I wonder... not that I know a ton about headphone amplifiers, nor if this applies directly back to HT amps, but there are headphones (My Sennheiser HD580s, for one) which sound crappy and underpowered from any portable, at any volume.
Now, it's not a manner of the volume on the portable cd-players I've tried- at any volume the same problem, 'weak' sound (anemic bass, it doesn't sound very dynamic, etc) occurs. The problem doesn't increase when I increase the volume.
It's a pretty common thing for folks to get headphone amplifiers to drive headphones, and though I've not used one of those, my Sennheisers do sound much better at any volume when I hook them up to my RX-V1400 receiver with its (conceivably) beefier headphone amp.
I suspect that some headphones are harder to drive than others, and it isn't just a mV output thing. Could some speakers be harder to drive than others, and it's not just an all-or-nothing thing? (I.e. the B&Ws sounding bad at all volumes on an underpowered solid state amp).
Just some musings- anyone know if this analogy holds, and why?
RD
