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Question about headphone and amps

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psteng19

Diamond Member
I have a few sennheiser headphones (HD470, HD497, EH2200) and while they sound great, I keep reading that you need a good amp to drive these headphones to full potential.

I've been using them with the headphone outputs from my Logitech Z560's, Altec Lansing ADA885's and my Live Drive I/II/IR (click on system rigs below to understand why I am using so much hardware).

Anyway, the main question is, is the Live Drive considered an amp?
Or is it just the same thing as plugging it in the back of my sound card?
What about from the Logitech/Altec speakers?

Plugging into which one would one of the 3 (sound card, live drive, speakers) would deliver the best sound?

TIA 😀
 
Actually I am not familar with the EH2200's but I am pretty sure the other two dont really need an amplifier. All 3 of the places to plug them in would probably be the same. Your best bet would be the speakers probably because at least those have a chance of being amplified. The Live Drive and the sound card are both not amplified. The Live drive is just a breakout box with more places to plug in, it doesnt amplify the signal at all. You could go and buy an amp but that would cost you basically more than all your headphones combined, and it probably wouldnt do a whole lot for the sound quality of those headphones.
 
The Sennheiser 580s? If you mean they come with an amp you are probably talking about that little DSP thingy, that actually isnt an amp. I got one with my HD535's a few years back. I basically threw mine away because it didnt actually make things sound like a 5.1 system like it claimed, and it also made the headphones sound worse. The headphones sounded better plugged directly into the computer than they did using that thing.
 
I agree with squirrelman. Headphone amps are not that important in most cases and are not worth the money. The $400 spent on a headphone amp would do you much better to buy a better set of headphones. The differences in audio quality are minor, provided your source headphone jack/lineout is decent.

O and plugging into your sound card, would be the best sound quality. Thats the source of your audio output. Always try to get as close to the source as possible in most cases. You'll also be able to send out sound to both devices which can be handy at times. I use that feature so both my speakers and my headphones are playing while I practice drums.

All the quality issues are very dependant though on how finicky your ear is and the quality of the output and headphones. 95% of the times it's negligible.
 
The Z560 headphone jack sounds like crap on my speakers. I plug my Grados directly into my TB Santa Cruz. Sounds great!
 
Originally posted by: Atrail
The Z560 headphone jack sounds like crap on my speakers. I plug my Grados directly into my TB Santa Cruz. Sounds great!
Click to expand...

Really? They sound about the same to me.
It's just a lot more convenient than reaching to the back of my comp.
 
Originally posted by: psteng19
Originally posted by: Atrail
The Z560 headphone jack sounds like crap on my speakers. I plug my Grados directly into my TB Santa Cruz. Sounds great!
Click to expand...

Really? They sound about the same to me.
It's just a lot more convenient than reaching to the back of my comp.
Click to expand...

Most of the headphone outs on speakers usually do sound pretty crudy, imo. If you think they sound the same....well, maybe you won't need a headphone amp after all 😛😉
 
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