Quality headphones with iMac?

D

Dillus

macrumors member
Howdy!
I was thinking about buying some good headphones for use with my new iMac (was planning on buying one when the 2012 model comes out, whenever that will be...). Something along the lines of the AKG K701 maybe. Would it be possile for me to connect the headphones to an iMac and get decent audio quality out of the box, or would I maybe need to buy a headphone amp? Or are the headphones I'm looking at overkill?
 
It's not worth buying the AKG k701 if you're not buying an amp. Secondly what music you listen to plays a major role in choosing the right headphone. I've been using an ATH M50 for the past year and I love it so far (but I'm a bass head).

This is actually not the right forum to ask these questions, since half the people here think nothing beats a Beats Pro by Dre... Head over to www.head-fi.org for an informed opinion
 
There is nothing to stop you using a decent pair of 'phones with your iMac. Providing you don't want head banging volumes, you shouldn't need a headphone amp. I'm a Sennheiser fan (HD650) and they are perfectly fine through my iMac.

However, you did ask if you were looking at overkill - in my opinion, yes! This is simply because the DAC and audio circuitry in the iMac is not really hi-fi quality and lesser quality 'phones are more than adequate. If you want to really improve the quality, you'll need a USB DAC/Headphone amp which effectively bypasses the internal DAC and uses one of much better quality. There are plenty available and cover a large price range. A friend of mine didn't want to spend too much and bought one of these. It's not half bad!
 
I use Senheisssers as well, The HD's...I do run them through a mixing board and various other tweaks though, but there is no reason not to buy a good set for your iMac.
 

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Dillus said:
Howdy!
I was thinking about buying some good headphones for use with my new iMac (was planning on buying one when the 2012 model comes out, whenever that will be...). Something along the lines of the AKG K701 maybe. Would it be possile for me to connect the headphones to an iMac and get decent audio quality out of the box, or would I maybe need to buy a headphone amp? Or are the headphones I'm looking at overkill?
Click to expand...

The AKG K701 is an audiophile headphone and would probably be better paired with a dedicated sound system.

There are a lot of options available for the iMac. You might look at in-the-ear phones even.
 
I use Sony MDR-V6 headphones. They are a classic (been around for decades), well trusted model that sound great. Great buy for $75 on Amazon.
 
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