Martin,
I posted something earlier regarding the pairing of the Clip with the Phonaks. I'm reproducing it below, hope you can offer some input about it.
Dfkt,
It's so ironic that you mentioned 'basshead' in your comments, because one of the headphones that I own which many would consider bass heavy is the JBL reference 220.
I'm looking for an everyday pair of headphones that are reasonably priced (and the Phonaks certainly fit the bill, as I'm not about to spend $200+ on some high end earphones!), and the JBL's seem a little sibilant in the treble to me, and the boomy and somewhat flabby bass just gets really overbearing after a while. I suppose there are some that would consider the sound "exciting", but I think it gets fatiguing very quickly especially if you listen for hours on end.
One of the reasons I picked the JBLs was for their sensitivity, as the Clip doesn't seem to drive normal headphones very loud. Since you say the impedance is high and the sensitivity relatively low on the Phonaks, is the Clip able to drive them to satisfactorily loud levels without an amp? I know the Clip's output is not very high in comparison with many other mp3 players, that is my major concern about pairing them with the phonaks.
Thanks,
Paul