I planned to compose song with my Macbook Pro and I like Beyerdynamic so I choose DT 990 as I wanted to try open back headphone.
The problem is which impedance to choose?
I don't plan to buy an amp, directly connecting to MBP is my desired workflow.
However, as I searching around this is my problem :
I know that my MBP can drive the lower impedance version louder. But what if on the 250 ohm version, I'm totally satisfy with the lower volume it provides (I'll have to turn up the volume of my computer a bit) This means 250 is better for me? For the reason of "damp factor" I've read.
In other words, when driving high impedance headphones without an amp is the sound is just lower or some quality is loss? If no quality is loss I would go with higher impedance ones because I'mnot a loud listener.
This is a quote from Beyerdynamic website's FAQ
The impedance is determined by the voice coil (dynamic headphones), which is a winded copper wire (coated to avoid a short-circuit). This copper wire is available in nearly every length, but not in every gauge (thickness) and a thicker wire has less resistance than a thin wire ("less fits through"). The magnetic field of the voice coil depends on the number of windings of the coil, causing a low impedance system to use a thicker (also heavier) wire and since the membrane foil can't be infinitely light-weight, the moving mass (voice coil and diaphragm) is relatively high. It's pretty clear that a higher mass can't move as easily (following an audio signal) as a lower mass. This low mass can easily be accomplished with thinner (lower weight) wire, but the thinner wire has a higher impedance. This means that the DT 770 PRO with 250 ohms sound more natural, but plays (depending on the used headphone amplifier) not as loud as the 80 ohms version.
This suggests the higher impedance ones is better... (but lower volume)