[Cieran]

Ok I taking my first tentative steps into the world of headphone amps and DAC's and I am on an extremely tight budget. What I am looking to do is to use a DAC with my TV for watching films and concerts etc... and then use a portable amp to boost the signal.
 
However I am undecided whether to get a dedicated DAC and seperate Fiio E6 amp (which has a supposed 150mW output) or a DAC/amp combination such as this CYP (which has a 200mW capless amp output):
 
http://www.cypeurope.com/Audience/AU-D3-H-Digital-Audio-Converter-with-Stereo-Headphone-Output-DAC.html
http://www.fiio.com.cn/product/index.aspx?ID=31&MenuID=020301
 
As far as I can tell the advantage to using the Fiio E6 is that I have EQ options but the CYP dac/amp combo has more output.
 
Can anyone help me decide which choice to go for. Any help would be really appreciated. Thanks

 

[mikeaj]

200 mW vs. 150 mW max output power is a very small difference, smaller than you might expect.  That's around 1.25 dB, where it's generally accepted that it takes about a 10 dB difference for humans to perceive a sound as twice as loud.
 
For driving most headphones, the important factor is not the max output power, but the amp performance at the desired volume.  Output power is the wrong thing to be focused on unless you have insensitive headphones and actually need more power to reach a decent listening volume.  Around 150 mW into many headphones would blow your ears off, so it may not be of interest at all.  What headphones would you be using?  Also, note that the output power possible for a given amp depends a lot on the impedance of the headphones connected.  Most likely the 200 mW is some kind of best case scenario into a low impedance.
 
I'm not sure if there's much known about the AU-D3-H (could be similar to FiiO D3 on the D/A side possibly?), but the E6 is well known and is fairly capable.  Actually the 150 mW rating for that may be a little bit optimistic (rounded up), but it's close enough, at least for 16 ohms—and much less into higher impedances of course.
 
Your TV has S/PDIF output?

 

[wilky61]

 
Quote:

Ok I taking my first tentative steps into the world of headphone amps and DAC's and I am on an extremely tight budget. What I am looking to do is to use a DAC with my TV for watching films and concerts etc... and then use a portable amp to boost the signal.
 
However I am undecided whether to get a dedicated DAC and seperate Fiio E6 amp (which has a supposed 150mW output) or a DAC/amp combination such as this CYP (which has a 200mW capless amp output):
 
http://www.cypeurope.com/Audience/AU-D3-H-Digital-Audio-Converter-with-Stereo-Headphone-Output-DAC.html
http://www.fiio.com.cn/product/index.aspx?ID=31&MenuID=020301
 
As far as I can tell the advantage to using the Fiio E6 is that I have EQ options but the CYP dac/amp combo has more output.
 
Can anyone help me decide which choice to go for. Any help would be really appreciated. Thanks

 
 
Do you know for sure that you're going to be hooking up your amp to something that provides 16 ohms of impedance?

 

[Cieran]

Thanks for the replies Mike & Wilky.
 
I will probably be using my Senn PX100's or JVC flats for watching movies/concerts via my TV's S/PDIF (which I am assuming is the same as optical)
 
I guess it is a straight choice between using a combined CYP DAC/amp which makes thing simple and might provide more oomph, or a seperate CYP DAC along with my Fio E6. What choice would you guys recommend?

 

[nullstring]

What is your budget?
 
Trying to make these decisions based on stats is a lost cause.
There are so many different things that effect audio quality that you're probably best off completely ignoring the specs.

 

[DimitriTrush]

YOu can try just listening to the phones also. It help to get idea of what the sound is like for a specific phone. If you like it you may not need another amplifier. If you want more or better than you can think of getting one.

 

[proton007]

Your headphones determine the power they need, and will draw the same from the amp. As long as your headphone needs 150mW, a 200mW amp is also going to supply the same power as a 250mW amp (150mW).
So unless there is a very high mismatch, 150 vs 200 mW will not make any difference.