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Portable amp such as E11 or budget chinese tube amp?

post #1 of 3
7/10/11 at 12:23am
Thread Starter 

For using an amp with mostly budget headphones (grado sr60i, audio technica esw9a, sony mdr-v6, phiaton ms400, etc)

 

What is a better value between budget portable amp and budget desktop amp

(such as fiio e11, ibasso d2+, fiio e7) and (little dot i+, fiio e9)

 

I have heard that budget desktop amp is better in every way, is this true?

If desktop amp is better, which is better little dot i+ or fiio e9? (read that cheap chinese tube amps are dangerous, fire hazard, not as good, etc)

 

If all were same of the amps above were same price, which would be best to get?

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post #2 of 3
7/10/11 at 6:56am
It is true that budget amps generally offer bigger bang for buck.
This is because in portable amps the designers have to stick to a limited form factor, sacrificing sound quality at the same price.
This is especially true for all the battery operated ones. Avoid those, unless you absolutely need a fully portable amp (one that can go into your pocket and doesn't need external AC power).

If with Chinese amps you are talking about the ones that are sold on ebay, then yes; I'd watch out. Always be certain that what you're buying is of decent quality by reading reviews.
However both Fiio and Little Dot are Chinese brand, and both have an excellent reputation. In both cases it's save to assume that it's save to use.
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post #3 of 3
7/11/11 at 12:29am
There are no good cheap tube amps. Another fried one turned up on the forums today.

Desktops are always better than portable amps. Battery power doesn't compare to mains power, especially if you want to run in class A.

I'd recommend a quality solid state desktop amp. No sexy tubes, but they will give you great sound without the risk of a cheap tube amp cooking off. All the cheap tube amps are more or less disposable. Any problem will be more expensive to fix than replace. They also cut corners in the power supply, so they don't sound as good as better tube amps.
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