Monoprice 8323 with Fiio E5 or E6?

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Originally Posted by Godzillinois 

Hey guys, new to the forum and new to audiophile gear. I just ordered some Monoprice 8323 headphones and was wondering if the Fiio E5 or E6 would complement those headphones and if so which would do so better? Trying to see if the E6 is worth the extra $9. Appreciate any help you guys can give.

I would assume the E6 is worth the $9 more. Personally, I don't feel the 8323 (MHP-839) needs any external amplification..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Godzillinois 

 

Really? Interesting, would you say the same thing for the Monoprice IEM (8320?)

I would say the same, yes. I have both of them. They work excellent without an amplifier.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Godzillinois 

You were right about the external amplification, the 8320 and 8323 were plenty loud enough.  The E6 was pretty neutral however, it really did just make it louder without coloring the sound that much or at all.  What I did find it useful for was it's 2nd EQ mode that ups the bass (although I'm no sure how different/better it would be to just use "bass boost" on my iPod.)

 

My friend (who has the Fireye Mini & 8320) convinced me to get it by saying it made his headphones sound better but I don't really hear much of a difference besides amplification.  I'm still a newb when it comes to this, would the more expensive headphone amps make a noticeable difference or do only certain headphones require an external amp?  I thought alot of audiophiles always paired headphones with an external headphone amp?

I'm not entirely sure about this, but I think software-level bass boost (iPod) could cause clipping (a lot of music nowadays has very little headroom in the bass region.), because it's modifying the digital data, while the amp's bass boost amplifies the analogue signal.

You're not using line out, are you? When you use the headphone out, you're using the player's internal amplifier as well, but with line out, you're not. So in effect, with the headphone out, you're "double-amping", which means with the separate amp, you're amplifying the signal along with the distortion introduced by the internal amp. It'll just make things sound louder, or worse because of additional distortion. However, with line out, you could notice a difference, depending on how good/bad the internal amp is.

Try line out with the E6. You may notice a difference this time, since the internal amp is out of the equation.

I haven't noticed a big change in sound with the 8320's and my E6 via LOD out of my 2nd gen Nano. On the other hand this combo makes my old NuForce NE-6's sing! Always a matter of trial and error as far as gear synergy goes. 

I would say in general not needed as they're fairly efficient headphones but the right amp will almost always make a good headphone sound even better.

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Originally Posted by shockdoc 

I would say in general not needed as they're fairly efficient headphones but the right amp will almost always make a good headphone sound even better.

I agree here. I've yet to hear a headphone that didn't benefit from an amp. But, they do not need any amplification to perform to their potentials. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Godzillinois 

I see, thanks! I did compare the Monoprice with my iPod + Bass boost and with a Flat EQ and the FiiO E6 in Mode 2.  The bass boost on the iPod just made everything a muddy mess on bassier tracks but the E6 was able to increase the bass on my Monoprice without distortion.  It's amazing how great these headphones sound with or without the FiiO E6, can't wait to try some higher end audiophile headphones.

Apple's preset EQ settings are dreadful. If you want a good EQ for an iPod/iPhone/iPad, then I recommend EQu. It's a marvel. It's $3 on the App Store. If you can't pay for that, then Denon Audio is the next best thing, except, it completely obliterates battery life, but it is free.

The E6 is a budget amp. For higher-end headphones, it won't do that much, really. An upgrade to the FiiO E17, cMoy BB, iBasso D-Zero, etc., would be a much better option. 

I purchased the Monoprice 8323 units because of the good reviews. Had a bad hum from my HDTV phone jack. Decided to run the phones from the Blu-ray player RCA outputs. This worked OK but still had a slight hum. Got an in line volume control to reduce the hum to inaudible levels and a Fiio 6 to amp the phones back up. Works really well! And I do experiment with the different EQ settings. Plenty loud enough, tiny unit. Works for me! Now just waiting for the Beyerdynamic DT 250 velour cushions and I'll have a good looking and sounding and comfortable set of headphones. (Lots of good info on this site. Thanks!)