[ProtegeManiac]

I ve contacted audioGD cause I share pc with some friends ( I don't use games or work with it so I am enough with smartphone and an old tablet ) so android would be my source and nfb11 ( or r2r11 ) don't support android (only the older ones that I don't have like the 5)
About lg V30: I got an iPhone 6 still working enough well so I would have to pay the double of the price that the lg v30 will have in 4/5month ahead while having less SQ than a dap or a mojo. Nope

So basically you're switching to Android. You might want to not buy any audio equipment right now, much less a headphone like that that really needs an amp to open up. Get the Android first if you're really switching, and then go from there. One of the main problems you'll have is how compatible that will be with DACs. Apple (since iOS7) and Samsung Galaxy (S3 and Note2 onward) have been the only ones that are more or less consistent. A lot of the more easily compatible DAC-HPamps are portable units - not enough power to really enjoy the HE500 unless you blow a lot of money. You can save a fair bit of money on desktop units but wait for compability with that new phone. Modi2 Uber and ODAC rev 2 are widely compatible but you never know. Might as well get to test them with the phone you're switching to rather than have them work on your iPhone, then poof, not on the new phone, so you need to buy a new one rather than maybe return it and try something else.

Or go with an easier to drive headphone considering it doesn't seem like you'd have enough space for anything larger than a Modi2 Uber with a Vali2 on top. Something like the HiFiMan HE400S, which you can easily drive with a Fiio Q1 MkII. Or wait for the Fiio Q5 Pro. It's a big step up in price but you get a slightly more powerful amp (totally overkill for the HE400S, but still not enough for hte HE500), but the key feature is Bluetooth. If it doesn't work via USB OTG, at least there's that option to just use it wireless. Battery powered too so you're free from having to be near an outlet.

 

[Jerda]

Look is not the he500 but is the he400i ( in reality is the he4xx)
I would like to wait the Q5 but it is delayed from ever we still don't know if will be on market before 2018 so... maybe if in November or dicember it will be out.
Or I could buy a second hand Dap with enought output (like the q5)...
I don't know, I think I will ask Schiit if magni 3 and modi(i don't know which one, but multibit only if second hand) will be compatible with latest mobile OS, while I will wait that DAP like DX200 and the latest AK70mk2 drop price in the second hand market.
Btw I got wondered by a friend's S8: he've put the phone on a dock ( the DeX )near a monitor, a mouse and a keyboard and he just started to use the phone like a pc... very BIG plus for someone that would need a pc to do basic things (navigate, download, stream while managing a NAS for file, emulating retro console), I'm definitely in for the Samsung
EDIT: if Q5 will be not ready for sale until the begin of 2018, maybe I could buy a second hand mojo to pair with the S8 with a 200Gb sd and tidal hi-fi -.-

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Look is not the he500 but is the he400i ( in reality is the he4xx

OK I must have mixed up threads. However the same problem applies, just a bit less. Bottom line is the sensitivity is still fairly low. It's high enough to get loud but that doesn't mean a portable DAC-HPamp (barring something like the Ibasso PB2-DB2 combo) would be fantastic with it.

I would like to wait the Q5 but it is delayed from ever we still don't know if will be on market before 2018 so... maybe if in November or dicember it will be out.
Or I could buy a second hand Dap with enought output (like the q5)...

Still not enough for a 93dB/1mW headphone. Note that that isn't literally 93dB as soon as the volume setting isn't zero. But for reference very generally you'd want 96dB/1mW or higher for lower output amps.

I don't know, I think I will ask Schiit if magni 3 and modi(i don't know which one, but multibit only if second hand) will be compatible with latest mobile OS, while I will wait that DAP like DX200 and the latest AK70mk2 drop price in the second hand market.

Well it's not like you can walk around listening with an open headphone. Go with the desktop gear like the Magni2 or Magni3.

 

[Jerda]

Sry, slow down for a sec and let me understand better: the amp modules Fiio AM3A or AM5 or Ibasso AMP3 couldn't give enough juice to drive them well?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Sry, slow down for a sec and let me understand better: the amp modules Fiio AM3A or AM5 or Ibasso AMP3 couldn't give enough juice to drive them well?

I haven't seen the specs on the Ibasso module and my internet is still slow right not it won't load, but even the AM3 and AM5 are a fraction of what you can get out of, say, a Schiit Vali2. "Well" isn't just "loud," but how clean the sound is as you crank it up. Think of a Toyota-Yamaha 1.8L I4 from the MR-S and Celica GTS vs the 3.5L V6 from the Camry V6 used in modified form for some low volume production British sports cars, and put them both in the body of a Lexus sport sedan. Both can get you up to a speeding ticket, doesn't mean the feel of the drive will be the same, ie, the 1.8L will be far from effortless acceleration out of corners (of course, just like if you reversed it and was talking about IEMs or very high sensitivity headphones, that would be like putting both engines in a Yaris, with the V6 making it clumsy assuming it can even fit).

The AM5 has enough power to get to deafening levels but for the price of the DAP and the amp module, and you'll drive a headphone that you can't walk around in anyway, you might as well get a desktop DAC-HPamp. Or what I would do is get the X7 with the default amp kit (not the non-amped module) but instead of the AM5 I'd get the Fiio K5 and dock the X7 into that. I'd only get the AM5 if I'm frequently traveling for example (or not, actually, as I'd much rather use an IEM that fits in a small Pelican case, regardless of how much power I can get out of a DAP for some headphones).

 

[Jerda]

Thanks man, will buy a magni 3 and some dac ( I still don't know if modi2,modi2 uber or multibit secondhand or something else) and maybe just an Q5 if I will desire more mobility and will get some IEM or some hp easier to drive than the hifiman ones

 

[Music Alchemist]

( I still don't know if modi2,modi2 uber or multibit secondhand or something else)

If you're going the Modi route, I'd recommend the Modi Multibit, as it's a step above all DACs under $200 that I've heard, whereas the Modi 2 doesn't sound any better to me than my laptop's DAC.

 

[Jerda]

Hey.
I got news.
My idea was to buy a second hand multibit and the new magni, but in EU the schiit is not so popular ( magni3+mimby is 530$ new...mimby+uber2 was 600$...)so I'm thinking about some alternatives...
what about buying only the magni3? Or just a dragonfly red? Seems wrong to me spend more of 500 bucks for an amp and a dac to drive a pair of cans payed 150 bucks

 

[FumblingFoo]

Unless your source has a line out, you'll be better off getting a dac/amp like the dragonfly or Schiit Fulla 2 instead of driving an amp with something like a 3.5mm headphone out to RCA splitter. Your mileage with the 3.5mm out will vary extremely, depending on whether there's a ground loop issue, which I have doing that with my setup. I don't know the headphones you're using but at $150 they'll probably be easy enough for the dragonfly / especially the Fulla 2 to drive.

 

[Jerda]

He4xx, very similar ( if not same) requirements to he400i

 

[FumblingFoo]

The dragonfly 1.2 / red are spec'd to drive those headphones, as well as the Fulla 2. I've heard the Fulla 2 but not the dragonfly series, so I can't say how they compare sound quality wise except that the dragonfly is a lot more portable and convenient. The Fulla 2 has excellent sound quality, though, but it is on the cooler and more analytical side sound signature wise.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

My idea was to buy a second hand multibit and the new magni, but in EU the schiit is not so popular ( magni3+mimby is 530$ new...mimby+uber2 was 600$...)so I'm thinking about some alternatives...
what about buying only the magni3? Or just a dragonfly red? Seems wrong to me spend more of 500 bucks for an amp and a dac to drive a pair of cans payed 150 bucks

If prices are like that why not just save up for a Violectric V200? Order it with the DAC module built in.

Or get the O2-ODAC from Head-N-HiFi in Switzerland.

 

[Jerda]

Updating: I've got like 400€ For budget, erased the idea of buying fulla or dragonfly, bye still thinking what amp/dac to buy and right now i m searching an used mimby that I could Stack with the new magni, however I am still thinking about the mojo since alchemist has said to go that route... and obviously mobility would be a great plus ( when I go outside the city for the weekend, in the kitchen, bathroom, another apartment etc) so... ok the dac of the mojo is good even if is it a delta sigma... but what about the amp capabilities with an he400i vs the magni?