I have a UMC22, is the headphone output powerful enough to run a pair of 250ohm headphones?

[woolfy]

I have been using my UMC22 for a while and I am debating whether it is worth it upgrading to a separate amp (Schiit Magni 3/Heresy) to power my DT990s 250ohm. I was just wondering if it is worth the upgrade. I plan on doing this by either doing 3.5mm to RCA from the audio interface, or the inbuilt DAC on my motherboard.

 

[solderdude]

For high impedance headphones having a separate headphone amplifier can be beneficial when you either can not go loud enough or the sound gets 'grungy' at louder than average listening levels.

 

[woolfy]

For high impedance headphones having a separate headphone amplifier can be beneficial when you either can not go loud enough or the sound gets 'grungy' at louder than average listening levels.

I am able to get the volume that I need, and there is no 'grungyness', so would there be a point in getting a seperate amp?

 

[solderdude]

most likely ...Nope.

 

[charleski]

In general, small chip-amp headphone outputs fall down when driving low-impedance headphones, but do fine on higher impedances.