Hello everyone, first post, just bought some Denon AH-D5000s and need a portable amp/dac recommendation | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org

kanazawa01 · Aug 4, 2015 at 3:20 PM

Hi all,

So I have been very lucky to find some Denon AH-D5000s for £355.00 (ok price I think) and now need recommendations on a portable amp/dac to go with them.

Nothing too expensive, preferably under £150. I will be listening from my phone/laptop, mostly to classical music (choral/baroque - not orchestral stuff) and jazz.

I would really appreciate any help.

Many thanks

Zeid

kanazawa01 · Aug 4, 2015 at 3:43 PM

I'm looking at the Filo E17 - if i am correct it will work as a dac when i use it with my laptop - but not quite sure how to use it as a dac + amp when portable - is there a special cable I need?

Or would the Filo E7 be just as fine?

The portable device I am using is a Moto G android with music from TIDAL/Spotify Premium
Thanks

inthere · Aug 4, 2015 at 6:09 PM

If you're talking portable phone I don't think you really need a DAC and Cayin C5 is absolutely perfect for the D5000's. C6 if you absolutely must have a DAC too but I think at this time only the C5 is available in the UK on Amazon at least.

kanazawa01 · Aug 4, 2015 at 6:47 PM

I will be using it from my laptop too. Will a DAC make a big difference in sound quality? Or doesn't it really matter?

Thanks sorry to be so uninformed

inthere · Aug 4, 2015 at 7:04 PM

Depends on the laptop. If it's a Mac laptop I'd say you won't need a DAC because Apple sound quality is pretty consistent. If it's PC laptop I'm not sure-there are soooooooo many of them.

kanazawa01 · Aug 4, 2015 at 7:10 PM

Ok looks like the Cayin doesn't work as a PC DAC anyway, and seems to be more for iphone than android. I might just go with the filo but not sure whether E7 or E17

cel4145 · Aug 4, 2015 at 9:05 PM

The Cayin C5 is definitely just a headphone amp, and it will work well with Android or your laptop or your TV. Doesn't matter. It just doesn't have a DAC.

The E17K Is a better model dac/amp than the E07K. However, whichever you go with, you need to verify that it works with your specific phone model. Some of the Fiio portable dac/amps have been problematic with Android. Learn more about DACs and Android here: http://blog.jdslabs.com/?p=838

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