Impedance and amp

[Kamber]

I'm looking to upgrade my, and I'vee been looking at a couple of options. I have two questions, though. I'm looking for something in the area of 1000$, give or take.

 

- I'll be playing through a Proton DAC. According to Chris' review, it doesn't work too well with low-impedance headphones (right?). But as far as I can see, most headphones in the higher price ranges have way more impedance than that. Does this mean that impedance won't be an issue, or is it something that I should still watch out for? And if so, what am I looking for?

 

- Given the price range, does it make sense to play directly from the Proton, or would it make more sense to spend some of the money on a headphone amp? And again, if so, what am I looking for (roughly)? This will be my main rig for a while, so there are no other components for now.

 

[bikemig]

Simon: I had a similar question when I went shopping for headphones and decided on cans with a 250 ohm impedance. First, you probably want to contact Proton and see what they say once you've picked out your headphone (or picked out a few that you like). I received great advice from the manufacturer of my headphone amp. Second, this is a good discussion of the issue, http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/headphone-amp-impedance.html.

 

[Kamber]

So, as far as I can see from the article, it does matter. But a set of 300 ohm phones and the Proton shouldnt be a problem? Unless I'm much mistaken, it passes the 1/8 rule of thumb by a fair margin.