Lately I've been looking in to headphones.
My budget is 50 eur with shipping. I know not much, but I just need ok phones to listen to music and games while my wife is sleeping.
After reading a lot of review I settled on Superlux HD-668B.
They have some excellent reviews:
http://www.head-fi.org/products/supe...-668-b/reviews
http://www.headfonia.com/superlux-hd668b/1/

Now, I am concerned if I will need an amp to hear these as they should be heard?
I will be using them off my PC with a sound card I am yet to buy. Probably the
ASUS Xonar DX.

thx

It depends on what style you like

How can it depend on what style I like?
Either it needs an amp to drive it or it doesn't?

just in case I am a retard, I will post the styles I like: acoustic guitars, 70s rock, psychedelic rock, a bit of trance,

Probably.

But that doesn't mean they won't sound good without an amp. Generally you need an amp for headphones with high impedance. Since these are 56ohms they won't sound quite as good without one, but the real problem will be volume. Since devices like the Ipod have <10ohms of output impedance you'll have to keep it cranked all the way up to hear anything. Same goes for your computer.

Since I read this thread I've been trying my Sonys with 80ohms, Grados and Turtlebeach headphones with and without the amps. Using my Ipod and my pc even the Sonys with 80ohms still got some semi decent volume. With the Grados, which are 32ohms, I don't think I'd personally ever need more volume than they can get without the amp but with higher-end headphones such as these, the quality difference with and without the amp, is fairly noticeable to me. The Turtlebeach has a built in amp so I can't try them without it...

I'd suggest just getting the headphones you want, trying them out for a while, and if you feel like they are too quiet or the sound quality/clarity leaves much to be desired then you start looking for a decent amp.

Hope this helps ;)

oh, a good reply,

thx this was very helpful,

I have just a few more questions for you since you know what you are talking about and look like you have a lot experience with this.

Currently I am running an onboard sound card and Altec Lansing FX6021, I am so, so satisfied with the sound. Its good on low volume levels and when used as monitors (when I am sitting at my desk).
As I gather it I should get much better sound if I get a sound card. Since my budget is limited I was thinking of getting either:
Asus Essence DG (has integrated headphone amp and costs 30 eur) or Asus Xonar DX (has a lot of stuff more but costs 60 eur. Most of the stuff is surround sound oriented as I gather it, and it has a better S/N 116dB compared to DGs 105dB).
On most of the forums I read, people report practically no difference in sound quality. I get that I would prob get better sound quality with the DX, if I had a better HiFi system, but do I rly need it for my Altecs and the Superlux HD-668B?

What do you think of the FiiO E5 headphone amp for my purposes?

Thanks!

Well from my experience a sound card upgrade isn't all that necessary. The ones that are built in to new motherboards do a pretty decent job. Just a few weeks ago I was trying out a few sound cards at a local computer store with the Grado sr225 and a Headroom Bithead amp. I didn't really notice much of a difference between any of them. I tried several different soundblasters, a couple Asus, and a M-Audio. They didn't sound a whole lot better than my onboard card either. With the more pricey ones, like the Omega Claro, everything does sound quite a bit crisper and background noise is greatly reduced. I guess this is where your musical preference does matter because I notice these things quite a bit since I mostly listen to classical music. Anyways, your sound quality won't get all that much better. I'd use that money to get a better pair of headphones.

If you have your heart set on getting one of those, I'd just go with the Essence. Your pretty much right about most of the other ones features being mainly surround sound oriented and I doubt you'd notice the S/N difference unless you're planning on doing some recording. With your speakers and headphones I'm sure you'll be pretty satisfied with the Essence.

About the FiiO amp; I haven't used it, but from what I can find by searching around a bit it seems to do what it's supposed to do. It'll probably give you a nice volume boost. I'd be a bit skeptical about the quality boost and such since it's ridiculously inexpensive.
Like I said before, I'd just get the headphones and use them for quite some time to see how you like them. Then if you feel like you need a bit more get an amp.

If you have any more questions I'm always happy to help ;)

Thanks a bunch!
I will listen to you, take it slow, get the phones first and than see.

All the best!

Glad I could help.
I'm always interested in hearing other people experiences with such gear and since I've never even heard of these headphones before I'd be very interested to hear what you think of them once you get them. Maybe you could shoot me a little review via pm, if it isn't too much trouble.

I will be a pleasure!
But I am not rly knowledgeable in this field. These will be my first real headphones. So far I used only in-ear phones (Sony and Sennheiser) and some Genius over-ear crap a few years ago that had only bass, which was terrible. I celebrate the day my friends Pit-Bull chewed them xd.
So I don't have anything to compare them. Except my Altecs, which are ok for me now, When I got them they were few steps ahead of my old Jazz 5.1 system. They were crisp, bright. Since I heard a lot of speakers, so my Altecs are not high on my list, not many phones tho.
These Superlux HD-668B just fell from some review when I goggled "best 50 usd phones". After some exploring they really felt they were the best for 50 usd. It sounds cheap, but who knows, I am willing to take the risk, if they are crap, they will make a nice present for a friend xd.

EDIT: just ordered it from e-bay, now the wait