I just bought a pair of AKG 701 headphones, and was wondering about the power rating. Their rated at 200mW. My amp puts out 300mW. I have to turn up the volume between 3/4 to all the way to get a decent volume level. Am I risking damge to the phones? There really not terribly loud at all. The Amp is a V.A.L. E10 tube hybrid.

Should not be.

Maybe the gain on your amp is very low, or your source has low output,

thus not providing much to the headphones.

Counterintuitive as it may be, too little power is more likely to damage your headphones than too much.

Should not be.

Maybe the gain on your amp is very low, or your source has low output,

thus not providing much to the headphones.

I'm running my Nakamichi cd player through the amp. Still you don't think I can hurt the phones even though I have to put the volume that high do you? I mean If the input gain is not high enough the amp is probably not being drive near it's 300mW rating correct? I get just slightly more volume than plugging them into my Harman Kardon CDR-26 headphone jack.

If your amp is some how malfunctioning (loose wiring) thus requiring you to turn the pot all the way up,

I would be careful, because if it somehow works properly again, you could blow out your headphones with the volume pot turned up so high.

No it's not that. The amp functions fine till it starts the buzz then the music decreases. I have tapped the amp wiggled the tube, and re-seated the tube. I think it's a bad filter cap in the power supply.