In my experience, no. As long as the source material is clean, these buds render it nicely whether powered from a phone, digital audio player, or a good headphone amp. If you do use higher power, they will also reveal sonic benefits from that extra reserve and speed, but it is not required to enjoy the excellent performance value this model has to offer. If you are fond of very loud listening levels. sustained sub-bass and such on the regular, then you might want to amp these guys most of the time as well.