[AlvinS]

I found that the sound quality is pretty good using a laptop and a headphone (HD380) without any DAC or AMP. Significantly better than a ipod classic + HD380. Can anybody tell me where the reason lies? Because the laptop is better than a portable player, or because I am using a low-impedance headphone?

 

[NA Blur]

It all comes down to the DAC inside each device and how they pair up against one another.  The HD380 is not a power hungry headphone and its 54 Ohm nominal impedance as well as 110dB sensitivity make it quite ideal for portable devices.  Perhaps you could be a tad more specific one what you mean by better out of the laptop vs the portable device?  Perhaps the portable device has compressed files vs your laptops uncompressed?  It could be that your portable players has some volume limiting turned on or even an EQ setting.
 
Please list what player you are using on each device.
 
To be honest the DAC on the iPod Classic is actually pretty good and there really should not be any huge improvement using a laptops headphone out over the iPod.

 

[BBBS]

You have the amp to consider too. I find my laptop drives everything better than my iPod.

In fact iPod Classics aren't much good in my opinion. There's just something subtly off about them like the treble's not there.

 

[AlvinS]

Yes, I returned my ipod classic because I cannot bear the sound from the hard drive during the playing.

 

[cel4145]

If you need a portable player, grab a Sansa Clip+. They have excellent SQ for $30 rivaling that of the iPods and other players. . Then buy a micro SD card to expand the storage capacity. 

 

[AlvinS]

I bought a clip+ last year and I love that tiny player, the only bad thing is the short playback time. I have to recharge it nearly everyday.

 

[AlvinS]

Quote:

It all comes down to the DAC inside each device and how they pair up against one another.  The HD380 is not a power hungry headphone and its 54 Ohm nominal impedance as well as 110dB sensitivity make it quite ideal for portable devices.  Perhaps you could be a tad more specific one what you mean by better out of the laptop vs the portable device?  Perhaps the portable device has compressed files vs your laptops uncompressed?  It could be that your portable players has some volume limiting turned on or even an EQ setting.
 
Please list what player you are using on each device.
 
To be honest the DAC on the iPod Classic is actually pretty good and there really should not be any huge improvement using a laptops headphone out over the iPod.

Thank you for your reply. The music files on my laptop and ipod classic are exactly the same - pcm files from CDs. When I plugged the HD380 into the ipod, the music feels like very weak, but the laptop delivers very powerful and dynamic sound. I am not mentioning the power only, but the quality of sound.

 

[NA Blur]

That is good to know about the Classic.  My iPod touch sounds very musical which is what I was basing my experience with iPod upon.
 
I definitely hear a more dynamic sound signature from my iPod Touch 2nd gen vs my 5th gen.