# Volume with headphones



## Xander (Mar 20, 2007)

I was shopping around for headphones before I bought my Sennheiser HD 280 Pros and kept reading about how loud, or not loud, some headphones would get off of laptop or ipod power. Many people said that pro headphones like these, which are 64 ohm, would not get loud enough off of laptop power, and would need an amp to "really get loud."

Are these people deaf?

On my laptop I have to set the master volume to the first click above 0 to make it tolerable. Then the level in the media player (WMP usually) is usually set to about 20. Anything over 50 I can't stand for more than a few minutes. Just overwhelming. I know I don't have super hearing. I'm trying to preserve it though and do everything to not damage it.

I understand these headphones block a lot of outside noise, that's one reason I bought them. I wanted them for live mixing as well as music enjoyment. They have a good deal of passive attenuation, Sennheiser claims 28 dB or something. It's closer to 10-20 through most of the spectrum. More in the upper freq of course.

I also understand some may think a headphone amp is necessary for pure sound quality (I can't comment cause I have never heard one to make a comparison).

But I can't imagine any headphones needing more volume than a laptop can provide...

Any input?


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