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If they are ~3.3 ohms ( roughly ) output impedance then the general rule says they should be ideal with anything 8-10 times that or more. So anything from around 26 - 32 ohms or more.
To figure out if you are driving your particular headphones decently, it is not just ohms that you need to look at. Sensitivity also plays a factor. Do you like the sound you are getting so far? ....even plugging the AKG into a vintage or newer stereo receiver/amp headphone jack at a pal's or walk into a store and try the headphones there.
For amping levels, I always set my SOURCE more than the amp. I have the source at ~%80-90 ( not maxxed out ) , and the amp adjusts the volume. That way the amp is getting the best signal feed it can ( before maxxing out the source player's internals ) and you avoid distortion found when having an amp at %100.
1- So there's a minimum too, not just a maximum. I just learned that 2 days ago from reading on this forum and it's good to know though when you have very low impedence headphone, it's usualy cheap 20$ earbuds and if it is then you prolly never heard about headphone amps at all. It's just strange then that Gary said, if I remember well, that it can even power up speakers but aren't most speakers all 2-4ohm? Perhaps it CAN but it isn't recommanded to do so? It would actualy be much more useful to know the maximum oHm it can handle rather than know only the minimum. I have a hard time believing though headphone amps built in some soundcards that they can go all the way through 600ohm, otherwise everyone would use these rather than
2- What do I have to look for exactly concerning the
sensitivity? I sure like the sound I currently get as after all they're high-end headphone better than anything I ever had and I know nobody around me with anything nearly decent. They're all miles away from what I have so I can't really compare but at my new job I finaly found a nice guy that's also an audiophile and he asked me if we could exchange temporary stuff to test different things and I've wanted since long ago to try the DT880 250ohm and a 300$ dedicated headphone tube amp on an external DAC so that should give me an idea versus my setup because as you know, we never know what we are missing until we try it. It's only when I'll hear something better that I'll know I didn't have the best setting/setup and need to change something. I've been told that the headphone jack on any receiver or even the DAC inside will always be average even if you pay above 1000$ for your receiver so I've been using instead my
(Auzentech X-Meridian 2G with custom Opamps) plugged on a
(Beringer MA400) 20$ headphone amp, for using my
K702 on the computer for music and games since this soundcard have no headphone-amp built-in.
3- Heh always thought that you were better off using the "improved" power from your amp rather than the "cheap power" from your device and then once maxed out, raise the device volume in second instead of in first. So you say that not only we should raise the device first and always have it more than the amp but also
never set anything "device and amp" above 90%? So I should be setting the volume on the amp rather than on the device like I do right now but heh that doesn't leave me much room as I mostly listen to my music on the
Cowon S9 with the volume between 30-32 on 40, thus while having the amp always at 100%. You said 80-90% but that's already 32-36 of 40 and trust me, the sound level as in dBA is just perfect as in not too low or too loud as I hate listening to very loud stuff like in the clubs then you ears almost bleed when you leave the place. How come I have so few room if my headphone are only rated 62 ohm?! O_o
