why do i need an amp?

spm said:
@Goten
i dont want an amp if the thing can be driven with decent sound...and i dont mind using philips if its good..

i donot understand the above sentence.
do i need a special device to use high-end headphones?
arent headphones a 'all-in-one' or use as-is device?
headphones are supposed to be 'portable', or as much portable as possible. will adding an amp seriously cripple the portablity?

i consider myself as a discerning music consumer, yet i've never seen such a setup.(i use creative ep 630, i find them quite good for the price, but they lack 'something'

)
i hate people who say "this speaker is very good; its very loud". i'd rather have something which sounds good, and im willing to sacrifice on design and other minor details to get quality sound.

so, have i been living under a rock, that i donot know about using amps with headphones?

please educate me.

It depends on your PMP. A portable amp just acts as an external circuit which replaces the inbuilt circuit of your PMP to increase the audio quality. If you are an audiophile then only get the portable amp. Generally people use it with IEM like Brainwavz M2 which delivers good sound.

-Sent from my iPod

S

actually the thing is to drive headphones with large impedence values u have to provide sufficient power to create loud enough good quality sound. Amps are required only if ur PMP cant supply the power to drive the headphone to its full capacity. Amps are not needed for headphones with low impedence values as they can be easily driven from the PMP outputs..
Hope the reply was satisfactory..

Consider an amp for headphones as a dedicated soundcard for high quality speakers.

Any any any PMP (even players like D2) will not be able to drive high end headphones. by high end, I do not mean 2k-3k headphones. I mean something like Sennheiser HD800 (Sennheiser Worldwide - HD 800) would need a high quality amp like Electric Avenues PA2V2 (More Information About The Portable Headphone Amplifier)

A quote from E-A page:

Most portable devices have an output power under 20 mW (milliwatts). Usually this is not enough to
enable a decent pair of headphones to reach their full potential. The PA2V2 can output up to 200 mW of
RMS power and makes the music louder by a factor of 610%. The amp can power speakers too, not only
headphones. For a small device it can output a lot of power. The frequency response goes from 5Hz to
well beyond 40KHz. Critical components are joined with thick, point to point traces for maximum
conductivity. The signal to noise ratio (SNR) is 100 dB. Actually, with the volume turned on maximum,
and no music playing, there is a relatively low amount of static, or in some cases none at all. A power
supply filter circuit almost eliminates the 50/60 Hz humming sounds you would hear when listening with
the AC adapter plugged in.

desiibond said:
Consider an amp for headphones as a dedicated soundcard for high quality speakers.

Any any any PMP (even players like D2) will not be able to drive high end headphones. by high end, I do not mean 2k-3k headphones. I mean something like Sennheiser HD800 (Sennheiser Worldwide - HD 800) would need a high quality amp like Electric Avenues PA2V2 (More Information About The Portable Headphone Amplifier)

A quote from E-A page:

wow, that was awesome.
i understand now.
amp=low noise=more volume=can give enough juice to run "omg-wtf" level 80 headphones that have a high impedance to filter out the noise from the signal.

ty.

---------- Post added at 07:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:58 PM ----------

i'm going to buy one. gotta start saving

any suggestions? i have creative ep 630's. are they ok?

if not, please suggest some good combo.
can i make one at home?

ep630 is total junk. get rid of it asap and get something better. what's your budget btw.

S

desiibond said:
ep630 is total junk. get rid of it asap and get something better. what's your budget btw.

why do you think ep630 a junk. do we have any better choices around that price range? what about soundmagic pl11

desiibond said:
ep630 is total junk. get rid of it asap and get something better. what's your budget btw.

its very good vfm at 500 rs range. but yeah, its not amazing either.
i can spend 1.5k on earphones.

when i told my dad i had spent 500 bucks on earphones, he looked at me funny as if i'd lost my head or something. guess old school will remain old school.

for 1.5k, check Soundmagic PL30 and Philips 9750. also check Sony MDR-EX50LP for 990 bucks.

ok, i trust you guys will get me the best bang for the buck.
also, i heard Koss portapro headphones are really good
Koss PortaPro Headphones Review - Headphones - CNET Reviews
i saw the indian price (4k) and was like, wtf. the price abroad comes to about 1.6k.
are they good?

yes. it's a good set. but for 4k, you get much much better IEMs like

nuforce NE6 (2.5k)
Head-Direct RE0 (4.5k)
Brainwavz M3
Klipsch S4i (bass heads, 4k)

never heard of these brands.
someone should setup shop to cater to the hardcore/leet(for the lack of a better word) people
and it should be elitist, like no noobs/gujjars/rich twats allowed.

this shop would cater to all gamers, audiophiles, hardcore oc's and those neglected by their friendly neighborhood pc-walla

doomgiver said:
never heard of these brands.
someone should setup shop to cater to the hardcore/leet(for the lack of a better word) people
and it should be elitist, like no noobs/gujjars/rich twats allowed.

this shop would cater to all gamers, audiophiles, hardcore oc's and those neglected by their friendly neighborhood pc-walla

lynx-india.com, go to audiogear section.
erodov.com