What Fiio E9 gain settings to be used with the following headphones...?

I've tried the E9+E7 with quite a few cans (see profile) and all of them sounded either better on high gain or exactly the same between the two. I remember reading somewhere that high gain on low impedance headphones introduces static, but I encountered none. I use high gain 100% of the time and would recommend it.

The E9 is powerful enough to drive any headphone, but not perfectly. You'll get more than enough volume even with 600 ohm monsters like the T1, but higher level amps will simply drive them "better". They'll get all the power they need rather than enough to just drive them. Orthos are the same story afaik.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alghazanth 

I've tried the E9+E7 with quite a few cans (see profile) and all of them sounded either better on high gain or exactly the same between the two. I remember reading somewhere that high gain on low impedance headphones introduces static, but I encountered none. I use high gain 100% of the time and would recommend it.

 

The E9 is powerful enough to drive any headphone, but not perfectly. You'll get more than enough volume even with 600 ohm monsters like the T1, but higher level amps will simply drive them "better". They'll get all the power they need rather than enough to just drive them. Orthos are the same story afaik.

That was very helpful.  I'm considering this E9 to drive my MK2's and my DT990 32ohm (however, it can only handle 100mW?).

Hi,

I now have been using my E7+E9 combination for a whopping 2 hours (just arrived!) and I must say they sound great with my Sennheiser HD650's. (Disclaimer: This is the first audiophile setup that I've owned, so I don't have much to compare it with. It also means that I'm a n00b here. ;) )

However, the gain setting seems to be a problem with these cans. They are 300 ohms, so that's somewhere in between the small and large impedance. This gets reflected in the low/high gain setting. If I listen to the Jasmine album by Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden (encoded into flac, from EMC records, recorded in a church IIRC) I must use low gain, because I hear static (and Keith Jarrett's "singing" gains a whole new level of that buzzing sound :-p ). I had to do the same for the 10 string lute transcriptions of Bach.

Listening to remastered Ytse Jam from Dream Theater (again encoded to flac) is a different story. I choose high gain because the lows and highs are more alive, with more sparkle, and if there was any static, it gets lost in the volume-level-that's-not-exactly-healthy-for-your-ears that I used. That 'sparkle' and 'aliveness' isn't exactly neutral to my ears, but it goes well with it. The low setting seems too... I don't know... through a veil, I guess, is how I can best describe it.

So, HD650's don't seem to fit well to either of the settings. It seems I have to change settings for different songs.

On the other hand, I've noticed that the crackle seems to gradually go away as you listen to more of the song. So, could it be a buffer issue? I'll keep listening and see... Maybe increase the buffer time of my VLC player, as I can't change the DAC's buffer...

Later,

Baris

I am using my E7/E9 and HD650 on high gain and have not found any static issues. Overall I agree that the presence of mids and highs is improved on high gain. Even the bass may be a little tighter.

I solely use foobar for PC playback. You can change the buffer but default is fine. You could check if it has to do with the source by connection of the E7 directly without the E9. If it persists it is either a problem with the E7 or your source and has nothing to do with the gain setting.

DT770 pro 80ohms

High gain sounds better to me. low seems flat sounding.

A900LTD's sound better off low gain, but they're 32? ohm. and actually sound best straight out of my thinkpad.

I guess these perceived differences could largely be the result of different volume, so basically placebo.