[clarry]

> It is hard to drive a set of headphones with enough SQ to make them worthwhile.

I disagree. Most headphones are really easy to drive, including many high end ones. And DIY builders are making perfectly good & cheap amps using parts that have been available for more than two decades now. Parts that used to make it in stereos and other off the self supermarket stuff.

I'm more than happy to plug my AKG K812 to laptops (such as a thinkpad T460s), android phones (such as LG G4, One Plus 6), portable media players (such as the Cowon D2). My Sennheiser HD650s, HD800s, and AKG K701s are generally plugged to external DACs and amps mainly because I use them at the desk (or with my music gear). But I've tried all of them on various consumer gear and many of them can deliver good sound. The Sennheisers, however, can be a little too quiet with some of the portable devices.

What the author of the linked story here is complaining about is the race to the absolutely garbage bottom (though it isn't nearly as bad for people with less sensitive phones).