Cheapest powerful desktop amp ever? - Page 2

Although I have not heard the Fiio amp, the ergonomics looks very attractive I must say.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spareribs 

Although I have not heard the Fiio amp, the ergonomics looks very attractive I must say.

Really ? The E9 sitting on my bedside table is uglier than the wallwart that powers it, and thats quite an accomplishment ! Trust me, you will be happy to hide it behind your monitor and just enjoy the sonic sledgehammer that Fiio have somehow squeezed into such a tiny box.

To see what I could do cheaply I built a dual mono LM3886 power amp circuit with low gain and built it into my DIY pre-amp chassis.  I only used parts I had lying around.  It works fine and can drive my HD600s as loud as you can cope with.  Well it would with something like 10+ watts available and the 'phones needing a mere fraction of that to max out.  It sounds good too, if not quite as refined as the better dedicated headphone amps.

Simon

Quote:

Originally Posted by genclaymore 

Another good choice for your AKGs is the Fiio E9, I got mine today eariler today and it does a good job doing it too.It uses machine op-amp sockets so in the future you can change out the op-amps as long you have the special Screw driver for the screws that it uses.

X2, get the e9, it is perfectly neutral and transparent, has loads of features, has a lot of power and is fairly cheap.

For HD650, Try the tripath headphone amps, price rangging for 35-60dolars at ebay, if you know a little electronics you can upgrade some critical passive components latter.

TA2024 gives sweet sound that I think everyone will like it, for the price.

I also think it would be hard to go wrong with the e9.  I have 2 other amps at 8x and 20x this price but still have to the e9.  Also the e11 which I think may have the same power is portable and should be available within a matter of days and its even cheaper.  (I think some poeple have them already  but I haven't seen them for sale yet.) 

Also the E9 has machine op-amp sockets so you can always put in your favorite op-amps or even OPA-Earth etc op-amps, if you can even fit those in there some how. Only one OPA2134 is used when the headphone outs are used, when the RCA out or pre-amp out is used Two Op-2134s are used.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tme110 

I also think it would be hard to go wrong with the e9.  I have 2 other amps at 8x and 20x this price but still have to the e9.  Also the e11 which I think may have the same power is portable and should be available within a matter of days and its even cheaper.  (I think some poeple have them already  but I haven't seen them for sale yet.) 

The E11 has the same power as the E9 ? Surely you jest, sir !

I am tempted to buy this E11 simply to crush it with my uHA-4, but then I made similar pronouncements about the E9 being no match for other entry-level amps. I guess some of us live to regret things typed in haste. 

The fiio e11 can output 300mw into 16ohms where as the e9 can output 1w into 16ohms.

Yea, I should have known that was wrong - it didn't sound right.  The Fiio guy did say that but he also said the e11 had the same power as the e17 so he probably typo-ed the model number.  It still has a good amount of power.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tme110 

Yea, I should have known that was wrong - it didn't sound right.  The Fiio guy did say that but he also said the e11 had the same power as the e17 so he probably typo-ed the model number.  It still has a good amount of power.

Fair enough, but you have to be mindful of the fact that there are folk on other boards who skim read these threads then post a single 'outcome' as fact. Its no accident that moldy oldies like 'Grados dont benefit from amping' are repeated ad nauseam all over the place.