[firestormy2k]

Hello, I've been lurking on this board for a while and, much to my dismay, jumped the bandwagon and bought myself mdr-cd780's for cheap. Understand that before accidently coming across head-fi, I was pretty happy with the cans that came with my cheap sony PCDP. I love these things! Can anyone suggest me a good, but inexpensive amp to drive these things? Do they even need one? Thanks, head-fi.

 

[DesBen]

Almost no headphones need a dedicated external amp (except K1K and electrostats), but almost all benefit from one. That being said, the CD780 do sound a lot better with good power behind them. They aren't very demanding, but they certainly are more than my Grado SR-60. The CD780 actually sound quite bad out of my portables. Impedance isn't everything.

You might want to look into a small inexpensive amp, like a meta42. For a bit more money, I suspect a used Rega Ear would be great with them.

[size=xx-small](had to edit to make the monkey happy)[/size]

 

[Earwax]

Quote:

Originally posted by firestormy2k Hello, I've been lurking on this board for a while and, much to my dismay, jumped the bandwagon and bought myself mdr-cd780's for cheap. Understand that before accidently coming across head-fi, I was pretty happy with the cans that came with my cheap sony PCDP. I love these things! Can anyone suggest me a good, but inexpensive amp to drive these things? Do they even need one? Thanks, head-fi.

Welcome to the CD-780 team! You mentioned having a "cheap sony". If that's all you have, I'd recommend getting a better CD player first, before spending any money on an amp. The CD-780 is pretty efficient and works well with my portables. The recent Sony PCDPs tend to cut corners on either frequency range or output power or both to keep cost down and battery life long. Give the 780 a better source and it will really come to life!

 

[DesBen]

Maybe I should add that my portables are recent cheap Sony PCDP. In general, the headphone out lacks power and extension: probably to allow for that "36 hour Stamina" Sony claims. Also, there's something very wrong with the midrange: thin with a strong "plastic" coloration. That's the bad news.

The good news is that the Line out jack sounds much better. I've tried it connected my my stereo and my MG Head and it sounds acceptable. That midrange coloration is gone and it sounds more natural and balanced. Of course it doesn't have the detail and power of a "desktop" unit, but that's what you get for $80.

If your Sony has a line out, I think your CD780 could benefit from an amp until you get a better CDP. Some Denon and Marantz come with a headphone out that's pretty good and they aren't too expensive.

 

[Earwax]

There's a whole thread going on right now with the title Your source is the most important part!
http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...0&pagenumber=2

What they say there sure makes sense to me.

 

[stax?monkey]

DesBen,

All headphones need an amplifier. Whether the amplifier is built into the source or an extrernal unit is the question