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Will I be able to effectively drive a 250 Ohm Beyerdynamic DT880 with a Fiio E17?

post #1 of 12
11/4/12 at 7:17pm
Thread Starter 

The title pretty much says it all. Amazon has the DT880 at $249 at the moment and I'm thinking of buying it while the price is still low, but I'd like to know if my Fiio E17 portable amp will be powerful enough to drive it. Any takers?

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post #2 of 12
11/4/12 at 7:18pm

Eh... I don't know. I don't think it would have too much of a problem, but I think that a desktop amp would to a much better job of it. Portable amps usually don't do so well with high-impedance headphones. Not saying it won't work, just saying that it won't sound the best.

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post #3 of 12
11/4/12 at 7:40pm
Thread Starter 

Yeah, that's pretty much exactly what I was thinking. At high gain it drives my 32 ohm Sennheiser 380 Pro quite well, but I've had my doubts about throwing anything more challenging at it.
 

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post #4 of 12
11/4/12 at 7:40pm

Are you talking about the premium version? I don't know if the premium version is any different than the pro version, but I know the pro's would be fine out of an E17.

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post #5 of 12
11/4/12 at 8:15pm
Thread Starter 

Yeah, the premium version. I'm not aware of the difference(s) between the two either.
 

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post #6 of 12
11/4/12 at 8:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mandala View Post

Yeah, the premium version. I'm not aware of the difference(s) between the two either.

 

Yes it should be more than enough. i run my DT770 Premiums on my E11 with plenty of room to spare on low gain.

Beyers are really sensitive even with higher impedance. You will be fine. the E11 is approx 30% more poweful than the E17 but even still , you should be just fine.
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post #7 of 12
11/4/12 at 8:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by wes008 View Post

I don't know if the premium version is any different than the pro version

They use the same drivers, there is no difference as far as driving them is concerned.
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post #8 of 12
11/4/12 at 8:36pm

I think the difference between pro and premium is the headband, which changes the clamping force (greater in the pro meant for DJ, less for Premium, meant for home/studio use).  Have you considered picking up the E9 dock?  That will power it, but do a little research here... in the reviews I read in the past five minutes, lots of folks are saying they amp better off tubes vs, SS.  Good luck!

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post #9 of 12
11/4/12 at 8:53pm
Thread Starter 

I have thought about the E9K, yeah. My problem is I'm not much of a stationary listener. Even at home I tend to do the majority of listening outside and I like being portable, even when I don't necessarily need to be. The tube vs. solid state thing doesn't concern me too much at this point. I'm willing to make the investment in the 880 now and worry about the boost in SQ that the right amp will provide later down the road, that is if the E17 will power it to an adequate volume level with some headroom.
 

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post #10 of 12
11/4/12 at 8:59pm
Ya.... don't let this get too complicated. The answer to your question is yes.

Buy them.

Play around with tube amps later.
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post #11 of 12
11/4/12 at 9:01pm

Unless you listen very loudly, it should be okay.  (If not, it will just be a few or several dB too quiet for the softest-recorded music.)

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post #12 of 12
11/4/12 at 9:05pm

My E17 defaults to the 6dB gain after any power cycle, so I always have to drop it to 0dB when it is docked to the E9 (which is usually set on the high gain position).  When it is docked, I can never get the gain on the E17 to bump up to the 12dB .  If the E17 is used by itself, I can get it to 12 dB no problem.  Sounds like other folks have had good experience with the E17 - I can loudly (but comfortably) run my Thunderpants T50RPs out of the E9 with the E17 docked, both at full volume - so I don't know how much more room to go you'd have.

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