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The voltage swings a low impedance headphone like this requires, just simply can't be generated by a regular (read cheap <5$) opamp.

Thats fine if you think that way

I'm not here to convince anyone, just to help.

But I have literally owned over a 100 pair of headphones, and more than 20 different headphone amps.

My current setup is the Sennheiser HD650 as pick-up headphone, and the AKG K-1000 (a NOS) as the real deal. And like I said a SPL Phonitor amp, believe me, if someone is gonna spend that kind of money on gear, they sure did their research first. Its like saying why get a ferrari? A skoda also has 4 wheels and drives...

@Macmac you are confusing current with voltage swing there.

It's not so much how I think, but we all agree upon as fundamental reality - i.e. the sciences of physics & acoustics & human perception. Business people, for various practical moneymaking reasons, often function outside of accepted reality.

As I have worked in audio studio's I know for a fact that its not all snake-oil. Ofcourse there are things that are still a bit weird to me (bi-wiring, balanced driving of headphones, different cable materials etc.). But just saying that its all fake, and then giving a 'general' argument which you can just as well say as FOR my point, doesn't make any sense. What is your experience in this field?


Sounds like the clinical definition of an addiction!

Or a professional dedication.


Do the K-1000s really have "composite diaphragms of elastic intermediate layers finished with a 16th century violin varnish to suppress ultrasonic ringing"? That right there is entering deep into audiophile land (and I mean that in a bad way).

Its still regarded as one of the best headphones ever created (along with the Sennheiser Orpheus, and Sony RD-10), as someone who comments like he knows alot about audio, you know better than to read descriptions (remember all those 10$ headphones with 10-20khz specs). Please don't bash my baby, especially since you have never heard it.


No, he's got it right, lower impedance headphones are generally easier to drive, but the sensitivity spec is important too.



No, he's got it wrong, lower impedance headphones are not easier to drive, they just produce higher volumes, which has nothing to do with how 'hard' it is to drive.

Again if you really want to know more about this stuff, I suggest you read up on it and like I said; head-fi.org is a place where people with some real knowledge are. If you are however just here to blatantly shout out a very inexperienced opinion on equipment you have never even seen in life, then this is just an ill discussion. I hold you in high regard, and this is by no means meant to be disrespectfull! But please don't tell to a butcher that he can just use your kitchen knife.

please don't tell to a butcher that he can just use your kitchen knife.

...The voltage swings a low impedance headphone like this requires, just simply can't be generated by a regular (read cheap <5$) opamp.

I've also been to head-fi and did a quick overview and found out that most audiophile will swear by the Heed CanAmp + AKG K701 combo. But unfortunately, the Heed CanAmp is a staggering $600 amp. That's more expensive than the headphones!

I might just go for the Presonus as I can pick it up at my local dealer, opposed to ordering some expensive amp online. But the thing is, I don't want to spend $150 now and a few weeks down the road thinking I should use my paycheck on a $600 amp, what else would I do with the old amp? I feel sorry for my wallet, lol.

I believe one can remember whether there is too much bass or whatever in a particular headphone, but between two high end headphones with similar acoustic sealing (i.e. open, closed, semi-open, etc.) without the correct test setup it is very difficult to say which one sounds "better".

One thing I always keep in mind in these such discussions is that, when it comes to remembering things like sound quality, audio memory is notoriously bad. So bad that when comparing two sets of speakers you have to have them in the same room, switch between them often, and have the levels matched to something like 0.1 dB so as not to influence the comparison (the ear tends to hear louder as better).

So when people say one set of headphones sounds better than another, and they don't tell you the details of how how they did the A/B testing, then I would submit the information that person is trying to convey is highly questionable.

And when they tell you a particular headphone amplifier sounds better than another, well, except for things like hum and hiss and distortion products from a shoddy design, you would have to A/B the heck out of two adequately designed headphone amps before I even start believing you, and I would doubt the results unless there was some clear technical reason for one to sound better than the other.


This is how subjective reviews of technical products work, and why manufacturers of audiophile equipment love them. They plant the seeds of doubt, and so to be safe you buy the more expensive, better reviewed product - a technique which often works for the consumer, but it doesn't work so well when the higher end stuff contains snake oil.