[nue]

I'm curious about these responses as after going between a phone (Nokia 5610) and a DAP (Teclast T50) with the same sources and headphones, my phone simply falls flat on its face when attempting to drive my Klipsch Custom 2s. Bass response is nonexistent and mids are murky, yet, when I plug in something which requires more power, say, HD280s, it becomes a dead heat between the two sources as it sounds more or less the same. Go figure. Something to do with the armature based cans maybe?

Then again, a phone isn't a DAP.

 

[RedSky0]

It is odd. As you said, the HD280s do require more power to drive at 64 ohms to the Custom 2's 16 ohms. Sensitivity is similar with the HD280s at 102db/mW and the at 112 dB/mW.

 

[brotherlen]

File
Headphones
Player
everything else

 

[A<aA?]

1 headphones
2 quality of the mp3/recording
3 player

 

[roosta]

headphones
format
amplifier (in player or external)
player

the difference between throw away aeroplane headphones and some top end headphones (think shure 530, edition 8/9, HD800's) is gonna be greater than 128kb/s and lossless in my opinion. lossless through throwaway earbuds is not gonna sound better than HD800's.
i think the inbult amp in players makes more of a difference than the DAC in PMPs, so i think amp is more important than the rest of the PMP.

 

[blawhh]

headphones
amplifier
quality
player

 

[Punnisher]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nue /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm curious about these responses as after going between a phone (Nokia 5610) and a DAP (Teclast T50) with the same sources and headphones, my phone simply falls flat on its face when attempting to drive my Klipsch Custom 2s. Bass response is nonexistent and mids are murky, yet, when I plug in something which requires more power, say, HD280s, it becomes a dead heat between the two sources as it sounds more or less the same. Go figure. Something to do with the armature based cans maybe? Then again, a phone isn't a DAP.

That's because your phone (or any portable player) isn't designed to drive such low impedance cans. It's a shame that manufacturers continue to make them so needlessly low impedance.

I'm with erik on this one. Headphones and File are the most important.

 

[Young Spade]

I think it would be a combination of things but from my experience... Source (audio files), headphones, player, amp, then cables. The reason I said player in the middle is because you can have 2 different players and they might make the can sound a little different but 2 different headphones can completely change how you hear the music.

 

[chinesekiwi]

1) Output (headphones, IEMs, canalphones, even speakers)
2) Bitrate and format
3) Source (player)
4) Amp (interchangeable with source dependant on audio equipment)


Only 4. Cables are a non-factor.
However, 2, 3 and 4 are limited to a point, particularly with portables.

 

[ilney]

1) Portability
2) Headphones SQ
3) Headphones Comfort
4) The DAP
5) The source