[madaboutmusic]

Hello I am new here.
 
I have owned my IPOD Touch for about 3 years now and was getting bored of apple headphones. So I want online and read reviews and decided to buy the Audio Technica ATH M50 headphones, and I did buy them yesterday.
 
I am mainly using them for my IPOD and they are really nice, but if I am totally honest I can not see a huge difference yet!
 
Anyway I heard about burning in so I am currently hooking them up to my Mac and playing some pink noise from the site Simply Noise
 

 
And should I buy an amplifier? Heard about the Fiio E5, any good?
 
Thank you!
 
(The main music I listen to is Kylie and Pop and RnB)

 

[ZARIM]

The Dynamic drivers need some burn in to shows it best but AMPs help give more volume, details and clarity.

 

[BotByte]

M50's don't need an amp
 
Buying one would do nothing for them, and the E5 only helps out like 0.01% of headphones that really need it. I have a pair of IEM's that don't sound even close to when the E5 is paired to them, but your m50's DO NOT need a amp.
 
Same as Zarim said, let them play for about 40+ hours and the sound will come out

 

[Arleus]

Someone come in and correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the iPod touch has an output impedance in the order of 30 Ohms, as do the M50s, giving a damping factor of approximately 1, whereas something towards 10 would be preferable. The E5, while unecessary as an amplifier, may give you some improvement in sound quality by essentially sorting out the impedances for you to give a good damping factor. 
 
Or in layman's terms, with a low damping factor, you may find the highs to be a bit tizzy and the bass to be a bit woolly.
 
Disclaimer: the above is theory only, and not based on personal experience.

 

[BotByte]

Quote:

Someone come in and correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the iPod touch has an output impedance in the order of 30 Ohms, as do the M50s, giving a damping factor of approximately 1, whereas something towards 10 would be preferable. The E5, while unecessary as an amplifier, may give you some improvement in sound quality by essentially sorting out the impedances for you to give a good damping factor. 
 
Or in layman's terms, with a low damping factor, you may find the highs to be a bit tizzy and the bass to be a bit woolly.
 
Disclaimer: the above is theory only, and not based on personal experience.

HOLD THE PHONE
 
Let me go get my graphing calculator to check this!
 
 
The short: (as shown on my graphing calculator) E5 waste of money, make bass bloated and sound like a dead horse, highs would sound like a tin can, mids would vanish.
 
 

 

[Arleus]

Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying that you should rush out and by an E5. I'm just saying it will do something rather than nothing.

 

[BotByte]

Quote:

Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying that you should rush out and by an E5. I'm just saying it will do something rather than nothing.

Well a lot of people go out and buy amps thinking:
"Amp means better sound."
then they start to collect amps and still listen through ipod buds. For god's sake, headphones only need amp if they need them. 
 
And the most popular, is the E5. My Brainwavz M1's are the few headphones that actually need the E5 to sound good. Coming from my Cowon, which powers all my fullsized great, sound flat. I add the E5 and the sound triples! 

 

[Arleus]

And just to add another twist, the value I got of 30 Ohms for the touch came from Tyll... who later decided it might not be correct. So, make of this what you will!

 

[madaboutmusic]

I assume amps dont really raise the volume of the sound

I heard they kind of support the ipod in delivering the best sound from headphones as ipods may not be powerful enough to get the best sound from the headphones
 
So should I buy the Fioo E5 or not?

 

[BotByte]

Amps do raise the volume, but it's not the point of them.
 
Amps are used to push enough power to the headphones that need them.
 
The M50's can be pushed without any difficulty from anything
 
No, you don't need a E5, no don't buy one.
 
 
Get a Cowon S9 or J3, my S9 powers all my headphones great without an amp, and most of my headphones need amps.

 

[TMRaven]

If it's the M50 vs the stock apple buds you get with every purchase of an iToy, you should be able to tell the difference right away.  The apple buds roll off at around 200hz an have no bass at all, while the M50s extend really deep, and will allow you to hear lots of notes that you've never heard before in songs.  The high end timbre of the M50s is way more realistic than the tinny mess of apple buds as well.

 

[madaboutmusic]

So using my mp IPOD, I dont need to buy any amp?

 

[TMRaven]

Nope.

 

[TakashiMiike]

I think a better suggestion would be to first do some critical listening between the apple ibuds and the m50, because there certainly a difference. If you cannot hear it than bombing more money into this money is NOT for you. Spend some time, be able to tell the differences, and ask yourself what you want out of this hobby, what in music do you enjoy, etc.

 

[acticulated]

Sorry madaboutmusic,
 
If you came looking for simple answers, it looks like this is the wrong place. The answers are neither simple nor easily agreed upon. I've had a few (and still have a couple) 'easy to drive' headphones (low impedance, high sensitivity) that still do glean some benefit from the use of amplification in conjunction with my portable player. I use a mint tin CMOY that I got on ebay. Some people say the differences are subtle, but everyone I've had A/B my rig with and without amplification has noticed an improvement. Whether or not you want to try to amp your portable set-up is up to you. Enjoy your new m-50s!
 
Edit: for clarity.