Do I need an additional amp for my phones?

[sir-haver]

Hey guys,

I'm new to this and haven't found an answer yet. I'm using the Sennheiser HD580 Precision phones, and read on their specs that their Impedance is 300 Ohms. I connect them to the output jack in my RME Babyface (not pro, an older edition if it matters). How can I know if the Babyface is a good enough amp for driving the headphones? Do I need to buy an additional amp?
Specifically I mix on them, and would like to hear their bass properly.

Thanks a lot in advance!

 

[Mr Swing King]

I own the HD580 Precision as well. While it is a very nice natural sounding headphone, the bass still rolls off like 99% of other openback dynamic driver headphones.
No amp will change that. The amp controls the volume, not the presentation.

What you can do in order to get a little more bass is to add some equalisation…but then maybe you’ll need some more power from the amp. It’s hard to say for sure as I couldn’t find any specs on the headphone amp included in the Babyface.
As a general rule of thumb; if it’s loud enough, you’re good to go.
Amps do not have any magic properties.

 

[staticV3]

How can I know if the Babyface is a good enough amp for driving the headphones? Do I need to buy an additional amp?

Do you get sufficient loudness when you turn up the Babyface?
Then the Babyface is a good enough amp for driving the headphones.

Is the headphone still too quiet even with the Babyface set to Max volume?
Then the Babyface is not good enough and you need an additional Amp.

Don't overthink it.

 

[ZolaIII]

I don't think so, those reach 106 dB per 2 mW. Anything that gives 2V out (babyface gives more) and it's not severely limited at higher impedance (340 Ohms in this case) regarding output will be sufficient. @Mr Swing King high impedance amplifiers do exactly that, 300 Ohms one will give +2 dB at 90 Hz. Needless to say you still don't want that but instead do it with EQ and still not more than that.

 

[sir-haver]

Thanks a lot guys! I didn't know that amp controls just the volume, yes with the current setup it's way louder than needed.

@Mr Swing King, what you're saying about equalization checks in with another suggestion I received, that I should eq the HD580 to the Harman curve to get more bass.

Thanks again everyone

 

[Mr Swing King]

I don't think so, those reach 106 dB per 2 mW. Anything that gives 2V out (babyface gives more) and it's not severely limited at higher impedance (340 Ohms in this case) regarding output will be sufficient. @Mr Swing King high impedance amplifiers do exactly that, 300 Ohms one will give +2 dB at 90 Hz. Needless to say you still don't want that but instead do it with EQ and still not more than that.

I know. I just think it foolish to add bass via an impedance hump…and then still wind up with a limp subbass.

 

[Dunring]

The way to check if you have enough power is easy. Install APO and Peace front end. Pick Autoeq from Peace and choose your headphones for a preset for it. If you can still get them loud enough, your good. Those always have a good preamp reduction so I use that to determine if there's enough power in real word use.