I have no idea if these improve with amplification. I can't really make an assessment in that area.

These are inferior to the SHP8900 - that's for sure. Their sound is less-detailed and has less clarity. Their bass also has less impact. Many consider these flawed and I'm inclined to accept that determination. With only a few changes, the SHP8900 sound substantially better than these. The SHP895 has two advantages over its successor - it doesn't fall off the head so easily and it sounds a bit warmer. They doesn't make up for its shortcomings though.

This headphone is really a bargain if you can find it as unfortunatelly Philips do not distribute it in every country. I bought mine from germany (some german web marchants accept to ship internationally) for around €90 shipped. Despite the price this is one of Philips high end headphone: it ships with a headphone stand included and a removable 4 meter cord of average quality. Build construction is also quite robust. Sound wise the 50 mm drivers Philips use in this can provide quite a lot of bass extention, but the bass isn't overpowering (this can is probably not for bassheads) and stay very clean. Highs are very detailled and deliver a feeling of clarity unexpected in a headphone at this price. The presentation is quite forward, on many tracks I have the feeling that the singer is just in front of me. The soundstage is well rendered, probably thanks to the angled drivers, but is nothing exceptional. confort wise it's a mixed bag: the earpads are quite confortable but the spring system makes the headband very inconfortable (hint: confort improve a lot if you actually block these springs at the right position for your head). Also this headphone is not light and is only suitable for indoors use. Despite the fact that these are full size headphones you can actually drive them from the headphone jack of most players, but they improve with an amp.

To sum these headphones delivers a very clean, forward and neutral presentation with good bass extention at a very attractive price (and with an headphone stand!) but have some confort and weight issues. Sonically these are good all-rounders that will suit most kind of music. For a price close to that of a Senheiser PX100 you get someting that is probably in the same league as a Sennheiser 555 sonicaly (but of course less confortable). These will satify headfiers looking for high sound quality on a small budget if they can compromise on confort and actually find a web marchand that stocks them and is willing to ship.