Quote:
Hey
My impressions up until now is not the best, my ipod is what i usually use for now as the AHA-120 is too smooth sounding and only the bass quality gets upped af bit but resolution overall suffers..
The ipod as source is inferior, and my CEC TLXR cd player is to dark as source too..
So now my AHA-120 is up for sale, but there isnt really any good reason to buy a different sounding amp, tho pico slim and 2Stepdance seems to better match for the Starkeys..
I would like to try out the Sony Z1060-70, but the volume cap is a problem and if i decide to stop using an amp the power the Starkeys need would be insufficient..
To me the Starkeys are very hard to please (or i am), but Joe already did a good job pointing out the pro and cons and i can surely relate to what the Starkeys sound like, but i havnt got them to sound close to what i prefer..
To sum it up:
They need some power and harder to drive then most other Ciems and they demand a good resolving source, that handles the wide soundstage it can deliver, if not so it just seems a tad uninspiring to listen to..
In my recent experience, everything you said also applies to Unique Melody's 'Miracle' CIEM, too. I suspect it is a combination of the low impedance and very-variable load a multiple balanced-armature IEM represents to the amplification/output stage of a DAP. Only a very well-designed (and low output impedance) amplification stage is able to really get to grips with such a CIEM, and keep it from getting out of control. This sounds a bit weird to anyone who hasn't experienced it for themselves - how can such a tiny, sensitive earphone be difficult to drive? Well, it's not about volume/SPL; it's about
control, and if the CIEM is quite 'reactive', as a load, then control is not going to be easy unless the amplification stage is very well designed for the purpose. If a DAP has been designed for use with mass-market dynamic-driver earbuds then it should come as little surprise that it may struggle to handle a much more complex load, as may be the case with a multiple-driver custom IEM, to say nothing of the reactance of the capacitors and inductors of the crossover.
To be honest with you, I really doubt that a Sony Z-series DAP will have a sufficiently-decent amplification stage to really grab control of the SA-43s (or the UM Miracle), though it may do a
reasonable job. Having spent so much on a very high-end CIEM, I would suggest you aim your sights higher than the Sony Z-series DAP (unless you are willing to use it with a portable amplifier). This recommendation has nothing to do with 'luxury' or egotism; it's about achieving what the SA-43 is really capable of, having already made a substantial investment in purchasing it.
Therefore, I would suggest you save for a better DAP, such as the iBasso DX100, HM 801, or Colorfly C4 - I don't deny that it's quite expensive but it's a serious audiophile DAP with a proper amplification stage, and it's actually not massively more expensive than the Sony Z-series. It is not much more than half the cost of your SA-43s and would be very, very likely to drive the SA-43s to within at least 90%+ of what they are capable of. A possible compromise might be the Hi-SoundAudio Studio V (lee730 is a big fan of the Studio V's sound, for example), but you'd have to check that for yourself before purchasing, as I'm not sure how serious the Studio V's class-A amp stage really is.
I'm not a wealthy man, but I am putting my money where my mouth is - having come to the above conclusions for myself, with my UM Miracles, I am making my finances stretch to an iBasso DX100 because I now know that anything less will make my Miracles a wasted investment.