[just-a-test]

  I think, that simplified (to the bone) design of Alien is what makes it so special and so good at it's price.
 
The equastion should be headphone impedance @1khz / OI > 8, that's why Aune M1 won't work well with low impedance headphones. Which is strange, as it's got enough power to drive orthos easily, and the orthos from Hifiman and Audeze have low impedance at most. And Shozy should have a really low OI, as it's designed for IEMs propably.

OI should always be 1/8th of the headphone imp. I just said the exact opposite of what I was trying to say

 

[jot23]

Regarding the power, Alien is not suited for headphones, I think. Someone mentioned pairing with HD600... FiiO X5 can't drive them properly, so Alien won't either. The review said that DT1350 were a little underpowered, and they are 80Ohm portable headphones. Maybe it could drive 32Ohm dynamic headphones, like px100 etc.
 
Maybe it could drive Sennheiser HD25? Did anyone try that?

 

[H20Fidelity]

Regarding the power, Alien is not suited for headphones, I think. Someone mentioned pairing with HD600... FiiO X5 can't drive them properly, so Alien won't either. The review said that DT1350 were a little underpowered, and they are 80Ohm portable headphones. Maybe it could drive 32Ohm dynamic headphones, like px100 etc.

Maybe it could drive Sennheiser HD25? Did anyone try that?

That's correct.

While Alien can probably drive some full-size headphone in the lower impedance range (say < 50ohm) it's been marketed and focused towards IEM. And you'll really notice the potential with higher performance IEM. While I use Fidue A83, I'm pretty sure Alien takes them to their ceiling in performance. Bassically, what I'm saying is with something like a Tralucent 1Plus2 I believe Alien could go even further.

 

[Uberclocked]

  Someone mentioned pairing with HD600... FiiO X5 can't drive them properly

I'm pretty sure that the X5 can drive the HD600 quite nicely.  
You might be able to get the Alien close to listening levels with the HD600, but you'll probably want an amp.
I wonder if the Alien with a decent amp will match the performance of the AKs.

 

[jot23]

  I'm pretty sure that the X5 can drive the HD600 quite nicely.  
You might be able to get the Alien close to listening levels with the HD600, but you'll probably want an amp.
I wonder if the Alien with a decent amp will match the performance of the AKs.

Nope. HD600 plays loud enough on the X5, but it lacks dynamics. Don't confuse loudness with proper drive.
 
X5 sound better with Cayin C5 attached. Alien could benefit from that AMP also.

 

[Uberclocked]

  Nope. HD600 plays loud enough on the X5, but it lacks dynamics. Don't confuse loudness with proper drive.

http://www.head-fi.org/a/head-fi-buying-guide-portable-amps-dacs-daps-page-2
 
"

The X5's amp section is likewise good. I tested it with a Sennheiser HD 600, Beyerdynamic DT880, Grado RS1, Shure SE535 and Dunu DN-1000. At no time did I feel any of the headphones were under-driven, or in any way lacking. It's not going to drive power-hungry orthos, or extremely high impedance cans, but it'll drive practically anything else."

 

[NLNH]

 
Great synergy with Shozy's amp (px-m1） and the Iona amp imo....
 
Iona amp has 0.00862 ohm OI fyi 

 (no hype , but for very sensitive iems this MAY work well)
 

 

 

[Uberclocked]

 
Iona amp has 0.00862 ohm OI fyi 

 (HYPE!!!)

^Is that wood? 

 
EDIT: Yes it is!

 

[jot23]

  http://www.head-fi.org/a/head-fi-buying-guide-portable-amps-dacs-daps-page-2
 
"

The X5's amp section is likewise good. I tested it with a Sennheiser HD 600, Beyerdynamic DT880, Grado RS1, Shure SE535 and Dunu DN-1000. At no time did I feel any of the headphones were under-driven, or in any way lacking. It's not going to drive power-hungry orthos, or extremely high impedance cans, but it'll drive practically anything else."

The reviewer is wrong. I bet he didn't have a chance to listen to HD600 on a good, powerful AMP. Volume-wise, even FiiO X1 can drive HD600, but they won't sound very good. This headphones need some juice to sound as they should. I think that even Shozy Alien could "drive" HD600 like X5 does. But they won't be properly driven. 
However, HD600s sound can be decent out of this players. But in comparison with good stationary amp... no. Aune M1 has twice the power of X5.
 
Shozy Alien + Cayin C5, seems like a good set. It could be better than DX90, AKs...

 

[Uberclocked]

  The reviewer is wrong.

He's Brooko.  >.<
Yes, the HD600 will scale with summit-fi amps and sound better than with lower-cost amps, but it'll still sound great with the X5
We should probably stop or take this to the X5 thread.

 

[NLNH]

  ^Is that wood? 

 
EDIT: Yes it is!

 
LOL check my mot tag and my signature... altho that is merely a hobby with another member here....
but I guess we have some very low OI amp made.....
 
As for the hd600 concern, well, imagine you place apple earbud, hd600, and a 3 inch passive speaker together, all 3 are DD drivers,
try to imagine what will happen when you fire them up with your dap....
 
However x5 may be relatively good driving hd600 due to its gain and sound signature, well just imo
and for sure all daps on a 3.7v-4/x v battery without step up to much higher voltage won't be sounding full with your cans due to power limitations. X5's lineout is quite nice too, so as dx90, both fits nicely on to an amp of iphone 5 size
 
All depends on the maker's reference and how they want to present the design, more voltage/gain for more dynamic/soundstage but more noise, or precision but not lively sound with low gain= low noise level. Not necessarily a rule but under some cost concerns there should be some decision here and there
 
All is about synergy anyways 

 and sometimes the taste of enthusiasts are regarded as the minority

 

[Uberclocked]

   
LOL check my mot tag and my signature... altho that is merely a hobby with another member here....
but I guess we have some very low OI amp made.....

You know what would be great?
Seeing how that wooden box is open-able,  you might be able to stuff your iems in there.

 

[NLNH]

  You know what would be great?
Seeing how that wooden box is open-able,  you might be able to stuff your iems in there.

 
LOL then you should buy another wood box for your precious iems, it is quite packed inside.
that is inspired by certain cigar boxes and wood designs, another work fyi

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

another amp with industry first Class H power supp. and some other features, also with mcu inbuilt
 

No more hijacking haha

 

[just-a-test]

   
Great synergy with Shozy's amp (px-m1） and the Iona amp imo....
 
Iona amp has 0.00862 ohm OI fyi 

 (no hype , but for very sensitive iems this MAY work well)
 

 

When you get around to it, could you please measure the OI of the Shozy Alien?

 

[NLNH]

  When you get around to it, could you please measure the OI of the Shozy Alien?

 
Sure, that machine is self owned at my designer's place. anyhow OI is not very correlated to sound quality, matching is the key and it really depends on what you are using
 
Will do the measurement sometime soon for the sake of science but i need to find an unsoldered 3.5 mm plug for the connection to the probes ..
 

Spoiler: some of my own experience here

 
What I can tell is Alien works better with higher impedance IEMS at around 16-32 ohms, I have dita truth/answer, k10, Customart music 2/330 v2, AAW ciems(quite some), sm3 v2, roxanne, 16pro, uerm, ve6, velvet, pfe232/012/121 and several ciems/iems tested on the Alien and only on very few cases I found the noise floor quite high, i.e. my customart 2ba (I'm not sure what the driver is, should be some Qxxx models). With k3003 the noise floor is still acceptable and that is not really a problem anyways since it is not high at all compared to most dap