Nice to see Apogee is making PC friendly stuff again.
Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org
Raketen
audiobot
ugh. i hope this deal comes back. i canceled my order with the hd600. i regret it =(
mtliu
The Groove with the ATH-M70x was a steal! Adorama then bundled the E17k with the same set of cans for around the same price. The Groove is clearly superior in terms of performance, but the E17K excels in the features it offers (2-band EQ, pre-amp gain, aux-in via digital or analog, ability to act as an amp alone, informative OLED display, internal battery, line-out. . .all these features are lacking on the Groove).
I would imagine if someone is coming from the same class as the Fiios, that they will notice an improvement. I have no experience with DACs costing over $300, so I can only comment on the Groove as an upgrade to ~$120 DACs. What surprised me is that the Groove sounds better than the E07K or E17K docked to their E09K outboard amp.
It looks like all the bundles with the Groove are currently expired at Adorama. I wonder why they were blowing out the Groove like this.
I would imagine if someone is coming from the same class as the Fiios, that they will notice an improvement. I have no experience with DACs costing over $300, so I can only comment on the Groove as an upgrade to ~$120 DACs. What surprised me is that the Groove sounds better than the E07K or E17K docked to their E09K outboard amp.
It looks like all the bundles with the Groove are currently expired at Adorama. I wonder why they were blowing out the Groove like this.
audiobot
hopefully it means the standalone price of the groove will be dropping down by xmas time.
dip registered
I'm hoping this can power my HD800s, as well as a top tier pair of IEMs (haven't chosen yet, probably SE5Ult). Do you think it would run these well? (I understand that's a hard question to answer without owning that gear, but any opinion is welcome). I need something ultra portable (always travelling) that could power those beasts.
mtliu
I can only defer to what I've read elsewhere since I have no experience with high impedance cans. The Apogee's published specs are:
Max output level:225mW into 30 Ohm
40mW into 600 Ohm
and a quote from an Amazon review, written by someone else:
" the amplifier sounds great with my in-ears (Westone ES3X), my mid-impedance cans (Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro), as well as my high-impedance cans (Sennheiser HD 650). This is due to their excellent implementation of a constant-current drive circuit."
Max output level:225mW into 30 Ohm
40mW into 600 Ohm
and a quote from an Amazon review, written by someone else:
" the amplifier sounds great with my in-ears (Westone ES3X), my mid-impedance cans (Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro), as well as my high-impedance cans (Sennheiser HD 650). This is due to their excellent implementation of a constant-current drive circuit."
Bukem
Wicked. Do we know what DAC chip is used? Sabre?
dip registered
mtliu, thank you. Great review, super helpful. Thanks!
mtliu
@Bukem. I defer to the specs again:
Up to 24 bit / 192kHz audioESS Sabre DACEnhances your iTunes, Tidal, Spotify, Pandora or other music listening experiencesConstant Current Drive™ provides smooth frequency response with any headphonesQuad Sum DAC™, 4 DACs per channel for highest dynamic range and lowest distortion
Up to 24 bit / 192kHz audioESS Sabre DACEnhances your iTunes, Tidal, Spotify, Pandora or other music listening experiencesConstant Current Drive™ provides smooth frequency response with any headphonesQuad Sum DAC™, 4 DACs per channel for highest dynamic range and lowest distortion
