[chococya96]

My K701 broke down with no warranties to replace it and I'm about to order a brand new AKG-K702 65th anniversary edition.
Previously, I've been using E10 DAC with my K701 for desktop and it was able to drive it pretty well.
 
I've searched for suitable amps for the annie and I just can't pinpoint which to get with my DAC. Some of them includes:
- Matrix M stage
- Objective 2
- FiiO E17 with E9 (but this means I'm buying an extra pair of DAC)
Not sure if all of these are compatible with my E10 but they all seems like a pretty good amps to drive anni. According to various reviews and opinions these will drive K70X series pretty well.
 
More importantly, since I'm getting a new "similar" headphone will my current E10 able to drive it pretty well without the need of an amp?

 

[Rem0o]

From my experience, you are better of using the E10 as a whole or not at all. The line out doesn't sound that great imo with a better amp at the output (using such a setup right now), but the standard E10 amplified output is pretty good for what it is. If you were already happy with your k701+e10 combo, i'd say stick with the E10 because from what I've seen the K702 65th is pretty much the same headphones as far as amplification is concerned. If you want to upgrade from the E10, upgrade the whole thing.

Watch out though, once you crossed Fiio's price point, things gets expensive really quickly and the law of diminishing returns kicks in really hard! 

If you still want to upgrade, here are a couple of path you should consider in the 200-300 mark:

1) Schiit Magni + Modi (200$)
2) Aune T1 (180$)
3) O2+odac (300$)

Hope it helps!

 

[chococya96]

Quote:

From my experience, you are better of using the E10 as a whole or not at all. The line out doesn't sound that great imo with a better amp at the output (using such a setup right now), but the standard E10 amplified output is pretty good for what it is. If you were already happy with your k701+e10 combo, i'd say stick with the E10 because from what I've seen the K702 65th is pretty much the same headphones as far as amplification is concerned. If you want to upgrade from the E10, upgrade the whole thing.

Watch out though, once you crossed Fiio's price point, things gets expensive really quickly and the law of diminishing returns kicks in really hard! 

If you still want to upgrade, here are a couple of path you should consider in the 200-300 mark:

1) Schiit Magni + Modi (200$)
2) Aune T1 (180$)
3) O2+odac (300$)

Hope it helps!

 
Thank you for the reply.
 
I guess I'll hold onto E10 for awhile with my new annie. Its just too overkill for me to get an amp after spending $400 on the annie.
 
But I'm definitely interested in Schiit combo and Aune T1.