Since my joining head-fi 10 months ago, it has long been an article of faith that the purpose of introducing amplification into the signal path was only partially for the purpose of increasing the volume. During that time, I have heard described the potential of an amp to tighten the bass, widen/deepen the soundstage, warm or otherwise color the sound, etc, etc.
Even with the growing popularity of custom IEMs, there has been only limited discussion of the effect of amplification on their sound. In fact, what little consensus there seems to be is that the sound of IEMs doesn't particularly benefit from an amp.
That doesn't make sense to me. If, indeed, an amp is only secondarily about increasing volume (at least with low impedence headphones), why shouldn't an amp be capable of bringing to IEMs the sorts of sonic advantages they bring to traditional headphones?
I lack the experience to offer a reliable judgment on the issue. Having said that, I seem to be able to detect a substantial difference running my UE-5cs amped v. amped (using an inexpensive cmoy). Adding the amp seems to really "fatten" the sound. When I take the amp out of the loop, the UE-5cs seem much more lean/thin sounding. BTW, my A-B test was done going line out of an iPod with music ripped at 192 AAC.
I would appreciate those more knowledgeable than me to offer their thoughts.
Even with the growing popularity of custom IEMs, there has been only limited discussion of the effect of amplification on their sound. In fact, what little consensus there seems to be is that the sound of IEMs doesn't particularly benefit from an amp.
That doesn't make sense to me. If, indeed, an amp is only secondarily about increasing volume (at least with low impedence headphones), why shouldn't an amp be capable of bringing to IEMs the sorts of sonic advantages they bring to traditional headphones?
I lack the experience to offer a reliable judgment on the issue. Having said that, I seem to be able to detect a substantial difference running my UE-5cs amped v. amped (using an inexpensive cmoy). Adding the amp seems to really "fatten" the sound. When I take the amp out of the loop, the UE-5cs seem much more lean/thin sounding. BTW, my A-B test was done going line out of an iPod with music ripped at 192 AAC.
I would appreciate those more knowledgeable than me to offer their thoughts.
