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I'm considering new headphones and don't know much about electronics. I would want the phone to work on MP3 devices as well as my digital pianos, a Kawai MP5 and a Yamaha 61 key portable. The Kawai manual doesn't state any requirement.

I figure that the impedance of the phone should tell me something about mating to these devices. I am seeing impedances ranging from 40 to 700 ohms.

I wouldn't be able to test the headphones with the pianos.

Should I be concerned? I am overthinking this? Whatever cheap headphones I have used in the past seem to work fine.

Mike

High impedance headphones will need a higher amplitude signal to produce the same amount of power as a low-impedance headphone, that is, on the same volume setting, the volume will be lower with a high impedance headphone than on a low impedance headphone. My volume setting on my MP3 player is perfect about 1/2-2/3 of the way up with 32-Ohm headphones. If I had to make a gut-feel recommendation, I'd say to keep it under 64 Ohms if you want it to work with portable electronics.

check out whathifi online magazine reviews

http://www.whathifi.com/Reviews/Accessories-Reviews/Headphones-Reviews/Rating/

about 10 headphones are awarded 5 stars, from 20 dollars to hundreds of dollars.

the best value for me it seems is Grado SR60

Check out what some posters at head-fi
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/digital-piano-headphones-428391/
had to say about the Grado headphones with a digital piano. I followed their advice and just ordered the AKG K501s new from http://www.spearitsound.com/specials.htm

I can give you a report on the AKGs hopefully by the weekend or early next week if you can wait. I had been playing with an aviation headset rated at 150 ohms. My Roland DP990 and Yamaha PSR620 had to be around 3/4 of the volume for them to sound loud enough but it did have enough power from the headphone jack to drive them. Unless you have the specifics of your headphone jacks output power I would stay under 150 ohms.

My 64 Ohm HD280 are perfect for a digital piano or a synth (Yamaha P155, Korg Triton), but for my MP3 player it seems not very loud (although loud enough on a max volume). With some DPs people use even 300 Ohms Sennheiser HD-600 or similar. Those obviously will not suit an MP3 player.

Headphone amps on portable MP3 players are generally weaker than on a DP, so if you are buying your headphones to use with a MP3 player you probably want to choose something not exceeding 64 Ohms like mah115 said. Otherwise you`ll need to buy a headphone amp.

I'm currently using an HD600 with my CP300 and it seems to work fine. I've bought a headphone amp as well mainly for my ipod with the headphones but when it comes, I'll report back and see if there's any difference in the sound with it plugged into my dp.

AT83, thanks for the warning. I must admit I was silly to assume headphones good for listening equals good for digital piano.

I just recently purchase a $300, 70watt 5-inch studio monitors, and my motif xs6 piano sounds TERRIBLE and thin (while other sounds are good)! my korg sp250 which I sold had only 2x11w speakers but sounded thick and full. Motif XS6 has CFIII pianos and suppose to sound as good as CP33/P155, and I also tried S90ES's S700 piano samples.

What can I do to "enhance" the sound for my monitors?

I am unable to sell the monitors, perhaps I'll just sell them for cheaps and get a $150 headphones.

I am using a SONY MDR-CD280 for my P155 (image here: http://www.huatongoversea.com/blog/?p=348 ).

I might use a "1/4 inch jack (male) to RCA (female) adapter" to connect my P-155 to my JVC mini Hi-Fi for extra bass (image here: http://www.huatongoversea.com/blog/?p=242 ). Then plug the SONY MDR-CD280 into the headphone out of the JVC mini Hi-Fi

I have a "Panasonic Noise Canceling Headphones RP-HC500" (image here: http://www.huatongoversea.com/blog/?p=319 ). It has much better bass. But they said all NC headphones has only so-so mid-range. Therefore I believe it will be only suitable for noise, unfortunately.