Just on sound quality, meh. It's very quiet, and detailed, but on my main headphones, AKG K712, the mid-treble balance is just too bright. The bass is nice and deep and honest, and midrange is OK, not particularly sweet or warm. In all a very analytical and a little tiring to listen to.
To put it in perspective, a headphone amp I heard that to me was MUCH worse than this is the Oppo HA1. If that is an amp you like though you'll love this one too.
To my ears and multiple headphones, the Pono is much better than the X5II or Oppo HA1 either of these two. The Pono is also currently more expensive, and has far too limited storage as well as an eco-system I don't want to jump into.
The X7 with it's Tidal support is really kind of ideal, but twice the price as the X5, and I've never heard it. The DSD capable UFO DAC's are also GREAT sounding, almost as good as the Pono, but were not portable and mine died after 60 days.
I'm really really sad this isn't going to work by itself. Perhaps the K7 warms up the sound, I'll update if I can later. EnjoyTheMusic's review says it does good things for it. Of course you could argue I could get different headphones, but last audio show I went to the AKG's sounded really good on most amps except the Oppo, so I don't think they headphones are the outliers. Of course, please your own ears, not mine.
To put it in perspective, a headphone amp I heard that to me was MUCH worse than this is the Oppo HA1. If that is an amp you like though you'll love this one too.
To my ears and multiple headphones, the Pono is much better than the X5II or Oppo HA1 either of these two. The Pono is also currently more expensive, and has far too limited storage as well as an eco-system I don't want to jump into.
The X7 with it's Tidal support is really kind of ideal, but twice the price as the X5, and I've never heard it. The DSD capable UFO DAC's are also GREAT sounding, almost as good as the Pono, but were not portable and mine died after 60 days.
I'm really really sad this isn't going to work by itself. Perhaps the K7 warms up the sound, I'll update if I can later. EnjoyTheMusic's review says it does good things for it. Of course you could argue I could get different headphones, but last audio show I went to the AKG's sounded really good on most amps except the Oppo, so I don't think they headphones are the outliers. Of course, please your own ears, not mine.
