TrantaLocked
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2011
- Posts
- 333
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- 31
I did a listening test again today, amped vs unamped out of a smartphone to make sure I wasn't crazy. With a FiiO A3 amp, the difference in separation and imaging is definitely noticeable. This is a cheap amp too, so I am sure a higher quality one would yield even better results. I don't know much about the numbers, but the extra power makes a significant difference. If you get a chance to try amped vs unamped SR, I'd be interested in your opinion.
I'll be buying (or getting for Christmas) the Creative Sound Blaster E1. It's super small with a clip for mobile use, has both USB DAC and analog amplifier, mic in and volume control. It really is perfect besides maybe my wish for something even smaller, but that would be tough for decent amplification. I chose this over the FiiO A1 because of the USB DAC, higher power and longer battery life. I'll let you know when I get it. I might need to return the ER4PT before I get the amp though, oh well.
when I tested the er4sr, my pair would reach 115db at 1khz when fed around 10mW... and that's crazy loud, I double checked everything because I was so scared to exceed the 122db max output written on the box and damage my IEMs. so I get a little sensitive(measurement PTSD ^_^) when I read about power making a significant difference. in practice most people won't send 1mW into the SR when listening at their preferred listening level. so I don't know what idea you tried to convey, but I'm fairly confident that power wasn't it.
I don't think volume level indicates whether you're taking full advantage of the headphone. I can reach the volume level I need for the ER4S just fine out of my phone (80%), but that doesn't mean the headphone is being amplified optimally. I'm pretty sure any source unamped would give me enough volume with any high end headphone, like the HD 600 for example, but it won't sound nearly as good as an amped HD 600. My HD 201 for sure has a small and weak soundstage out of any of my portables, but sounds just fine out of my desktop.
And to the rest of your post; the audible difference between equipment can stem from either output frequency response, signal to noise (StN), THD, output impedance or output power. Those are the main differences a least. We can cross out StN and THD because those really don't affect the overall sound much. Maybe a tiny bit of difference in buzzing or distortion, but no grand differences. Frequency response might be related to the effect he's talking about, but significantly more 3D soundstage from just a freq response change, and the fact that amp freq response rarely strays far from flat? I don't think so. You're talking maybe a few dB difference in freq. response between amps/sources. Then you have output impedance and power. Output impedance doesn't do much as long as it isn't ridiculously high, so that leaves us with output power. The audible difference he's hearing might be a mixture of difference in power, impedance, frequency response and StN, but I'd bet 80%+ of the difference he's hearing is due to power. But if you're fairly confident it wasn't power, what would you suggest? Output impedance?