What you would consider the best ampless headphone setup

[Head Injury]

  I personally would not offer this advice to anyone seriously
interested in the accurate reproduction of music

Why not? Isn't an amplifier's distortion, noise, crosstalk, etc. a measurement of its accuracy in reproducing the signal (i.e. the music)?

 
What's the special sauce that makes more expensive amps sound better?

 

[StudioSound]

I wouldn't be surprised your tv's headphone output sucks. There's a good chance it's bad, and that it doesn't compare to the output of a state of the art modern device, which tend to be very good. But you are comparing your tv's output to the output of a headphone amp while you should be comparing it to that of a mobile device.

 
It was just an example. The headphone outputs on the mobile devices I've used (mostly Apple) have a ton of noise if you use sensitive headphones. And those are good compared to most.

Depends, the quality of a pc's dac isn't magically bad just because it's the dac on a pc. I've seen and heard plenty of good onboard audio to know that's not true.

 
I have yet to hear any on-board solution that doesn't have noise problems. They seem very sensitive to picking up noise from other components in the PC.

 

[Head Injury]

It was just an example. The headphone outputs on the mobile devices I've used (mostly Apple) have a ton of noise if you use sensitive headphones. And those are good compared to most.

The LCD-X I recommended is not sensitive. It won't hiss any more than any of the other recommendations in the thread. Let's use the example I gave if we're going to discuss my suggestion.

 

[zazex]

 
Why not? Isn't an amplifier's distortion, noise, crosstalk, etc. a measurement of its accuracy in reproducing the signal (i.e. the music)?

 
What's the special sauce that makes more expensive amps sound better?

 
Just because an amplifier is more expensive than another
does not mean it will sound better.

 

[willyvlyminck]

Depends, the quality of a pc's dac isn't magically bad just because it's the dac on a pc. I've seen and heard plenty of good onboard audio to know that's not true.

yes , i remember the Toshiba laptops with Harman & Kardon audio on board, but I just talk general.

 

[epocs]

Truth is that I've been downgrading my setup to simplify, but am left now with just an Apogee Duet 2 headphone out to run a pair of headphones.
 
I still do want to maximize what headphone I use with this source/amp, but am wondering if I feel like I'll miss out too much by getting a headphone that really requires a powerhouse of an amp to drive them (like an HD800). That's why I was thinking perhaps a Grado might be the best option, but maybe a headphone like the LCD-X might still be hitting a lot of its potential without a powerful amp? 

 

[willyvlyminck]

Truth is that I've been downgrading my setup to simplify, but am left now with just an Apogee Duet 2 headphone out to run a pair of headphones.

I still do want to maximize what headphone I use with this source/amp, but am wondering if I feel like I'll miss out too much by getting a headphone that really requires a powerhouse of an amp to drive them (like an HD800). That's why I was thinking perhaps a Grado might be the best option, but maybe a headphone like the LCD-X might still be hitting a lot of its potential without a powerful amp? 

It depends on the source, for your iPhone i recommand the Philips Fidelio L2 if you want an over ear headphone, on the go i would advice to try the Grado GR10. On your PC you need a Dac, but the Teac UD-H01 is a great tool and not expensive at all, so downsizing doesn't mean you have to save on sound, and this one is also great match with L2.