[mosi]

Yesterday a friend came over and we had some pretty fun day listening to our equipment, comparing phones and sources.
I was partially looking to get myself a portable amp to make my main phones sound even better.

He brought with him his new Corda Arietta, a Behringer Ultramatch Pro 2496 DAC and his PC as one of our sources.
We also compared the DAC's of my Xonar D2/PM sound card to the Behringer.
At this chain we threw his HD650, HD600, my Klipsch Image X10, DT990 and for fun my dad's old HD580.

We got really good results out of all the phones except my beloved Klipsch. With the Arietta everything sounded more full and warmer with the HD650 having the best benefit from the amp.
Other stuff we found, which might not surprise you was, that the DAC of his onboard sound card was no match to the separate Behringer DAC. Soundstage was much wider with the Behringer. Also instrument separation was way better. Funny enough the Xonar soundcard could keep up with the Behringer. Instrument separation was marginally worse but otherwise we found things to be really close.

At some point I hooked up my Klipsch to the Arietta and hardly recognized them. The sparkly highs were gone and totally tamed. They still were detailed but somehow the sparkly part for which I love them was gone. The low end got lots of added punch and now the bass was really overwhelming the rest of the music. It didn't sound pleasant anymore.

e.g. Its not that Jesse Cook doesn't have the occasional bass in his songs but this was more like Scooter had made the baseline and glued the melody of Jesse on top of that.

I was hoping the Klipsch would really benefit from the Arietta. Maybe I'd have ordered a portable from Jan but if they affect the Klipsch in the same way as the Arietta then i don't want that kind of sound.

I did a little more reading this afternoon and re-read the massive amp&iem comparison from HeadphoneAddict and am still rather clueless if the Klipsch do benefit from some sort of amp. HeadphoneAddict seemed to like his RSA Predator very much but i'd probably not need the USB DAC at all and I don't even know if RSA has some kind of return policy.

Oh well there I go again writing essay's

 

[BushGuy]

I recently did a re-test for a friend (since I also have x10, amongst others) - he had the same question as you. My feeling has been x10 is a little bit too bright........so, of my 4 portable amps (RSA P51, Xin Supermini, Pico, and Xin Reference B5), brightness in mind - I'm immediately down to Pico, and Xin Supermini.
In combination with the x10, the Pico did not have the blackness of Xin Supermini. On the flip side, the Pico, when the bass is recorded at a low level is better defined. Now, it's always possible that a small sample difference somewhere in the chain could have affected the blackness issue. But, at this juncture - to me, the overall best choice for x10 is Xin Supermini IV v.B...............of course....you have to get your hands on one

 

[mosi]

Heh yeah that's true, at some point I'd have to take a plunge. Call me picky but after seeing the shop where they sell the Xin amps, I don't really feel like placing an order there.

Better defined low end sounds like a good match for the X10, bass quantity is already good.
From your description, what do you mean by blackness? I personally don't feel the X10 are too bright. With the single flange eartips they tend to be sibilant mostly with female vocals but with the double tips things are pretty much fine. I'm still trying to figure out how the rest of the sound is affected by those tips but didn't come up with something usable.

I guess in the end I wouldn't want an amp that takes away anything from the brightness. Any more bass levels would also be bad I think, at least the sound with the Arietta seemed way too bassy and veiled.

 

[bunsco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BushGuy /img/forum/go_quote.gif I recently did a re-test for a friend (since I also have x10, amongst others) - he had the same question as you. My feeling has been x10 is a little bit too bright........so, of my 4 portable amps (RSA P51, Xin Supermini, Pico, and Xin Reference B5), brightness in mind - I'm immediately down to Pico, and Xin Supermini. In combination with the x10, the Pico did not have the blackness of Xin Supermini. On the flip side, the Pico, when the bass is recorded at a low level is better defined. Now, it's always possible that a small sample difference somewhere in the chain could have affected the blackness issue. But, at this juncture - to me, the overall best choice for x10 is Xin Supermini IV v.B...............of course....you have to get your hands on one

I have a klipsch X10/RSA Tomahawk combo at the moment, and Im thinking of purchasing a pico-slim to replace the Tomahawk.

As you have experience of the X10/pico sound signiture - would you say its worth me going for the pico or sticking with the Tomahawk?

If you'd be so kind - can you describe your experiences of the pico/X10 combo, stating pros and cons.

Many thanx for any help given.

 

[OPTiK]

I'm picking up a pico slim soon (in the first 20 for preorder), so I'll keep you posted on how it affects my x10's. The x10's seem to be a hard iem to amp in terms of noticing a big difference before and after.