Since so many of you guys are recommending the KPH30i headphones they must be really good huh.
Sitting on my desk right now, $30 kph30i plugged into $500 RNHP amp. 
Of course you don’t need the amp, but kph30i headphones scale nicely from cheaper amps to higher end.
In some cases I’m enjoying them as much as the hd660s and Sundara sitting next to them. And at 10% of the cost!
There’s no magic, the higher end headphones sound better, but that takes a much larger overall investment to achieve.
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Or the ksc75.
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What do you need so many amps for?
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I will check them out.
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Did my wife put you up to this?
[edit] now that I’ve composed myself…
The Schiit Jotunheim 2 is my main desk amp, powers anything, runs balanced and single-ended, and has nice pre-outs for powered monitors.
The RNHP is a one-trick-poney. It’s a very clean, clear, detailed headphone amp. Most of my headphones sound best here, but it has limited power delivery.
The Loxjie P20 is a hybrid tube amp, it is my first step into playing with tubes and tube sound.
The other stuff in the picture is my DAC (Soncoz LA-QXD1) and an XLR switch box to rout the balanced DAC output to each amp.
Beware the rabbit hole of headphones and speakers…
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No she didn’t I swear.
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Read reviews/opinions of kph30i vs ksc75. There are plenty on this forum and others. But, down the line you should get the HD600, and a Schiit Asgard 3 with DAC card. The you will have “arrived” in hi-fidom. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not but we all seem to be stuck here.
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Excellent setup!
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This hobby is great! And this forum makes it even better. Lots of nice people who have experience with equipment at all price levels and many different use cases.
Sit back, enjoy the music, and wave good bye to your $$$! 
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You don’t say that until after they’re hooked 
You’d make a terrible drug dealer.
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to generally answer your question from the title: yes.
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thanks! i think…
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good point - we should just answer the question 
I fully agree.
To expand on this a little more, in general I think the influence on what you hear is:
Headphones > Amp > DAC > Format (lossless vs lossy vs hires)
Of course the edge cases where any part of the chain is really REALLY bad will blow this order of influence out of the water. Old 64kbps napster mp3 files will sound bad on anything. YouTube music is fine. Running it from your laptop through some decent headphones will be enjoyable. If you get a decent starter dac / amp combo (ie the Schiit Fula is a good one to consider, you mentioned FiiO K5 Pro which is solid, and many many others), you’ll get a lot of benefit from nicer headphones.
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My understanding is as follows (and if I am wrong, I would greatly appreciate being corrected by members of this community!)
You NEED amps for high impedance headphones (e.g. HD 600 are 300 ohms. Your current headphones are 16 ohm, and thus are highly efficient and should neither need nor benefit from an amp/dac. Most computers can handle something like 60 ohms max - 32 is pretty standard, and over 60 will be an issue) and/or headphones that are less efficient and thus produce under the sound pressure level that you might want (usually measured in db. Under 90 is fairly inefficient, so that you will have difficulty pushing them to levels that would sound ‘live’ with a phone, computer headphone out, etc.) For running planar headphones, an amp will also be useful - thus the Highfiman are usually rated at 25 ohm and 91 db, but would benefit from an external amp. This is, as I understand it, likely due to the unconventional nature of planar magnetic headphones which use a large diaphragm, and thus benefit especially in the ‘lows’ from extra power.
Getting HD 600 headphones is pricey, in no small part due to the need for an amp, and if you have not heard open back headphones and don’t know if they are your thing and don’t know if you want to chase the audio dragon, might be jumping in with both feet, so to speak. These are usually mentioned as reference headphones, so you would certainly not be wasting your money or regret having them around even if the sound signature is not to your liking, assuming you like the idea of trying out different audio and pursuing this hobby. However, the requirement of an amp does mean that this is quite expensive compared to other options as a ‘starter’ set, and these are certainly not the kind of headphone that you could ever wear outside of the house.
My recommendations of the Koss KPH 30i (or Grado 60/80) is somewhat dependent on their cost in your neck of the woods. I know that bought through Amazon in Canada, these headphones are $60+ dollars. People recommend them because they sound very good for the price but in the US they are around $30, and so even with some $10 Pads, this is an insanely good deal. Given the price difference, however, I feel they moves them from ‘eh, it’s a few lunches’ to ‘nah, I can save up and get something far better’ since the aesthetics and build quality ARE those of $30 headphones.
[Again, members of this community, this is my understanding, so let me know if I am talking out of my rump - or agree, for that matter…]
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Thanks!
Here where I live the Grado 60s and the Koss KPH30i are not even available so I would have to import them which means that they would cost quite a lot more than they do in the US sadly.
The Grado 80s are available for 130€ ($158.53) tho.
Also what about the Koss Porta Pros?
They cost 30€ ($36.58) here.
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To my ears these sound good, but reviews are mixed. I personally enjoy them. Also, they are very open - you’ll hear everything around you. Maybe double check the return policy?
The Porta Pros are well reviewed. Some people like them better than KPH30i.
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Will do!
Thanks!
Elementze is likely onto something with the porta pros. They (as well as the KSC75) use the same driver as the KPH30i and are also open back. If you can get these cheap, you will be able to see if open headphones are your bag and give you a taste of what higher end headphones can offer. I wouldn’t buy the Grado 80s for $160. Don’t get me wrong, I love them and they were my first open back headphones - I tried them out at a local audio store while demoing some etymotic iems and walked out with the Grado 80s with a new lease on life! Nonetheless, unless all headphones are obscenely priced where you are, I doubt these would be the best bang for the buck. Remember, these are made in Brooklyn, which is part of their appeal to people like Z, and because they are built in the US are cheaper for US residents.
Out of curiosity, how much were the HD600s you were looking at? Are they comparable to the HD650 (would mention the 6XX, but not sure if Drop ships to Europe. I myself just ordered the 6XX yesterday as they are $220 USD.)
What about other local European brands such as AKG - are these possibly more reasonably priced in your neck of the woods?
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I forget how bad availability is in some areas. Really frustrating!
One idea - the buy/sell thread on this forum is AWESOME! Honest people giving good deals to fellow audiophiles. You could post a “Want to Buy”, indicate you are in europe, new to headphones, and looking for some good starter cans. Someone in Europe may have something available to sell you, possibly even better than what’s being proposed here, and ship them to you for a good price.
Just another option to get around the locality challenge…
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