[Mathieu]

I am planning on buying Sennheiser HD600 headphones. I don’t have a dedicated headphone amp, but I do have an integrated amp (Arcam A85). This amp’s headphone jack is fed from the output of the main power amplifiers and it’s output impedance is 77 ohms.


My main question is:

Will I have any impedance matching problems with these 300 ohms headphones? If so, approximately how bad will it be, and how will the sound be affected?

Bonus questions:

Will I likely to get better performance from a low cost dedicated headphone amp (100$ budget)?

Would higher impedance headphones (ex: 600 ohms Beyerdynamic DT880) be a better match for my integrated amp?

 

[PurpleAngel]

I am planning on buying Sennheiser HD600 headphones. I don’t have a dedicated headphone amp, but I do have an integrated amp (Arcam A85). This amp’s headphone jack is fed from the output of the main power amplifiers and it’s output impedance is 77 ohms.
My main question is:
Will I have any impedance matching problems with these 300 ohms headphones? If so, approximately how bad will it be, and how will the sound be affected?
Bonus questions:
Will I likely to get better performance from a low cost dedicated headphone amp (100$ budget)?
Would higher impedance headphones (ex: 600 ohms Beyerdynamic DT880) be a better match for my integrated amp?

I would not have a issue with plugging 300-Ohm headphones (HD600/HD650/HD6XX) into a headphone jack (on a speaker amplifier), with a 77-Ohm output impedance.
At most you might (if even noticeable) have a slighty boated (louder, less detailed) bass.
And woud not spend $100 for a separate headphone amplifier, to drive the HD600.

 

[Me x3]

I am planning on buying Sennheiser HD600 headphones. I don’t have a dedicated headphone amp, but I do have an integrated amp (Arcam A85). This amp’s headphone jack is fed from the output of the main power amplifiers and it’s output impedance is 77 ohms.


My main question is:

Will I have any impedance matching problems with these 300 ohms headphones? If so, approximately how bad will it be, and how will the sound be affected?

Bonus questions:

Will I likely to get better performance from a low cost dedicated headphone amp (100$ budget)?

Would higher impedance headphones (ex: 600 ohms Beyerdynamic DT880) be a better match for my integrated amp?

It will work fine, 77 Ohms is not too much for the 300 Ohm Sennheiser HD600.
In my view, it's not wise to pick between HD600 and DT880 based on impedance matching since these headphones are very different.
Pick the one that suits your preferences the best.