you know, that's the only thing so far that i can find to complain about. they're a little tight on my head and it feels like i'm slowly developing a headache. hopefully i can get over it. i think it is just because they are so LARGE and don't just cover my ears but also half of the side of my face, so they start pressing down on my jawbone

Okay so apparently the ipod/other portable devices have small output impedence (which translates to how much power they suppy to the headphones). I think the ipod is said to be around 5ohms. Most high end headphones need much much more. The Sennheiser hd 555's for example need 120ohms. My question, is the sound going to be horrible if I don't get a headphone amp? Am I doing any damage by listening to them without one? And what's a good quality yet affordable amp?

you won't do any damage, but 555's aren't exactly the best set of headphones for a portable audio player and a headphone amp would just be a pain in the ass.

unless you've got an ipod filled with lossless audio, that's all overkill for listening to mp3s

No the newer 555's are 50ohms... they work pretty good on an iPod, a little flat though so I turn the "loudness" EQ on which sounds quite a bit better on most music. It's like raising the contrast on a photo to provide beautiful colors to an already good looking image!

oh, how do I know how many ohms the one I have is? that would be on the box right?

you won't do any damage, but 555's aren't exactly the best set of headphones for a portable audio player and a headphone amp would just be a pain in the ass.

unless you've got an ipod filled with lossless audio, that's all overkill for listening to mp3s

what if it's 256/320kbps mp3s...

and what exactly does it mean that its not the best? like the mp3s aren't good enough quality so they'll sound bad under good headphones? what would a better phone be then?

oh, how do I know how many ohms the one I have is? that would be on the box right?
what if it's 256/320kbps mp3s...

and what exactly does it mean that its not the best? like the mp3s aren't good enough quality so they'll sound bad under good headphones? what would a better phone be then?

yeah pretty much that, it won't be noticeable as much if you have higher bit rate files, but you may notice the compression a bit even then.  once you start getting into the good heapdhones though, you start realizing that most of your mp3s sound like shit becuase they're compressed so much, you just haven't noticed this before because you haven't been listening with something that can provide the detail to tell you this.  The plus side though, is that lossless sounds that much cooler now.

they won't sound bad, but getting a pair of high quality headphones and listening to audio below CD-quality is kinda silly. If you're gonna spend that much on headphones for your ipod, get some good sound isolating earphones like shure E2c or better

well encoded mp3s (eg lame v0, even v1) are totally transparent you wont hear a difference between them and cds even with great headphones

huh, I always thought that my CD/lossless always sounded a bit 'richer' than the MP3s i ripped from them even when I'd use 320kbps or -v0. I guess I'll take your word for it, but I'll investigate with my monitors this weekend.

whats the point of monitors, outside studio use?  i mean, how do they compare to good headphones?  i'm curious if LARGER SPEAKERS or whatever have a huge impact like they do with other things.

flat, "uncolored", sound. You're hearing what was heard by the person at the mixing board, which can be a good or a bad thing depending on what you're listening to.

whether or not they're a better choice depends on the situation. They're probably not the best thing to bring with you on the go, but if you're at home in a quiet room they're the best IMO.

oh, so headphones color the sound then?  i'm familiar with the idea of speakers that don't alter the sound in some way from guitar stuff since a lot of people use keyboard amps for just that reason, but i wasn't aware headphones were any different from monitors so wasn't sure about the appeal.  i'm thinking about getting maybe a cheapish $150 set of them and using them as pc speakers.

I was talkin about monitor headphones, but the same thing applies.

I wouldn't get cheaper monitors for your desktop unless you're doing home recording stuff though, you can get nicer speakers for that price