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Bad experience with EF2A, what should I replace it with?

post #1 of 5
1/8/11 at 9:34pm
Thread Starter 

So I got a HiFiMan EF2A Amp/DAC, and I'm really disappointed with it. The build quality is very nice, but it just performs horribly. (Channel imbalance, way too much gain, whining, buzzing)

 

So I'm going to return it, and replace it with something else. Ill be using whatever I get with my Sennheiser HD 598's, and a Creative X-Fi sound card if I don't end up getting an amp/dac combo.

 

The amp that I'm really looking into is the Little Dot MkIII, but are there any other options that I should look into? I love the sound that tubes give and their classic look, so I would like to stay with that.

 

Budget is around $200.

 

Thanks!

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Gear mentioned in this thread:

Hifiman EF2A Usb Headphone Amplifier
Sennheiser HD-598
post #2 of 5
1/9/11 at 1:37pm
Thread Starter 

bump.

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post #3 of 5
1/10/11 at 4:53am

u are running senn 598s which are a fairly low impedance at 50 and a good sensitivity 112dB.

 

You do not need amps. This is a good thing. Save your money.

 

Put it into a good source like soundcard. trust me i've been down that road and regret it. Adding an amp adds a variable, and no amp is totally noise-less.

 

You might wanna look at the Xonar STX range of cards - seem to be more music/headphone orientated and are s'posed to have a decent on board separate headphone amp.

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post #4 of 5
6/6/11 at 3:15pm

Amp does makes the sound better tho, not sure about the Xonar

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post #5 of 5
6/6/11 at 7:10pm

If you ever desided on a Tube amp the Little Dot 1+ may be a good choice and cheaper. It is what I use for all my headphones.

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Gear mentioned in this thread:

Hifiman EF2A Usb Headphone Amplifier
Sennheiser HD-598
Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Headphone Amps (full-size) › Bad experience with EF2A, what should I replace it with?