Merdril
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2009
- Posts
- 122
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- 10
Let me preface this by saying my perspective is unusual; I like subsonic bass and eschew bass frequencies above 30 Hz. For me, the reason is that these frequencies tend to drown out the ambiance in songs, make vocals sound closed, make bass notes sounds monotone, and generally crap up the sound in a song. Anyway, back to the matter at hand, bass boosting. I'm not sure how you listen to your tunes on the go; for me, I convert them to .m4a with DSP's applied using foobar2000 and upload them to my iPod Touch 3G. The output chain is a NuForce LOD to the FiiO E5 with bass boost on. The iPod has no good way of boosting bass (the touch as an app called Equalizer that would be perfect, if it also functioned as a music player. It applies real-time parametric equalization, but it does not have continuous play or playback controls), so I assume that you do that for whatever portable device you have (unless of course, your device, like many, has a graphic equalizer. Seriously, why doesn't the iPod come with one?). As far as which amp to get, I would go with the iBasso line. Although I haven't heard them, I'm sure that they are better than the FiiO E5. The bass boost does nothing but muddy up the sound and further attenuate the highs (there is already a noticeable attenuation of highs listening straight from my source compared to listening through the FiiO E5) to slightly boost bass. In honesty, I do not like bass boost functionality as it offers no control over which frequencies are boosted and by how much. I'm now using the Sony CMT-FX300i as an amp and it has its own bass boost feature (DSGX) which does a much better job than the FiiO E5 at bass quality and quantity (and also sound quality). However, I think your best bet would be to find an amp with relatively high input impedance (to get rid of hiss from the source) and a high output gain (this is what I'm planning to do). The best bass boost you can do is straight from foobar IMO; I have convolution filters that increase subsonic frequencies to an audible level, and I would like to work on the other bass frequencies, but the output level reaches 0 dB rather quickly, and my frequencies are already cut through equalization, and are also attenuated to 40% of their output level using the matrix mixer. If I lower them any further to increase bass, then I won't be able to hear my music since the FX300i is already at max volume (the Big Joe Power Amp would solve my problems
). You could also look at hardware equalizers, but that's outside the scope of your question. To put my criticism of the FiiO E5 into perspective, you can get it for $21, where as the iBasso T3 is $119. If the iBasso isn't better, then something is wrong (I'm looking at you, Beats by Dr Dre).
However, after some serious attempts, the XB700 does not get very punchy (without destroying the sound quality). It will give you very strong kicks from 30 Hz and below, which is what they seem engineered to do. So if you like power over punch, then you will be happier equalizing the XB700.
However, after some serious attempts, the XB700 does not get very punchy (without destroying the sound quality). It will give you very strong kicks from 30 Hz and below, which is what they seem engineered to do. So if you like power over punch, then you will be happier equalizing the XB700.
