[eljaguario]

Will I get any benefit from an amp if I have low impedance headphones? and if so what are some great amps for low impedance headphones. I want to push my sony zx700's. Would I just be better of buying better headphones? 

 

[DaBomb77766]

That depends.  What's your source?  For the most part, though, unless you have an awful source, an amp won't make any difference for most IEMs.  Though that awful source would have to have a line-out to make it less awful.

 

[eljaguario]

I just bought an audio technica AT-LP120, I don't own a pair of IEM's the sony's are full sized headphones with a 24 ohm rating

 

[scompton]

I went though a bunch of portable amps before giving up.  Most had so much gain that it was nearly impossible to listen at my normal listening levels.  Most people who hear an improvement are listening louder with the amp than without.  With a 5dB difference in volume, the louder will be perceived as better 90% of the time, all other things being equal.   If you don't volume match, impressions are not worth that much. 
 
There are exceptions.  A source may have a horrible headphone out, but a good line out.  That's not true with most portables.  It can be true that a computer's headphone out and line out suffer from EMF noise.  In that case and external DAC and amp would be necessary.  I'm not sure how common that is.  I've never experienced it but I do have an external DAC for convenience. 
 
Edit:  I've also read that caps in the output path can cause a cut off of bass.  Supposedly this is true with the iPod.  I don't remember the details but the cut off frequency is  based on the capacitance and the impedance of the headphones.  I've never noticed it, but I don't know that I have a portable headphone or IEM with an impedance under 32 ohms.  It may be that at 32 ohms, the cutoff frequency is really low enough that headphones can't produce it reliably anyway.  There is no lack of bass with the Sony XB500 straight out of the iPod.

 

[eljaguario]

Ok, i think you're going a little fast for my beginner audio mind, I have a pair of sony mdr-zx700 headphones that I use to listen to music on my computer and my turntable. they're rated at 24 ohms of resistance, would they benefit from a desktop amplifier? 

 

[DaBomb77766]

Quote:

Ok, i think you're going a little fast for my beginner audio mind, I have a pair of sony mdr-zx700 headphones that I use to listen to music on my computer and my turntable. they're rated at 24 ohms of resistance, would they benefit from a desktop amplifier? 

Do they have a sensitivity rating (dB/mW)?
 
Also, if you're listening straight from an onboard sound card you'd most likely benefit from a DAC/amp, an amp would be pretty much worthless if it just amplifies the headphone out on your PC.

 

[scompton]

In my experience, you won't hear a difference other than it'll be hard to not play louder.  Most amps have too much gain (amplify too much) for low impedance, high sensitivity headphones.

 

[eljaguario]

Sensitivity: 106 dB/mW
listening through on board card
It'd be nice if the headphones were a LITTLE louder.
I heard that an amp might degrade sound quality. Thank you for all the help

 

[DaBomb77766]

Quote:

Sensitivity: 106 dB/mW
listening through on board card
It'd be nice if the headphones were a LITTLE louder.
I heard that an amp might degrade sound quality. Thank you for all the help

That's a pretty high sensitivity.  Either way, an amp would degrade sound quality if you're running it through the headphone-out port on the PC.  Which is why you'd want something like a USB DAC.

 

[eljaguario]

I want to buy a desktop tube amp, like a little dot or something like that. I just heard that since it has such a low resistance the amp would degrade the quality of the sound.

 

[Permagrin]

Ok, i think you're going a little fast for my beginner audio mind, I have a pair of sony mdr-zx700 headphones that I use to listen to music on my computer and my turntable. they're rated at 24 ohms of resistance, would they benefit from a desktop amplifier? 

What sound card do you have?

What is the model of your turntable and are you using it with a receiver?

How do they compare sonically?

 

[Xymordos]

Most tube amps are designed for high impedance phones unfortunately. All the top class ones i've seen are only designed for 600ohm ones :\
High current amps required to drive low impedance phones are harder to design than ones for 600ohm ones (thats what i've heard)

 

[DaBomb77766]

I think it's because tube amps have a high output impedance...which doesn't bode too well for most normal consumer-level headphones.

 

[Yoga Flame]

Types of tube amps:
 
Output Transformerless (OTL)
The headphones will be driven directly by the tubes. High output impedance. Usually does not work well with low impedance headphones, though I have heard of exceptions. Some examples are Little Dot Mk2, Schiit Valhalla, Bottlehead Crack.
 
Transformer coupled
A pair of audio transformers are added to achieve low output impedance. Relatively expensive because good audio transformers don't come cheap. Examples are Woo Audio 6, Bottlehead S.E.X., Millett Jonokuchi.
 
Hybrid
A combination of tubes and solid state. The final output stage consists of a solid state components that have a low output impedance. Examples are Little Dot 1+, Schiit Lyr, Millett MiniMAX.
 
 
If your computer's onboard sound chip is no good (noise, background hiss, lack of clarity) then upgrading that will make a big difference. Either get a good internal sound card and install it far away from the video card, or get an external DAC (my preference). But even with noisy onboard computer sound, an amp can still make an improvement. The noise from the computer is at a fixed level. So set the system volume to 100%, then use the amp's analog volume knob to turn it back down. Now the noise will be barely audible because the amp's volume control reduced its volume along with the music. Still better to have no noise to begin with of course.
 

 

[scompton]

Quote:

Hybrid
A combination of tubes and solid state. The final output stage consists of a solid state components that have a low output impedance. Examples are Little Dot 1+, Schiit Lyr, Millett MiniMAX.
 

 
I don't know about the other 2, but the Schitt Lyr is designed for low impedance and low sensitivity.  The gain is way too much for a headphone like the OP's.