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Originally Posted by JxK
 Let me rephrase what I said. Yes, it is true that some balanced armature phones can get louder than a dynamic iem. But I don't think there is a dynamic IEM out there that can't be played by your typical portable player, even low power ones like the clip. And unlike multi-armature iems, dynamics can reach their full potential without having to lug along an amp. For some reason the specs on many BA phones are misleading, maybe it's the crossover...not sure really.
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Dynamics don't tend to swing as much in Ω as do balanced armatures, and BA earphones tend to have clusters of resistance or issue where their frequencies cross over, causing even SoC chips to lose resolution in frequency response.
Case in point: Sony 828 drives dynamic earphones very well with a bump of 1db in the low bass and a small dip in the upper frequencies when no EQ is applied. Every dynamic earphone is great with it. Some are loud, some are not until using the volume, but every single one is run pretty well 100% in terms of frequency response.
The same goes for the Fuze and clip and iPod touch and Classic. But, when driving even a single balanced armature such as the Sleek Audio CT6, each suffer bass roll off and audible narrowing of channels. The Fuze does best out of all of them, but it isn't as good as a dedicated iem amp such as the iBasso T3.
Enter hard to drive balanced armatures (very sensitive, low Ω earphones) such as the Fitear 333 and hello bass, but bye bye high mids and low treble. Each of them (The fuze the least) suffers a pretty massive suckout of around 5 -9 decibels in the high frequencies.
That is not driving very well. Volume is what you make of it and is very subjective, driving ability, however, is completely different. When driven well (not just pumped out in volume), earphones sound different. The FitEar 333 is my favourite custom earphone and is 16Ω and very sensitive: it hisses with every source even the iPod touch. But, it also can sound dull up top.
On the other hand, the JH13Pro can border on bright up top when not driven well. Balanced armature earphones can get loud from measley sources, but that is only one part of 'driving', and hardly the most difficult.
I would doubt if the E5 can even drive balanced armature earphones as most portable amps I use don't give the definition I get with the T3 or ALO Rx to balanced armature earphones.
