I'm about invest in some Sennheiser HD-595s (I've used the same pair of 497s and PX100s for a few years now) and the internet has convinced me that I should also get a headphone amp.
I listen to music almost exclusively on my computer and sometimes on an iPod. I'm looking at this, but I think I need this if I want to use it through my computer.
Is this a waste of money? Is the difference as drastic as it's reported to be? Is this just going to accelerate my descent into tinnitus-town? If not, are there better amps in the same price range?
― poortheatre, Friday, 21 December 2007 01:35 (eighteen years ago)
Have you been on www.head-fi.org, I take it?
I use a Meier Audio Corda Headfive, which I run straight from an external DAC, which has inputs from both my iMac and a Marantz CD player (which goes through the DAC because it's old and has a knackered analogue out). The headphones I use are Alessandro MS1s (which don't really need an amp) and AKG K601s (which do). The amp improves both, though, but massively so the AKGs.
I used to have some Sennheiser 595s but sold them and got the AKGs; the Senns come in two different resistances; the lower one works OK without an amplifier, the higher one would really need one. It depends how anal you wanna go! I was never fully satisfied with the Senns but I'm happy as larry with the AKGs and MS1s, but I need the amp for that. What kind of sound do you want from your headphones? Exciting, laidback, refined, spacious?
― Scik Mouthy, Friday, 21 December 2007 07:48 (eighteen years ago)
Yea, Head-Fi.. I listen to a lot of jazz and classical, so maybe 'refined' is the right word, or whatever flatters 'live' recordings.
I'm pretty sold on getting the 595s, though. I'm more concerned with how crucial the amp is to the appreciation of mid-level headphones. I'm sure they work fine without one, but all these audiophile sites have made wonder if the difference is: 'No, I don't want leather seats,' or more like those weapons in RPGs called 'Rusty Old Stick' that hit 9999 once you put a gem inside.. (anyone?)
I don't see two difference resistance options for the 595s. I'm looking at 120 ohms.
― poortheatre, Friday, 21 December 2007 13:31 (eighteen years ago)
120 ohms shouldn't need an amp; the early ones that did were 59 ohms, iirc.
― Scik Mouthy, Saturday, 22 December 2007 10:12 (eighteen years ago)
50 ohms, dur fingers.
― Scik Mouthy, Saturday, 22 December 2007 12:04 (eighteen years ago)