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Question about Touch 3G & Amp

post #1 of 15
9/18/09 at 12:06pm
Thread Starter 
Currently using my 64GB 3G Touch with Shure SE530's and really pleased with the SQ from these two but would one of the Fiio E5 amps improve SQ even more?

Will the Fiio 5 work from headphone socket & from the line-out.

Applogies, but I'm no expert and know really nothing about amps other than the bits I pick up on here.

I have no background "hiss" with the SE530's directly into the Touch and wouldn't want "hiss" introducing with a AMP.
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post #2 of 15
9/18/09 at 12:26pm
I'd be really surprised if the F5 was worth the trouble with the shures. What do you feel like you're missing from your current setup?
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post #3 of 15
9/18/09 at 1:43pm
It's not worth adding the E5 to your Touch 3G which already sounds damn good straight from the headphone out.
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post #4 of 15
9/18/09 at 4:10pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by grawk View Post
I'd be really surprised if the F5 was worth the trouble with the shures. What do you feel like you're missing from your current setup?
Nothing really. Just like to experiment and read many people saying external amps make things even better.

As I said above, the Shures & Touch 3G sound great. Always makes me smile when people say iPods have poor SQ.
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post #5 of 15
9/18/09 at 4:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by psikey View Post
Nothing really. Just like to experiment and read many people saying external amps make things even better.

As I said above, the Shures & Touch 3G sound great. Always makes me smile when people say iPods have poor SQ.
Yeah, the less crap in between the iPod and your ears, the better. It's not like the headphone out is a line level output.

And totally agree with iPods having poor SQ. I think people enjoy bashing Apple to the point where it's cool (see: Skullcandy and Bose). Sometimes you have to give credit where it's due.
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post #6 of 15
9/18/09 at 6:49pm
I'll go along with the others and advise you not to add the amp to your system. Am also using the 530's with 3G Touch and am already getting very good sound.

I'll add that I think you've already done one of the best thing for getting good SQ from a portable device: purchased a very good set of headphones.
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post #7 of 15
9/18/09 at 7:47pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for all the feedback.
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post #8 of 15
9/18/09 at 7:53pm
Can anyone tell me if the ipod touch 3G sounds better than an ipod classic?

Cheers,
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post #9 of 15
9/18/09 at 9:18pm
You have to try it yourself, it's hard to tell whether if it's better or not. Not sure if there is any difference in the DAC the new Classic uses but last time I compared the Touch G2 and Classic, I liked the Touch more. Personally I think only the Touch and iPhone can be considered good sounding. Other iPods (Shuffle, Nano, Classic) are still boring to me.
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post #10 of 15
9/19/09 at 1:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lil' Knight View Post
You have to try it yourself, it's hard to tell whether if it's better or not. Not sure if there is any difference in the DAC the new Classic uses but last time I compared the Touch G2 and Classic, I liked the Touch more. Personally I think only the Touch and iPhone can be considered good sounding. Other iPods (Shuffle, Nano, Classic) are still boring to me.
And doesnt that sound a bit odd to you - the players whose primary goal is to play music have *lesser*SQ than those with a broader feature set - the Touch and iPhone. If you read the Wikipedia entry, Apple abandoned the Wolfson DAC for a unit from Cirrus Logic sometime last year (exact models can be found on said page) and some claim that this markedly improved SQ, while other claim it made it worse. I tried a recent release Nano (pre the September update) and took it back within 24 hours - really disappointing after my time with various Sony/Samsung/iRiver players. I really want to believe that the team at 'What Hi-Fi' are for real when they tout the Classic as the best DAP 'for music', but trying to audition one here seems to be like getting a date with Jen Anniston : you know there are a lot of people in the queue, but no-one seems terribly interested in hooking anyone up.

I have a friend who is adamant that the very best iPod was the first Shuffle - Apple didnt have a captive market and worked hard to deliver a small, easy to use device that sounded good. Perhaps they need to try going back to those roots.

(For mine, the Sony X series isnt much more expensive here than the 2G Touch, making it a more attractive proposition, audition pending)
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post #11 of 15
9/19/09 at 1:38am
The touch has some better spec than the E5 - what it won't do is add extra bass or volume. the Touch has no bass roll off (compared with 90% of the daps on the market), has amazing stereo separation, and very low hiss. I would pair the E5 with the likes of cowon who has none of those except low levels of hiss.
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post #12 of 15
9/19/09 at 1:39am
I'm not really fond of the Woflson DAC. Don't know why people keep craving about it but all the DAPs which used the Woflson DACs I tried sounded dry and lifeless.

Right now I'm kind of fed up with the Touch and waiting for the Zune HD, and then the Sony X later.
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post #13 of 15
9/19/09 at 5:00am
Ok, I actually owned at one point a touch 2g and used it with a Shure SE530...like you I thought it was an excellent combo. Then I got a FiiO E5 just to try it with the touch and SE530 combo...it was absolute rubbish. The E5 made the sound very muddy and IMO the sound quality directly from the touch 2g was much better than with the FiiO E5 in between. So with this particular combo - touch and SE530 - I say stay away from the FiiO E5. Even though I used a 2g touch, the same probably goes with the touch 3g.
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post #14 of 15
9/19/09 at 5:21am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bigburger View Post
Ok, I actually owned at one point a touch 2g and used it with a Shure SE530...like you I thought it was an excellent combo. Then I got a FiiO E5 just to try it with the touch and SE530 combo...it was absolute rubbish. The E5 made the sound very muddy and IMO the sound quality directly from the touch 2g was much better than with the FiiO E5 in between. So with this particular combo - touch and SE530 - I say stay away from the FiiO E5. Even though I used a 2g touch, the same probably goes with the touch 3g.
Thanks for that. I'll stick with what I've got. Seems from the feedback that an external AMP isn't always the best option then.

Reading a few other threads this morning & see that people are still posting that Apples (even Touches) have poor SQ

I've had plenty of MP3 players over the years with my current ones a 16GB Walkman A829 and the 64GB Touch. I can agree that earlier Apple players were not up to the likes of the Sony but there's hardly any difference between my A829 & Touch 3G. Can't say ones better than the other, just slightly different (except the A829 has bad hiss with the Shures so I use a 75 Ohm attenuator with that combo).
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post #15 of 15
9/19/09 at 9:05am
There are several amps that are being sold that are worse than the stock amps in most daps. Some people still like them. But even a great amp isn't an improvement if your headphones are already a good match for what's built in, or isn't a worthwhile improvement to justify the cost and extra hardware.
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