I bought a pair of MT-220 Yamaha headphones that aren't performing very well with my IPAD

[Trevor Jackson]

Could it be the impedance is to high (37 Ohms)? The drivers are also not small (45mm). I read that Ipads do better with lower impedance. I am using it with Auria Pro to monitor recordings. They sound dull at times.

Before I was using a pair of cheap consumer phones that might be hyped, so I don't know if it's me or the phones.

[BertKoor]

37 Ohm is not high impedance. 300 Ohm, that's what we call high.
Maybe the efficiency is low though.

Try some "reference" tracks (can be any song or album you've heard over hundreds of times) on youtube or iTunes to asses the difference with your previous cans, side by side. But make sure the volume you hear is the same.

[Trevor Jackson]

I tried monitoring directly from my audio interface, an RME Babyface Pro. The difference is quite noticeable. Much higher fidelity. Oddly it does not happen all the time. I tried the referencing trick with a familiar track and they sounded okay. I am just going to assume that using the 3.5mm jack on the Ipad as a monitor is not a good idea. With a DAW and an interface and interapp audio going on as well, it is difficult to diagnose exactly what is going on, but the problem was solved by monitoring directly off my external interface. Thanks for your response.

[clipnotic]

If I put my 400 Ohms reference headphones directly on my PC, I have to raise the volume very much, because the PC can't handle it, but 37 Ohms shouldn't be a problem.