Getting the Most out of my D7000's, a Computer, and my Iphone 3GS

Upgrade your files to at least 320kbps and you should be fine, if i were you i'll hold out till the E17 comes out, which should be soon.

Some odd choices here.  The D7000's are not ideal portable cans, (bulky, relatively little isolation for a closed can, somewhat delicate, fixed 1/4" plug on a long finicky cord, etc), and while they do ok volume-wise driven by a portable, they are still quite sensitive to the amp used to drive them.  Given that you've spent between $600-$1000 on the cans, can't you swing a better amp?  Also, unless you plan on using the amp with your computer, or buying something like a CLAS for digital output from the iPhone, you don't really need a DAC/amp combo device.  How about a Pico Slim?  If by 'portable' you really mean something that can be carried around but generally used at a desk, that opens up another world of options.

You have a couple of options for getting the music on the iPhone.  I'd use Exact Audio Copy and decide if you want to go with compressed (recommend 256k VBR or better) or lossless (ALAC).  The benefit of ripping your cd's lossless is that it's a one-time deal - you have bit-perfect copies of your discs at approximately half the file size, that can be transcoded into any file type you like.  If you do 256k today, but in two years from now, wish for higher resolution, you have to do the whole thing over again.  Also, you could build your library losslessly today and then sign up for iTunes Match for $25/year, and then get easy access to 256k versions for your phone (which sound quite good to my ears).

Edit: I'm also not sure why this post is in the Sound Science forum??

many owners of d7000 say that they are very demanding even for desktop standards and they need a lot more juice from the amps, even they low impedance headphones. 

i think fostex HP p1 would do good job, it takes digital source to its superior internal dac and amp, of course if you effort this beast. There is also a buzz about digizoid Zo. Ii is an amp,which  enhances sound quality of your source from the analog out, about 99 bucks.

There are some infos about this gear  in this forum. good luck!

According to 6Moons, the D7000s have an astoundingly high sensitivity of 108db/mw! If that is indeed the case, they certainly do not "need a lot more juice from the amps." Headphones that sensitive would be an incredibly easy drive even for an iPod.

Yep, the d7k are demanding.

What do you want from it. I mean, how much SQ do you want from it's potential. These are rough rough estimates from my experience. 

Straight from an iphone I rekon the best is around 60%

Say a ipod/sansa with rockbox (3rd party firmware) and a line out to a small portable amplifier: 60-65%

Say directly from a samsung galaxy s (with rooted 3rd party kernel: voodoo sound), or a large cowon personal media player, 70-75%

For me, if I were to spend on any headphone, including the denon d7k (i've bought the d1001, d2k, d5k- just by principle don't want to get the d7k. It'll make me feel too denonish), I'd wan't to feed off at least 80%+ of its potential. And for that, i'm afraid you really need a desktop amp/dac configuration.

A fiio e9 as an amplifier, and a fiio e10 as a dac (connect both together with a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable) would set you back less than £120. And I reckon this would reveal around 85%+ of the denon's potential. 

Again, don't take these figures as anything accurate. Illustrates a point though.

yes, but i mean with an ipod you can not get from them for what they made for. D7000 deserve better sound source

Quote:

Originally Posted by Willakan 

According to 6Moons, the D7000s have an astoundingly high sensitivity of 108db/mw! If that is indeed the case, they certainly do not "need a lot more juice from the amps." Headphones that sensitive would be an incredibly easy drive even for an iPod.

This is indeed true, but proper amplification provides much more benefit than merely increased volume!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evarin 

I put the thread in sound science due to the music aspect of my question. I didn't know of a better location for it.

 

I ended up going with the E7 for portable use. I have a powered Yamaha receiver at home that will be likely be used the most. We'll see how big of a difference there is between the two via my relatively untrained ear.

 

Also, I love the mindset of, "Well, you just spent 600 dollars on headphones. How can you not think it is in your best interest to drop another 200-300 easy on amplification?" That's head-fi for you, I suppose. I just read yesterday in this forum in terms of music listening, the most important factors were by far A. Recording quality, and B. Headphones. I figure if I can get both of those right I should be well on my way. Lots of room for improvement, but I know almost nothing of amps and dacs. Once I have the headphones paid off I will look into something a bit meatier.

 

Thanks to everyone for the help.

 

Edited to add: What I MAY do is get the E9 to lug around with the E7 once I can justify spending more money. Sounds like a strong compromise, imo. BTW, does anyone know if putting an amp, DAC, or headphones through a metal detector on a daily basis is a bad idea?

It would have been better in the Portable forums.  Sound Science is generally for discussing the theory and execution of sound recording and reproduction, not the place to ask for specific gear recommendations.

You are correct in that the recording and the headphones play the most immediately noticeable role in sound quality.  However the willingness to spend such a large sum on a pair of headphones indicates that you most likely have the means to purchase other associated quality gear.  My suggestions were based off personal experience with the D7000's where I find them to not show much difference from basic portable sources or amps, yet get significantly better when amped with quality gear.  It's my opinion that you may not notice a significant difference with an entry-level amp compared with driving it directly from the iPhone, and that the money spent on one, or worse yet, chasing the sub-$200 or so FOTM around here could be put towards a single piece of better gear.  You may notice that while I don't post much, I have been here a long time.  The inexpensive gear turns over very quickly here, with something that people create 200 page threads about, and wait months to receive, being almost impossible to sell a year later.  The really good stuff, in turn, has a much longer following.

In any case, my opinions are just that, and I am sure that you are going to enjoy the d7000's very much.  If you are at all a fan of well recorded live or acoustic music, give some of that a try with them, as that's where I find they really excel. 

Wow, Wait.

T5p?

Denon d7k will beat the living daylights out of the beyer t5p.

The akg k271 will beat the t5p even.