[Stoogie]

Hi i want to buy a akm k550 to replace my 3 year old athm50, i will be only using it on my desktop computer, the motherboard is a asus maximus vi hero using on board sound which is pretty decent, k550's specs are 200mw at 32 ohms, i was looking at FiiO E07k, FiiO E10 even the FiiO E09k, but the E09k has no EQ settings, as you cant adjust eq as a whole on windows 7, also i have a question about power input for headphones, the E09k does 500mw at 32ohms, if you use k550's with the E09k does the E09k put out 500mw or does it automatically know that 200mw is the k550's maximum? how does that work? also what would be your opinion on a amp for me be as i want the most out of my headphones?(price limit 250, must beable to buy in AUS e.g. http://www.addictedtoaudio.com.au/ ) thanks!

I Listen too metal/hardstyle/techno/trance/house/dubstep/anime music lol/ and i play all types of games.

 

[PurpleAngel]

The AKG K550s are not a "bassy" headphone, I would say a touch more of a "clarity' headphone, then a warm headphone. Do I like the sound of my K550s, yep.
The K550s are only 32-Ohms, which means it's recommended to use them with a headphone amplifier that has an output impedance of 4-Ohms or less (the E9/E09K is 10-Ohms),
I believe the FiiO E12 has an output impedance of around 1-Ohm
A O2 (Objective 2) or Schiit Magni comes with a very low output impedance, under 1-Ohm
I'm guessing you could get a good price on a used O2 or Magni.
 
If you wanted to make a long term investment, get the Audio-GD NFB-15.32 DAC/Amp, $255 + shipping (from Hong Kong)
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/Headphoneamp/NFB1532/NFB15.32EN.htm
 
The 15.32 comes with dual WM8741 DAC chips, USB/optical/coaxial inputs.
Output impedance is 2-Ohms, works fine with my 32-Ohm K550s and does a nice job of driving my 600-Ohm headphones.
They will ship with a claimed value of $100 (they shipped to me using DHL), so import or value added tax might not be that much.

 

[Stoogie]

i dont understand how you say that you need a specific output impedence for certain ohm rated headphones, can u teach me lol?, i mean if you look at it from a totally newbie perspective, every amp i mentioned says a range of like 16-300/600 ohms for headphones, regardless of what the impedence is 10 or 16 ohm, so why is it recommended to use a lower impedance? sorry to ask so many questions lol. also about the mw question i asked in the first post, dont suppose you have an answer to that? the e12 looks nice, as you said that the k550 isnt really a bassy headphone, if i tried a amp first with athm50's say the e12 (thats 850mw at 32ohm, athm50 is 38ohm 1000mw i think) would that be a good combo ;p

 

[Stoogie]

the only thing i dislike with the athm50's is that the pads wear out and break away since they are fake leather, makes them sound open and not isolated at all ruining the bass somewhat.

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/8965/pkcj.jpg

 

[PurpleAngel]

  I don't understand how you say that you need a specific output impedance for certain ohm rated headphones, can u teach me lol?, i mean if you look at it from a totally newbie perspective, every amp i mentioned says a range of like 16-300/600 ohms for headphones, regardless of what the impedance is 10 or 16 ohm, so why is it recommended to use a lower impedance? sorry to ask so many questions lol. also about the my question i asked in the first post, don't suppose you have an answer to that? the e12 looks nice, as you said that the k550 isn't really a bassy headphone, if i tried a amp first with athm50's say the e12.
 

For getting the best audio quality from a headphone, it's recommended that the headphone's impedance (Ohms) be at least 8 to ten times (or more is fine) the impedance of whatever it is plugged into.
It's not a requirement, more like a guide line.
I plug my 50-Ohm headphones into an amp with a 10-Ohm impedance, so that 5 times the impedance and it sounds fine.
I can also plug my 600-Ohm headphones into my 1-Ohm O2 amp. So that 600 times the impedance, sounds fine.
Chances are your motherboard front speaker/headphone output has a high impedance, could be 30-Ohms, 50-Ohms, 75-Ohms, etc.
If you plugged an external headphone amplifier (like the O2, Magni, E12, etc.) into the motherboard's line-out/headphone jack, the motherboard's impedance is no longer a factor, just the external amplifier's.
 
For trying to figure out if a headphone will provide the right amount of power (mw) to a headphone?
It's really just up to you and the volume knob (or volume setting). You just up the volume setting (voltage) until you get the loudness you want.
The higher the headphones impedance, the more voltage is required to overcome the impedance and drive the diaphragm, that is inside the headphone's cup.
Outputing a lot of voltage is very very easy, but with the diaphragm in the headphone cup (and speakers), it how that voltage is applied (with a headphone amplifier) that counts.
 
The ATH-M50s usually sound about the same no matter what they are plugged into or amplifier used.
But the E12 should be a fair bit better (quality wise) at driving headphones, then the motherboard.
So I would expect the (38-Ohm) ATH-M50s to improve, using the E12.

 

[Stoogie]

so mw input is basically balanced with the resistance in ohms which outputs a specific volume in db from the cans itself so comparing mw when buying amps doesnt really matter if they can pump them loud enough for what you want?

also thanks for the help.

i do have 1 last question. if i was to buy the e12, can i leave it plugged into the USB on my computer 24/7 and still use it?

also the bass boost is nice, copied from official website:
http://fiio.com.cn/UploadFiles/main/Images/2013/1/20130128152834.jpg

 

[Stoogie]

so in short, k550 by itself $300~, or q701 +e12 $500~.. yes they cost that much in australia.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  so mw input is basically balanced with the resistance in ohms which outputs a specific volume in db from the cans itself so comparing mw when buying amps doesnt really matter if they can pump them loud enough for what you want?
also thanks for the help.
i do have 1 last question. if i was to buy the e12, can i leave it plugged into the USB on my computer 24/7 and still use it?
also the bass boost is nice, copied from official website:
http://fiio.com.cn/UploadFiles/main/Images/2013/1/20130128152834.jpg

I think so, but you should double check.