Buying some headphones, need help with amplifier!

On April 26 2012 03:39 Chef wrote:
A lot of people are going to flame me for saying it, but save your money and avoid audiophile non-sense. Unless you get your headphones are they aren't loud enough at max volume or you hear feedback/buzzing, you do not need a dedicated amplifier. That will never happen unless you have terrible hearing / are destroying your hearing. Most modern mp3 players have very competent amplifiers and Digital Audio Converters (yes that's what that means. It's not magic).

It's possible your laptop has a really crappy amplifier and DAC since hey it's a laptop it's not really meant for that, but I would test it first These days it's very easy to create a competent DAC and amplifier, so your laptop would have to be pretty sketch or old.

Don't bother quoting ohms. There are people who believe that higher ohms makes a significant impact on the amount of power you need, but they're pretty much wrong. Sometimes really low ohms can be an indicator that the earphones will be extremely sensitive and buzz with a poor quality amplifier.

On April 26 2012 03:39 Chef wrote:
A lot of people are going to flame me for saying it, but save your money and avoid audiophile non-sense. Unless you get your headphones are they aren't loud enough at max volume or you hear feedback/buzzing, you do not need a dedicated amplifier. That will never happen unless you have terrible hearing / are destroying your hearing. Most modern mp3 players have very competent amplifiers and Digital Audio Converters (yes that's what that means. It's not magic).

It's possible your laptop has a really crappy amplifier and DAC since hey it's a laptop it's not really meant for that, but I would test it first These days it's very easy to create a competent DAC and amplifier, so your laptop would have to be pretty sketch or old.

Don't bother quoting ohms. There are people who believe that higher ohms makes a significant impact on the amount of power you need, but they're pretty much wrong. Sometimes really low ohms can be an indicator that the earphones will be extremely sensitive and buzz with a poor quality amplifier.

It's true, a statistic stating that the headphone has x ohms does not necessarily mean it is easy or hard to drive. But that in accordance with its sensitivity will give a general sense of whether or not an amplifier is needed to drive the headphones and give enough power to allow the headphone to perform at its full potential. You're purchasing a "semi-portable" headphone and purchasing the 250ohm version so yes a FiiO E11 on High Gain would definitely help out. Laptop soundcards and the internal amplifiers in modern ("hot") DAP's like the iPod are not good enough for full-sized headphones like those that you're purchasing.

I would have to disagree with Chef, and he probably hasn't experienced headphones such as... the LCD-2 and other Orthodynamics, which require an insane amount of wattage to power.

Edit: If you want a DAC/AMP combo that can be used portably AND on the go I would consider either the E7/E17/Leckerton Audio UHA-4. Personally, I prefer the E17, it has the best combination of looks, power, and price: performance ratio.

On April 26 2012 03:39 Chef wrote:
A lot of people are going to flame me for saying it, but save your money and avoid audiophile non-sense. Unless you get your headphones are they aren't loud enough at max volume or you hear feedback/buzzing, you do not need a dedicated amplifier. That will never happen unless you have terrible hearing / are destroying your hearing. Most modern mp3 players have very competent amplifiers and Digital Audio Converters (yes that's what that means. It's not magic).

It's possible your laptop has a really crappy amplifier and DAC since hey it's a laptop it's not really meant for that, but I would test it first These days it's very easy to create a competent DAC and amplifier, so your laptop would have to be pretty sketch or old.

Don't bother quoting ohms. There are people who believe that higher ohms makes a significant impact on the amount of power you need, but they're pretty much wrong. Sometimes really low ohms can be an indicator that the earphones will be extremely sensitive and buzz with a poor quality amplifier.