[Tehwall]

Will a small phone/mp3 player like the Apple iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S (Captivate) be able to drive my Koss Porta Pro's without too much trouble? I won't be using an amp as I need a small, lightweight form factor and I'm low on money.

The Koss Porta Pro's have a 60 ohm impedance and 101db/mw sensitivity. Will both of those devices be capable of powering those headphones without a noticeable lack of clarity or quality?
 
Thanks!

 

[Maxvla]

Will sound great. I use Porta Pros with my Zune 8 and it only takes about half volume if that. Quality is fine.
 
They are named 'Porta' Pros for a reason.

 

[Tehwall]

Also, with the Porta Pro's without an amp, what's the lowest quality you can encode your music too without hearing a quality difference? For me, I can go to Lame MP3 V3 and can't hear a difference between it and V0.

 

[Maxvla]

I only use 320k/s mp3 when I use mp3, so I couldn't tell you. Normally I use WMA lossless for my Zune, but I'll be changing it up in a month when I pick up an iPod Touch. Not sure what I'll use then. I guess whatever the Apple version is, ALAC?

 

[Tehwall]

Use FLAC on your Zune, and keep it, no need to be trapped with iTunes unless you really need the upgrade.

 

[K_19]

Both should amp Portapros fine, although iphone's amp gets slightly louder than Galaxy S', Galaxy still gets loud enough with almost everything.

 

[Maxvla]

Quote:

Use FLAC on your Zune, and keep it, no need to be trapped with iTunes unless you really need the upgrade.

Zune plays FLAC? First I've heard of that, though I don't really pay attention to the portable player scene. I'm getting the iTouch so I can have wifi in a pocket size and while I'm at it quadruple or octuple my storage space for music and video with a screen about 3 times as big. I don't use my cell phone enough to warrant a smart phone so this is the alternative.