So I got an Ipod for Christmas (from the sweetest girl I have ever met).
After hours of playing with it, I decided to hook it up to my "good" headphones (Sennheiser HD 570).
It sounds ok, but the Ipod is having a little trouble "pushing" the headphones.
So now I'm thinking about getting a headphone amplifier.
I know very little about headphone amps, so if anyone has any opinions, links, information, endorsements of a particular model, or anything else they would like to share (personal experiences, etc.) I would be most grateful.

I'm primarily looking for something that is fairly small (ie. portable) that would make a good compliment for the Ipod.

At the moment I have a fairly monotonous job, so it will be nice to be able to listen to music while I work. Although, I probably won't be taking my good headphones along with me very often, I would still like to have the option.

I know of a few, but they cost about $150-250...


The cheapest one I can think of is This One

At the moment, I'm not all that concerned with price. It will probably be a few weeks before I get anything, and I'm not sure how much I'll be able to spend (although, I know it should be less than $300).

EDIT: Thanks for the link

Here's a link for a higher quality mini-amp:

SuperMacro Headphone AMP

Here's a whole list; careful, you'll start drooling.

Headphone amplifiers

It appears the Sennheiser HD-570 headphones are a particularly bad match for the i-Pod. The i-Pod output impedance spec is 32 ohms http://www.apple.com/ipod/specs.html and the Sennheiser HD-570 are 64 ohms. This gives you an instant 3 dB disadvantage since the Sennheisers need 1.414 times the voltage to deliver the same power. But it gets worse. The Sennheisers are rated at 95 dB sensitivity. A comparison would be the TDK MP-100 headphones rated at 106 dB at 32 ohms. This gives them a 14 dB advantage (106-95+3). Thus it takes twenty-five times as much ‘equivalent power’ (dB = 10 log (P2/P1)) to drive the Sennheisers to the same sound pressure level as the TDKs. I have a pair of the TDKs which sound great on the small iRocket that has almost no power output. You would be better off buying a new set of phones (don’t have to cost a fortune) for use with the iPod, paying special attention to sensitivity and impedance.

head-fi.org is the best site I've found for everything headphone related -- I bought a few headphone amps after learning about them on this site, including a Meier Audio PREHEAD, an Antique Soundlab MG-HEAD DT/OTL, a Porta Corda, a Ramsey SHA-1, and a Xin "Fixup" Mini. I also bought my Senn HD-600 headphones after learning about them there.

I'd try the "Amps Forum" and the "Portable Audio" forums first.

I'd suggest trying the "search" function for "IPOD amp" or something similar (you should get *lots* of hits). If you can't find what you're looking for, ask a question and people are generally really helpful.

Head-fi Headphone Forums

Let us know what you wind up getting.

The Sennheiser HD-280, ($199 but can be found now for $99) works very well with the iPod, as per the cnet review and my own experience as I recently bought one. (The HD600 which I have as well, while a better headphone, needs too much power to be properly used with the ipod)

I'd like to thank everyone for their input. Seems I have a healthy bit of reading to do, and a few decisions to make. It will be a while before I make a decision (a week at the very least), but I'll try to remember to post whatever it is that I end up doing. Right now, I kind of leaning toward getting new headphones, as the HD 570's are a little big for "not-at-home"/"on the go" use.

Once again, thanks to everyone for the wonderful responses.