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Good cheap DAC+amp thingy that drives most phones?

post #1 of 6
12/10/11 at 3:29am
Thread Starter 

Hi guys.  It's been years since I explored the headphone amp scene (the last were the Porta Corda that earned me my custom title) and I haven't really had anything that needed an amp in the intervening years.  But now I'm looking to take my notebook out on the road and test out many different pairs of headphones, and I don't really have any idea what price or impedance range the phones I meet will be.  What's a good portable DAC with built in amp and volume control that would let me do reasonable justice to a wide range of headphones? (if you can, let me hear out the cheaper options first, then tell me if you think they will cut the mustard.)


Edited by Joe Bloggs - 12/10/11 at 3:33am
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post #2 of 6
12/10/11 at 5:48am

Welcome back! I've seen your name around in old threads. That Head-Fi Special Weapons Attack Team in your sig is pretty funny. Something like it has actually come about, almost, in pockets.

 

To answer your question, you might check Jude's video about the Fostex HP-P1, but it isn't cheap and is better for Grados and the like and less so your high-impedance cans. The problem I've kept finding is that various combo units I've tried either had great DACs and average headphone amps, or the reverse. I bought a second-hand HeadRoom Portable Desktop once and encountered this. In the end I like the result with the Fostex better because it can pull music from an iPod or iPad digitally, which is more useful to me. 

 

That being said, I haven't tried any of the iBasso or other portable things that are popular these days. 

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post #3 of 6
12/11/11 at 12:50am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the welcome smily_headphones1.gif How about the FiiO E7? It's within my price range and available locally. Is it clean and hiss free with sensitive IEMs? Reasonably uncolored? I suspect that where I run into high impedance phones they will have their own amp, so for now I don't think I need anything very high powered.
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post #4 of 6
12/12/11 at 4:11am

Unfortunately I've not had any experience with the FiiO products and I've only owned a couple of pairs of IEMs. I'd track down one of the threads about the E7 and ask there. What IEMs are you using or are you planning on getting some?

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post #5 of 6
12/12/11 at 6:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Bloggs View Post

Thanks for the welcome smily_headphones1.gif How about the FiiO E7? It's within my price range and available locally. Is it clean and hiss free with sensitive IEMs? Reasonably uncolored? I suspect that where I run into high impedance phones they will have their own amp, so for now I don't think I need anything very high powered.


If you're gonna strictly use it with your laptop, you should consider the FiiO E10.  It's a usb dac/amp and works really well.  I haven't personally compared its performance to the E7, but most reviewers seem to prefer the E10.  About $80 (US) on amazon

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post #6 of 6
12/12/11 at 6:40am
Thread Starter 

@Currawong: Well I knew you don't know about the E7 so I wasn't specifically asking you about it tongue.gif I was expecting this thread to be more popular than a PM exchange tongue.gif But thanks for the help, it's more than I can ask for really.

 

The IEMs I'll start out with are the Etymotic ER-4P and the Philips SHE3580 (which are more sensitive than the Etys)

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