[renenkel]

Hello -- I'm new here   Since the 80's I've been using my beloved Sony D-25 Discman portable CD player (for some years with a homemade external battery pack, after the original ones stopped becoming available), and I've been very happy with it, playing through my AKG K-240 headphones.  However lately the D-25 started acting up, and I decided to give in to the modern age and get myself an iPod.
 
I wasn't too thrilled with the iPod though.  For one thing, it's far from loud enough!  But when I tried the iPod out at the Apple store, it seemed plenty loud with the headphones they had there, so after some scratching of my head, I thought maybe it's because my headphones are 600 ohms impedance, and the D-25 emitted enough voltage to drive them to satisfactory levels, but the iPod does not.  Does this seem right?  And if that's the case, does it mean that I need an external headphone amplifier to use with the iPod?
 
(Sorry if my question is stupid, and apologies in advance if I've inadvertently broken any rules of the forum, in which case please let me know and I'll be more than happy to adjust
 
Regards,
   Robert

 

[Music Alchemist]

Yeah, you'll need an amp for those 600 ohm headphones.

 

[drgnfrc13]

You won't find any average consumer-grade portable media player that will drive 600ohm headphones. Headphones made to be used with iPods and other MP3 players are usually more along the lines of 20-50ohms. Buy yourself a FiiO E11, or something comparable.

 

[renenkel]

Is it okay to use the headphone jack to feed the amp?
 
I wonder if a line-out is even available on the iPod Touch 6?  (I posted a question about that as a follow-up to another thread, since it was related:  http://www.head-fi.org/t/778914/ipod-touch-6th-generation-line-out-options#post_12149107)

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Is it okay to use the headphone jack to feed the amp?

 
I believe you may need an iPhone dock cable in order to utilize the line out in your iPod touch. However, I have only researched this briefly, so I would suggest you look into it further. If you're not able to use line out, you can still connect the amp to your iPod via the headphone output, which may or may not result in degradation in sound from double amping.

 

[renenkel]

You won't find any average consumer-grade portable media player that will drive 600ohm headphones. [...] Buy yourself a FiiO E11, or something comparable.

At this review of the FiiO E11 http://www.head-fi.org/t/552605/fiio-e11-impression-information-support it says, "Headphone impedance range 16 - 300 ohms".  I saw the same for the FiiO E12.  Does this mean I would need a different amp to drive 600 ohm headphones?  Any recommendations?

 

[Music Alchemist]

  At this review of the FiiO E11 http://www.head-fi.org/t/552605/fiio-e11-impression-information-support it says, "Headphone impedance range 16 - 300 ohms".  I saw the same for the FiiO E12.  Does this mean I would need a different amp to drive 600 ohm headphones?  Any recommendations?

 
You can still drive 600 ohm headphones with them; they're just not rated (as in listing the output power at that impedance) for it. Same goes for the Schiit Fulla, which I drove 600 ohm headphones with well enough. If you want to get the most out of your headphones, look elsewhere, though. What I think you should do is calculate your headphone's power requirements to reach your desired loudness (plus 5-30 dB of dynamic peaks in the music) using this resource (you'll need to know the sensitivity of your headphones as well), then find an amp with enough output power for that at 600 ohms.

 

[drgnfrc13]

I don't know of any portable amp that will drive 600ohm headphones perfectly; 600ohm headphones aren't really meant to be portable cans. That being said, I know that there are Head-Fi'ers who do use the E11 with their 600ohm Beyers. The only other portable amp I can think of that I have heard of someone using with 600ohm headphones is discontinued (the iBasso PB2). Others probably exist, I've just never really looked into that before, because most people who have headphones over 250ohms are using them at a desktop with a proper amp.

 

[12many]

There is the TEAC  HA-p50 - but it is not overwhelming power.  By way of comparison, the Iphone 6 outputs 26 mW into a 32 ohm load and drives low impedance Hp reasonable well, but not great. 
 

Effective maximum output

160mW+160mW(32Ω, 1KHz, 10%, JEITA) 65mW+65mW(300Ω, 1KHz, 10%, JEITA) 35mW+35mW(600Ω, 1KHz, 10%, JEITA)

 

[renenkel]

I wonder if maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree.  Maybe, instead of looking for a portable amp that will drive my 600 ohm headphones from my iPod, I should be looking for a really good pair of low-impedance headphones so that my iPod can drive them directly?  Do such headphones exist?  Is that likely to result in better audio quality?

 

[Music Alchemist]

  I wonder if maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree.  Maybe, instead of looking for a portable amp that will drive my 600 ohm headphones from my iPod, I should be looking for a really good pair of low-impedance headphones so that my iPod can drive them directly?  Do such headphones exist?  Is that likely to result in better audio quality?

 
Yes, in fact, most headphones are easy to drive from portable devices.

 

[renenkel]

  What I think you should do is calculate your headphone's power requirements to reach your desired loudness (plus 5-30 dB of dynamic peaks in the music) using this resource (you'll need to know the sensitivity of your headphones as well), then find an amp with enough output power for that at 600 ohms.

 
Thanks for the link...very interesting!

 

[Zaibi]

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