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Amping my Sennheiser HD 598

post #1 of 5
2/11/12 at 7:47am
Thread Starter 

I know this has been discussed many times, but I'm just so lost, and I don't know what to do. I use them on my desktop mostly, but I sometimes use them on my iPod, but the desktop is a priority. My computer is using onboard audio, Realtek ALC892 to be exact. I want to bring out the best of my Senns, they only have an impedance of 50 Ohms though.

Either get a Fiio E11 or E10.

Or get a sound card with built in amp. Something like a Xonar Essence STX.

Will the sound card give me better sound, or the E11 or E10 enough?

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post #2 of 5
2/11/12 at 9:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by markzi View Post
I know this has been discussed many times, but I'm just so lost, and I don't know what to do. I use them on my desktop mostly, but I sometimes use them on my iPod, but the desktop is a priority. My computer is using on-board audio, Realtek ALC892 to be exact. I want to bring out the best of my Senns, they only have an impedance of 50 Ohms though.

Either get a Fiio E11 or E10.

Or get a sound card with built in amp. Something like a Xonar Essence STX.

Will the sound card give me better sound, or the E11 or E10 enough?

You could get away with getting the Asus Xonar DG ($30) for the computer and the E11 ($65) for the iPod.

You could even plug the E11 into the line-out on the Xonar DG.
 

 

 

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post #3 of 5
2/11/12 at 4:31pm
Thread Starter 

Sounds good. I just found out that the E7 has DAC. A lot of people are saying the DAC is more important the the Amp itself. So, should I get the E7, or the E11?

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post #4 of 5
2/12/12 at 9:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by markzi View Post
Sounds good. I just found out that the E7 has DAC. A lot of people are saying the DAC is more important the the Amp itself. So, should I get the E7, or the E11?

Your computer and iPod do come with a built in DAC, but I'm guessing the DAC in the E7 is better.

Ok, so the E7 does have a DAC, but the E11 is a better headphone amplifier.
The E17 is an improved E7.

 

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post #5 of 5
2/12/12 at 9:43am

E11 can't be used while charging, which makes it somewhat annoying for desktop use.  You can't use the E7 or E17 DAC part with a source like an iPod that's not a computer.  If you don't currently hear a difference in quality between the iPod and computer onboard audio, most of these are unlikely to be much different.  It can't be used as a standalone amp with a portable player like the E7, but the E10 is slightly cheaper and otherwise superior all around.  The only issue is that the headphone jack seems to have a habit of ejecting headphones too easily, for many users.

 

If you don't need more volume from the iPod and it's one of the better models (some of the newer ones?  not sure about how they've changed over time sorry), there's not big improvements there to be had as the audio hardware is already adequate, particularly for headphones like that.

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