[Brooko]

It's because you'll be listening slightly louder when using the high gain (even without meaning to).  Only way to check would be to properly measure SPL on both high and low, and adjusting volume to match exactly before A/Bing.
 
My rule of thumb is to only use high gain if it's actually required (ie volume is insufficient without it).
 
The danger with increasing gain is that you're also increasing the noise floor / distortion.

 

[Chris J]

It's because you'll be listening slightly louder when using the high gain (even without meaning to).  Only way to check would be to properly measure SPL on both high and low, and adjusting volume to match exactly before A/Bing.

My rule of thumb is to only use high gain if it's actually required (ie volume is insufficient without it).

The danger with increasing gain is that you're also increasing the noise floor / distortion.

The increase in distortion would be so slight that it would be academic.
Bandwidth will be reduced at higher gains, but it may not be enough to be audible.

 

[Brooko]

The increase in distortion would be so slight that it would be academic.
Bandwidth will be reduced at higher gains, but it may not be enough to be audible.

 
In most cases yes - but depending on the gear being used, if it had highish THD aready, increasing the gain may be enough to push it into the audible spectrum.
 
Either way though - only using high gain when necessary for more volume makes sense.

 

[x RELIC x]

..............

Either way though - only using high gain when necessary for more volume makes sense.

General Head Fi rule of thumb there.

 

[Chris J]

In most cases yes - but depending on the gear being used, if it had highish THD aready, increasing the gain may be enough to push it into the audible spectrum.

Either way though - only using high gain when necessary for more volume makes sense.

Low gain is 0 dB.
High gain is 6 dB.
We are not talking about huge differences in gain and this is not a vacuum tube SET amp!

 

[Brooko]

Low gain is 0 dB.
High gain is 6 dB.
We are not talking about huge differences in gain and this is not a vacuum tube SET amp!

 
+6dB on a logarithmic scale though.  That's double the volume (or at least 2 x SPL) - right?
 
Anyway - enough OT.  The question was " is there any impact to sound quality between high gain and low gain settings on the X5?"
 
And the answer (IMO at least) is no "upgrade" to SQ, just an increase in volume.

 

[Chris J]

+6dB on a logarithmic scale though.  That's double the volume (or at least 2 x SPL) - right?

Anyway - enough OT.  The question was " is there any impact to sound quality between high gain and low gain settings on the X5?"

And the answer (IMO at least) is no "upgrade" to SQ, just an increase in volume.

+6 dB is twice as much voltage.

 

[olddude]

From a layman's perspective, I find high gain harsh and noisy using iems.  Like turning up the sliders on an eq, it gets louder and frequencies sometimes jump out at you more, but I think it's a false sound.  I keep eq flat and I keep everything on low gain.  

 

[Loquah]

I'm with you, olddude. Even though it should be just an lift in volume (voltage) I find it makes the sound harder in overall presentation.

 

[olddude]

Like shouting in my ears.  The music looses its magic.

 

[subguy812]

I would say it is better to use low gain and up the volume. But what do I know?

 

[fauxfreshness]

Everything but my AKG Q701 uses "normal" (low) gain on my X5, and my when using my E18 I can even have my Q701s on low gain and usually peak at 5 on the volume control.

 

[Chris J]

From a layman's perspective, I find high gain harsh and noisy using iems.  Like turning up the sliders on an eq, it gets louder and frequencies sometimes jump out at you more, but I think it's a false sound.  I keep eq flat and I keep everything on low gain.  

I'm with you, olddude. Even though it should be just an lift in volume (voltage) I find it makes the sound harder in overall presentation.

Try volume matching with an SPL meter when you compare low with high gain.
The difference in sound will probably disappear.

 

[koiloco]

Guys!
 
It has been great with the X5 but due to some recent circumstances, i have to put mine up for sales.  Grab it if you wanna a backup.  It comes with 256Gb. 

 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/741260/fiio-x5-with-2-x-128gb-256gb-total-4-months-new

 

[sardar17]

  Guys!
 
It has been great with the X5 but due to some recent circumstances, i have to put mine up for sales.  Grab it if you wanna a backup.  It comes with 256Gb. 

 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/741260/fiio-x5-with-2-x-128gb-256gb-total-4-months-new

hope its not this mate