Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Portable Headphone Amps › Portable amp suitable for Cowon J3 + Beyerdynamic DT 1350?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Portable amp suitable for Cowon J3 + Beyerdynamic DT 1350?

post #1 of 13
5/19/11 at 3:01am
Thread Starter 

Hi, I recently purchased a set of Beyerdynamic DT 1350's (in transit) which I'm going to use for music production and portable listening. My only concern is that my J3 won't drive the 80Ω DT 1350's to their full potential. I know the J3 will be more than capable of driving them to an appropriate listening level, but from what I know this doesn't necessarily mean the headphones are being properly driven. I was thinking by adding a portable amp such as an iBasso T3 that would remove any chance of improper driving. Or is an amp unnecessary? I'd appreciate any suggestions. Thanks in advance. 

Reply

Gear mentioned in this thread:

post #2 of 13
5/27/11 at 7:31am

I have a J3 and the DT1350 with library in FLAC.

 

What I found was that when using the 1350's 90% of my library gets pushed to 80% volume and the rest higher than that.  With my V-jays (and previous k450's), I am at under 70% volume all the time and the sound is very full.

 

With the 1350s, on some songs, I feel like the music is not as full as it is with the V-jays even though EVERYTHING sounds better/fuller on the 1350s over the V-jays when driven from my home amp (nd older JVC).

 

I have an iBasso D4 I use as laptop DAC, so I tried the D4 amp with the J3 and the 1350's.  I was very happy with the sound (I use J3/D4 combo in my car too), totally blows the v-jays (which are very good) away in every way. 

 

So... I ordered an iBasso T3 amp to go with the J3  (I get it today).  The T3 will keep the J3 more portable and allow me to leep the bulky D4 plugged into the laptop permanently.

 

I will let you know how that sounds after a weekend of listening,

 

 

 


Edited by Rat Salad - 5/27/11 at 7:34am
Reply
post #3 of 13
5/27/11 at 4:58pm
Thread Starter 

I would really appreciate your impressions of the T3 w/ the DT 1350 Rat Salad, thanks.

Reply
post #4 of 13
5/28/11 at 3:31pm

UGH... The T3 makes the J3 drop to 0 battery meter and shut down.  So I think I have a bad T3 unit as the D4 causes no such issue.  

 

Waiting for Ibasso to reply to my e-mail to support this morning.  Being the weekend, I probably wont hear from them til Sunday Night.  If they RMA and send a new one I may have one by end of next week.

Reply
post #5 of 13
6/2/11 at 4:04pm

So iBasso sent another amp.  No issues.  I think its sounds great with the J3!  I have suspect hearing (too many years hanging with a band) but all in all sounds pretty transparent to me.  IMO, the 1350's benefit from the amp especially on the folksy stuff.  I spent about an hour with it and I ran it through my standard "7 song sound check out" list.  - All tunes sounded nice and full

 

Dazed and Confused - Zep -

Give It Away  - RHCP - 

Operator - Jim Croce

Dogs - Pink Floyd  (fav head phone song)

Diamonds and Rust - Baez (snuck in the Judas Priest version right after)

Seven Nation Army - White Stripes

The Real me - The Who

 

Reply
post #6 of 13
6/3/11 at 5:40am

Again I have issues with the T3 and the J3 battery meter.  Being that this the second t3.  It is either the j3 (which works wonderfully on the D4) or teh T3 does not function well with the J3.

Reply
post #7 of 13
6/3/11 at 3:52pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks for the heads up Rat Salad, if the battery problem is an ongoing issue I might give the T3 miss. Thanks again for getting back to me.

Reply
post #8 of 13
6/4/11 at 4:39pm

I am gunna try the e11 (65.00) free shipping from Head Direct.    Hopefully it will not freak out the J3.  

 

My D4 works awesome with the J3 (and the 1350's outta my PC) and Ibasso said D4 has a dc blocking cap (which t3 does not) so maybe an amp with a blocking cap is needed.   I am not sure is the e11 has one, but for 65.00 pretty lo risk.  I guess its possible my J3 spits out DC and needs repair but I used a DMM to test and see no sign of DC output from my J3.

 

 

I will let you know how the e11 sounds

 

BTW.. The 1350's revealed stuff in Ziggy Stardust I have never heard before.  How do you like yours when fully driven?

Reply
post #9 of 13
6/7/11 at 10:46pm

^ Please tell us how the E11 pairs with it!

 

I am selling most of my audio gear to get money for the Dt1350s + an E11 haha

Reply
post #10 of 13
6/8/11 at 6:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rat Salad View Post

I am gunna try the e11 (65.00) free shipping from Head Direct.    Hopefully it will not freak out the J3.  

 

My D4 works awesome with the J3 (and the 1350's outta my PC) and Ibasso said D4 has a dc blocking cap (which t3 does not) so maybe an amp with a blocking cap is needed.   I am not sure is the e11 has one, but for 65.00 pretty lo risk.  I guess its possible my J3 spits out DC and needs repair but I used a DMM to test and see no sign of DC output from my J3.

 

 

I will let you know how the e11 sounds

 

BTW.. The 1350's revealed stuff in Ziggy Stardust I have never heard before.  How do you like yours when fully driven?


good luck with the e11.  i would have tried it but i heard there is a hiss with sensitive phones and id only be using it with my jh16s.  from all accounts, it sohuld do well!

 

Reply
post #11 of 13
6/8/11 at 6:30am

 

The e11 was on back-order so I canceled.  I got sick of ordering and trying amps so I took the big plunge and ordered an Arrow 4g from HeadStage which will probably take 2 months to be shipped and delivered anyway.

 

I figured with the ability to customize sound on the Arrow I can make it work with any source or cans.   This means of course that I will not buy clothes or food for a while.  

 

But I figured if I stop eating,  the clothes I got too fat to wear will fit me again...  so the Arrow solves ALL my problems


Edited by Rat Salad - 6/8/11 at 6:43am
Reply
post #12 of 13
6/8/11 at 6:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rat Salad View Post

 

The e11 was on back-order so I canceled.  I got sick of ordering and trying amps so I took the big plunge and ordered an Arrow 4g from HeadStage which will probably take 2 moths to shipped and delivered anyway.

 

I figured with the ability to customize sound I can make it work with any source or cans.   This means of course that I will not get clothes or food for a while.  

 

But I figured if stop eating,  the clothes I got too fat to wear will fit me again...  so the Arrow solves ALL my problems

LOL

congrats  seems like a nice amp
 

 

Reply
post #13 of 13
6/8/11 at 9:36pm
Thread Starter 

Good call Rat Salad.

Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Portable Headphone Amps

Gear mentioned in this thread:

Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Portable Headphone Amps › Portable amp suitable for Cowon J3 + Beyerdynamic DT 1350?