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Enlighten me!

post #1 of 5
9/19/09 at 7:30pm
Thread Starter 
Hi there.

I'm really a newbie in these kind of things, so please tell me what I need to know about portable rigs :3

I've ordered a Zen X-fi as my portable, and I'm wondering about ways to getting a better SQ!

I'm using cheapish (read "crap" in this forum :P) Sony MDR-EX35LP / Creative EP-830, any tips on what IE's would fit the SQ of my player?
What does an portable amp do, and is that really worth getting if I buy new IE's?

Haven't seen anything about the X-fi-player in here, but do you have any impressins or experiances that you'd like to tell me about?


Thanks for accepting my will to learn ;3
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post #2 of 5
9/19/09 at 8:58pm
As I've come to understand it (but don't really know for sure or get why) the purpose of an amp is to help drive high impedance phones. This is the measurement in ohms written on the box. The higher it is, the more necessary an amp is (so far as I've read).

So if your IE's are going to be low impedance, an amp logically won't be worth investing in.

Popular brands of IE's are Yuin and Sennheiser.
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post #3 of 5
9/20/09 at 1:39pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chef View Post
As I've come to understand it (but don't really know for sure or get why) the purpose of an amp is to help drive high impedance phones. This is the measurement in ohms written on the box. The higher it is, the more necessary an amp is (so far as I've read).

So if your IE's are going to be low impedance, an amp logically won't be worth investing in.

Popular brands of IE's are Yuin and Sennheiser.

But people on this forum were talking about some improvements in the signal and a pretty significant bass-boost, is that correct?
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post #4 of 5
9/20/09 at 2:18pm
Depends on your IEM's and choice of AMP.

For example the cheap Fiio E5 amp has a bass boost facility but your Zen may already have a decent EQ to get more bass. (don't know musch about the Zens other than not usually the best choice for SQ).

I have some expensive Shure SE530's which won't benefit from an AMP greatly (accoring to feedback from the experts on here).

This review is a good read for a novice with examples of where it improved things and in some cases made it worse.

FiiO E5 Headphone Amplifier Review - MP3 Reviews - TrustedReviews
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post #5 of 5
9/21/09 at 4:16pm
Thread Starter 
Wich of those two IE's are the best? Don't have both here atm so :P
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