Looking for rugged, closed can, over ear, folding, quality headphones for listening to hip hop on ipod w/o amp.

[lad25]

I work in a research lab and listen to my ipod all day, every day. I used to have Bose around ears, and thought they provided pretty good sound, but they broke. After weeks of research, I just purchased Sennheiser HD280s, and I love them when plugged into a stereo, but they sound horrible on my ipod and assume that they need an amp to bring out the sound (and bass).

Id like to find a pair of high quality (bass heavy), over the ear, closed back, rugged, folding, (potentially dj style), that are efficient enough to be powered by an ipod without an amp.

Im a poor graduate student and dont mind paying $100 for headphones, but I cant justify spending the same for a bulky amp that will be inconvenient when Im moving around all day.
Is it possible to conclusively determine from the specs how a pair of headphones will perform w/o amp on ipod?
Alternately, is there something Im not getting as to why the HD280s sound great when plugged into speakers that are plugged into my ipod, versus sounding horrible when they are plugged into the ipod alone?
Thanks for your input,
Benjamin

 

[lad25]

From what Ive researched/been recommended:
AKG K181DJ
AKG K81DJ
Audiotechnica ANC7
Audiotechnica ES7
A Denon rep recommended their DN-HP700s
Ultrasone? (still waiting on response from company)

Any thoughts on these products? Its tough to figure out what will sound good with an ipod without trying them out and unfortunately I live in podunk midwest, surrounded by corn.
Thanks in advance.

PS-The low end response does seem to have opened up with the HD280's after listening to them for a while, but it still seems that the ipod just doesnt put out enough juice to make them worth the $. I know I should probably just get an amp, but I would rather not sacrifice the money and portability.

 

[Exediron]

Well, for about a hundred dollars you can get a really small portable amp that would probably do the job such as the Total Airhead.

But, if amps aren't what you're interested in, then the main ways to tell how well a certain set of headphones can be powered by any given source are impedence and sensitivity. Most manufacturers give these statistics I think.

 

[noddyisking]

Look at the HD25's for stronger base and a more rugged design than the HD280's, although I personally like the sound from the HD280's direct from an iPod. I use the Corda Headsix amp, mainly with Shure e4c's. I've tried it with both the HD25's and 280's and it improves the sound through both