Do You Use An External Amp For Your Headphones?

wondering if the sound of the ATH M50's sound even better with this amp as is sometimes sold as a bundle or other cans in this category benefit or cause distortion?

 

Your question seems to refer to a specific, unnamed, amp?
As for me, I use a Nuforce Icon ido when I listen to headphones. The ido is a dac/amp designed for apple products. This thing works great in my bedroom application where it also serves as a preamp hooked to an older Harman Kardon amp and speakers. Probably 95% of it's use is as a headphone amp.

 

I use a separate head amp to run my headphones.
Rudistor RPX33mk2
Sennheiser HD800 phones.

 

Sennheiser HD 650 through a Musical Fidelity X-Can V8

 

Objective 2 (O2) headphone amp from JDS Labs.

 

Beyerdynamic DT 990/600 Ω and Beyerdynamic T1 through Schiit Lyr or Schiit Valhalla amplifiers.

 

Very nice.

 

Mostly Sennheiser HD 600 or a Grado 225 through a Little Dot II++ for late night music.
AKG 701s into a Pioneer Elite AV receiver for late night video.

 

Was thinking about the Fiio E6 as an add on to the athm50's...?

 

Yes:
1) CEntrance DACmini CX > Sennheiser 700
2) Little Dot I+ > Westone 3

 

There is a fantastic sounding headphone amo buit within my external DAC - Music Hall 25.3 This i a large step-up vs the V-CAN I was using before : plays just as loud but much nicer and more harmonic, better sound stage and image, too. Love that feature. Best headphone experience in my life so far - so yeah - if you got a decent headphone a real clean, clear and harmonic sounding headphone amp makes sense. You do not need cans for 500 , 1000 or more dollars to benefit from good amplification - I guess that is your question in a nutshell ?

BTW
There are a couple headphone amps built inside of great amps - MacIntosh, Burmester, Accuphase just as good or better than many external solutions.

 

Sennheiser 650 through a Schiit Valhalla

 

Schiit Lyr here.

For the OP, may I suggest the Schiit Magni. $99.

 

I own a Schiit Valhalla and I've always been very happy with it. But now that I have an Audio by VanAlstine Ultra II hybrid tube preamp, I just use the headphone input. It also sounds great.

 

The E6 is more of just a volume increaser rather than a headphone amp.
You aren't getting amping sound benefits with it. Just louder signal.

What is your current source that you're plugging the headphones in?
Do you need to be portable?
And what sort of music? If you're tying to get big bass and your current source is clipping trying to deliver that bass then a headphone amp will help.

For an inexpensive non-portable amp the Schiit Magni at $99 is good and delivers sonic benefits.

The sorts of sonic benefits you get by using a headphone amp with reasonably easy to drive headphones like the M50 are somewhat subtle unless you're an audiophile and know what to listen for.

 

Grado SR125 through a Grado headphone amp.

 

So what are the best DAC amps AND portable combos? Which S

Is it a combo DAC and Amp...for imac and for use with ipad/pod

When I saw the bundle being sold with the ATH I thought maybe I can enhance the sound even though I am very happy without it....Looking for another pair as a spare since I find them great for that price point.
I listen to classic rock primarily.
My general equipment is stereo and SW with an Oppo and Onkyo receiver..also an IMAC and Classic IPOD and IPAD...
My concern is not volume but was wondering if the ATH can REALLY sound better...I am reading here that perhaps not necessarily so...I am content as is....Portability with the ATH is fine as well but was looking for that additional burst but may not be necessary since it sounds good to me and I am more of a purist anyway..thanks

 

The Schiit Magni is an amp only. The Schiit Modi is their $99 DAC option. It's a USB DAC that does up to 24-bit / 96 kHz.

There are portable DACs that include a headphone amp and analog input. They can connect to USB while you're using the iMac. They can use an analog input when using your other sources. There's also some now that are specifically designed to connect to the digital dock port of an iPod or iPad, but those are going to be more money.

Portable amps are generally a compromise compared to the performance of similarly priced desktop amps. I don't like using portable amps for desktop use. One reason being the bother of keeping it charged when I want to listen. The other being the good sounding ones are expensive. I'd rather have a dedicated lower cost portable amp for portable use and a dedicated better sounding desktop amp for home use.

It is worth considering better headphone amplification. Just don't expect huge sonic benefits when going with inexpensive portable options.

 

Yes...

 

RAM modified Headamp V2-SE. Mostly using HF-2.

 

I use a Beresford 7510 Amp/DAC with my Grado 225's. When I am using a portable player I use one of those inexpensive amps found on Head-Fi called a PA2V2. I also own a FiiO E7 portable amp/Dac, but I rarely use it as I don't care for the sound. I would say the Beresford makes a meaningful improvement in the sound while the PA2V2 mostly just helps with volume and adding a little at the bottom end.

 

Not much of a headphone wearer, but I use my Decware CSP2+ preamp.

 

hd 650 straight out of my marantz 4230 sounds great

 

Nice!