[Apple254]

I am currently using a first gen iPod Touch or a MacBook along with Sennheiser HD485's or Denon C751's.

I foolishly payed full RRP for the Sennheiser's as, at the time I bought them when I was 14 and did not realise how much cheaper headphones were online. Because of this I was just wondering if I can get anything more out of them from using an amp? BTW I am not bothered about amping Denon's as I know my iPod drives them reasonably well.

If an amp would be useful any suggestions would be fantastic. Just to let you know, I am only 15 therefore my budget would be up to about £50GBP.

 

[Benaiir]

Sucks to be young, doesn't it? (I'm 14 myself; blew $90 for my Beyers) Well, a Fiio's cheap and all, and it's small, but many say it doesn't REALLY improve the sound, but it can boost the bass without making it sound bad. If you plan on going bigger; there's used Cmoy's, Total Airhead's, and Total BitHeads you could consider in the FS forum. Of course, you need paypal (I have my parents password, myself

) so, yeah... Enjoy.

 

[Apple254]

:O someone replied lol. Thanks, yer I had looked at Fiio's but really wondered if there was any point. I thought about looking at second hand but also had been looking at import tax from the US etc and didn't know if I could be bothered...

I was on headrooms site and they're shipping fees to the UK are quite a lot. I guess I will look for used Total's.

cheers mate.

 

[not]

I have a Fiio E3 and think it does help the er4p's and sony v6's I have used with them. I think it depends on the headphones and the sound you want. Hard to beat $10 price tag.

There is someone selling a cmoy right now for about $15 on the forum. It is a bit beat up but might be an option.

 

[kaushama]

Yes The answer is obvious. But if you have a Macbook as the source, what about Amp+DAC combo. The cheapest are iBasso and XM offerings.

 

[kaushama]

And look for a used one in the sales forum. You can cut cost significantly.

 

[krmathis]

Clear and short answer -> Yes!
I have never heard a 'phone which did not improve when driven by an external amplifier.

 

[digitalfrog]

"the answer is obvious" "I have never heard" etc...

I feel sometimes that personal opinions can come across (certainly unintentionally) as general statements.

To the untrained ear, there may be NO benefits aside from maybe sound level.

I've used low/medium quality headphones forever, and only recently decided to spend a bit more money on some AKG. The jump was huge, even though it took me a bit of time to get used to them and they needed to break. I then bought an Ibasso D2 which I have received about a week ago.

To my untrained ears, the is NO change *I* could detect. (320K rip/Ipod/LOD)

It's likely to change as I spend more time to teach my ear to detect subtle differences - but I suggest any reader to add a grain of salt to blanket statements as described above.

Again, I'm sure nobody is here to mislead anyone on purpose.

 

[oneway23]

Seeing as every audio chain is unique, I wouldn't want to tell you to move in one direction or another, however, I'll share my experience.

I was skeptical myself, especially considering the likelihood of any placebo effect taking place after spending money to receive any perceived gain.

I took the advice of a fellow head-fier who was kind enough to elaborate on the near-mystical notion of "synergy" and picked up a Vivid-Tech V1 amp for my Senn HD600s. For my personal use, the $97 investment was well worth it, as the increase really opened up the laid back nature of this particular pair of cans. I do have it hooked up to a macbook pro.