Hifi headphones and amp

[Bolo]

I've recently bought a set of Verum 1 headphones and they sound .. well I was perplexed at how you can move your attention from instrument to instrument and examine it, walk around it as it were. I've never experienced so much space in a recording! 

Overall still very very clear sounding, a bit too clear even.

 

Using various sources I listened through phone jack, Audioquest dragonfly Cobalt DAC, a simple headphone splitter from the Tele.. it's all a bit too much, causing some listening fatigue.

 

Then it dawned on me: the cans offer only 8Ohm resistance. Also they haven't been playing for even 10 hours so a little breaking in may still happen. However I was thinking of getting a tube headphone amp to warm up the sound a bit but most I've found start at 32Ohm with only a few at 16 and none at 8Ohm!

 

I know for many hifi and bass/guitar amps that you shouldn't run them at less resistance than indicated or they can burn up. How do I proceed from here? Are there 8Ohm, warm sounding headphone amps? Can I just run a higher specced amp on this low a load?

 

Edited January 16 by Bolo

[Mottlefeeder]

Your cheapest 'suck it and see' option is to put about 100 ohms in series with each earpiece  (or an in-line volume control) and turn up the source volume to compensate for the losses. You may find that you can hear the effects of less damping, but you may not.

David

[WinterMute]

I don't know if this will help or hinder your needs, but the Rupert Neve headphone amps just about the best thing I've plugged headphones into barring some £10K japanese tube amp...

 

https://rupertneve.com/products/rnhp