Need amp advice! Info inside.

Quote:

Originally Posted by markelg 

Hey guys sup, my new ultrasone pro 550s came in the mail today and I'm currently burning then in with a little am radio frequency fuzz. My question is what would be a good portable amp to power them, (64 ohms I believe), and what does the term dac mean, can't seem to find anything. I have the fiio e11 on my list and wasn't so sure if it would be good. My budget is 100 and it'd be running out of an HTC Thunderbolt, also, I love bass, something that can put out good bass would be nice. Thanks in advance.

DAC stands for Digital to analog converter. file's in your computer and fine that are media or medium(singular form) are stored digitally in PCM(pulse code modulation) don't worry about PCM now. ok so the files are digital right...your heaphones and equipment and speakers anything in yourphone or anything needs analog data to ACTUALLY give you sound..so how do you make digital file and data into analog? a DAC of course. any device that can store and play digital music and many others have DAC's inside. they can be simple and cheap to very expensive. so basicallyt he DAC is what makes music stored digitially playable by changing it into a format that headphones and audio equipment can use.

I have the E17 with an HFI 580. i have heard the 580 has a bit more bass than the Pro550's. and man.....the E17 which is said to be similar to the E11 (go look around, you should find people that say this) has mega bass. other than alerting you to the fact that most perceive the E11 as being very similar to the E17 i won't make any more comments on the E11 as i don't own them.

The E17 with it's bass boost on my HFI's just bring out the thunderous bass. Want clairty? dial it back and the highs and mids of audiophile heapdhones come rushing out :D Fiio is very good with bass boost :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by markelg 


Yeah I know the 580s have more bass but I liked the design and the fact that there's a detachable cable on the p550. I was unable to find the e17 online, where did you buy it from?

yeah that's why a lot pick the pro series.

Sadly. the E17 is currently THE HOT product to have on head fi. it will be mass on the market sometime april. the first batch sold out in 7 hours, the second batch is arrivng late march and now with the E17 thread being so popular and well known, the next batch will be sold as well. MP4nation has pre orders but anybody willing to buy and shipped from china pre orders have already bought. their second batch pre order is still availble..but most people..are waiting and hoping to rush and be the one to order that E17 when the American dealers show up again. FiiO's 3rd batch with a "ALPEN" on the device(they are including the words ALPEN to the device starting with the third batch, they call ti the second, but really. the third batch, no internal differences)

So yes, if you want an all in one device for everything. for comptuer for use as external sound card, for portable, for travel so you have a sound card you can just bring everywhere and an amp. the E17 is for you. the next window of oppurtunity in america is late feb early march. micca and headphone bar will announe in on twitter. it is expected to sell out also quickly. after that. it's availbility should increase. but please note. fiio is a relatively small company and the E17's are hand put together in their factory...it takes a while.

i was one of the lucky ones'. i went onto the micca page on a whim saw it. ordered it and psoted it on the main E17 threads to start the whole onslaught :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by markelg 


Hmm alright, thanks, I guess I'll pre order it and in the mean time use the e11. I was going to go buy one from Sears tomorrow. But so far my in my p550 I can tell there's going to be a nice amount of bass after just 4 hours of burn in. The e17 honestly looks amazing, I can't wait to get one. My current cans wish list would be something like 580s m50s p900s xb500s and d7000s, lol I'm a major bass head so I need a good bassy amp to suffice my needs hopefully the e11 will come through, unless anyone has a better suggestion for a nice bassy amp?

do you have the E11 right now? how is ti with your p550? and yeah. the E17 with bass + 10dB (actually rated to be +14dB) just rocks it home on my HFI 580's. i actually need to turn it down and to plus 8. the other frequncies get drowned out a bit..but hhey. we all have those moments of the day, wehre bass is all that matters. oh and please, my experience is only in hfi 580 and E17. not in p550 and E11 or E17 just to clarify and let you know. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by markelg 


Nope don't have it in my possession yet, Hopefully Sears has it in store, their website does so fingers crossed.

>_< i can't belive they do. but they sell it at an outrageous price!!  $125 after tax !!! get it off amazon..it's $65 with free shipping! the E11 is said to be a budget king..but $125 is too much

it said $121 on regular site 

http://www.sears.com/fiio-e11-portable-headphone-amplifier-e11/p-SPM5925030007

Quote:

Originally Posted by markelg 

Lol I doubt it's really that much in store, I hope not at least.

and if it is   you know where to go :D amazon my friend.  well anyway, i can only tell you about E17, so im going to guess you did your research on E11 well already before making this purchase

Quote:

Originally Posted by markelg 


Lol yeah I did a bit, I'm mainly getting it for the conveince of it being close to me (I live right next to a Sears), if it is 120 though I'll consider another one online, how long did you burn in your 580s btw?

http://www.head-fi.org/t/583344/ultrasone-hfi-580-dj1-review

i burned it in for about 12 hours before it started getting..good sounding. im currently at about 210+ hours.  i posted the review in case you wanted more info on it.