at low volumes because fo the extra controlled power that they get.

 

[ffdpmaggot]

the KC3 have a 300 USD MSRP, but they were discontinued in favor of the smaller image line, which I believe is why they cost 125 dollar now. the point I was making with the amp though was that it could be used with this set and my next set, and I could be more efficient with my money and use amps that improve the sound from any IEMs I own. By the way, can apple handle FLAC? And how can I rip to FLAC without using something other than itunes?

 

[logwed]

Quote:

the KC3 have a 300 USD MSRP, but they were discontinued in favor of the smaller image line, which I believe is why they cost 125 dollar now. the point I was making with the amp though was that it could be used with this set and my next set, and I could be more efficient with my money and use amps that improve the sound from any IEMs I own. By the way, can apple handle FLAC? And how can I rip to FLAC without using something other than itunes?

No, stock iPods cannot play FLAC files.

 

[ffdpmaggot]

can itunes handle FLAC? And if it does, would it change the file format when it syncs with my ipod?

 

[PhoneLover94]

Sorry, Ypoknons, my definition of an amp was slightly off. I was a little confused with how the amplifying actually took place. The actual Wikipedia definition of an electronic amp is:
Quote: "An electronic amplifier is a device for increasing the power of a signal. It does this by taking energy from a power supply and controlling the output to match the input signal shape but with a larger amplitude. In this sense, an amplifier may be considered as modulating the output of the power supply."

 

[apatN]

Quote:

can itunes handle FLAC? And if it does, would it change the file format when it syncs with my ipod?

I don't think iTunes does FLAC. If you want lossless on your iPod or iTunes use ALAC.
 
To answer OP's question: in layman's terms an amp will strengthen the sound. A good amp will bring energy in your headphones/iems. Today I received a PA2V2 to see what it could do and I am pretty happy with it already. It gives me a bigger sound with both the RE0 and MS1000 (the Beyers don't care for this small box). It's in your price range too so I would definitely check it out.

 

[Sumflow]

 Convert Flac to ALAC .m4a with SoundConverter to play in your ipod.

​

Quote:

  I don't think iTunes does FLAC. If you want lossless on your iPod or iTunes use ALAC.

In the end you might be more efficient with your money if you upgrade your IEM.
Quote:

  I could be more efficient with my money and use amps that improve the sound from any IEMs I own.