[Saaki]

I just picked up a pair of V-moda M-80s and I love everything about them. My last two pairs of headphones were the Soundmagic E10 and NuForce Ne6, both great, but the M-80s are just fantastic. I currently play all my music off straight of my Galaxy S3 (AT&T version) with Poweramp or off of my Macbook Pro with iTunes. I only really listen to MP3s at 320kbps, and have not yet gotten into FLAC. Now that I have a nice pair of cans I'm wondering if it would be wise to get a portable amp/DAC to make them sound their best. I was looking at either the FiiO E7, FiiO E07K, FiiO E18 or maybe just to change it all up and get the FiiO X3, although the $100 price point of the E7 and E07K is attractive. Do any of you have recommendations to me for how I can get the best performance out of my M-80s? I also find myself wondering how bulky it would be to carry around my S3 (with huge extended battery) plus amp/DAC. For those with a similar setup is it manageable?

 

[cel4145]

I would personally go for the X3 over the separate dac/amp. It's the same dac/amp hardware as in the E17, only supposedly a little better optimized.

Best to verify that the E7 and E07K work well with the S3. Some of FiiOs older dac/amp designs (like the E17) would not work correctly with some phones.