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Dumb Head Phone Question

I am looking at a pair of Sennheiser HD 700 or B&W P7 headphones that are available through my company's rewards program.

They would be mated to an Oppo 105 and W4S ST1000 amp.

The dumb question is will I need to buy a head phone amplifier?

If the answer is yes, what technical details do I need to take into consideration?

Also, I would welcome any comments regarding the head phone choice.

Thanks!
dsper
mofimadness's avatar
mofimadness
4,940 posts
 
Your Oppo 105 already has a pretty decent built-in headphone amplifier.

You're all set.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
"Also, I would welcome any comments regarding the head phone choice."

Sennheiser is known for making headphones that are fairly laid back sounding. I haven't heard the B&W's, but if you look at their speakers, I would expect them to sound very different from the 700's. So if you're biased to a certain type of sound, you need to be careful in your selection process.
mattmiller's avatar
mattmiller
1,479 posts
 
First off I will hands down go for the Sennheiser's. Why? Because that's what they do, they make headphones. B&W, they make speakers. Also, you need a headphone amp to drive these HD 700's or don't even bother. They will sound very FORGETTABLE without a great headphone amp (maybe a nice tubed one). The HD 700's have a impedance of 150 ohms and most headphone amps should work well (50 ohms is harder to drive, like planar headphones) So plan on making the plunge for a great headphone amp IMO one that costs around $500 to $1000 should pair nicely.

Matt M
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