Is it possible for IEMs to need an amp? do people every use amplifiers with IEMs? From what I know... amps are used when the ipod or other source cannot power the headphones, and I would imagine IEMs to have no problem being powered due to their size...
Is this true? or will a dedicated amplifier improve the sound quality of an IEM as well?
An amp will almost always improve the SQ of your headphone, may it be IEM or big cans. However, it the case of IEM, the improvement could be much less the big cans as IEM in general are very efficient. Some IEM, like ER4S and RE1, have either low sensitivity or high impedance (or both), which mean they will benefit a lot when amped.
x2 with the above. I pretty much always use an amp. Not for volume but SQ. For me, amping brings an feeling of ease to the presentation, a increased sense of space and slightly better imaging which I find enhancing to my musical enjoyment.
Originally Posted by Devon8822 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Can you use the same dedicated amp for ipod + headphones... on a computer?? like... headphones > amp > soundcard
is that doable? will it improve the quality?
thanks for you good replies guys!
What you are talking about is a DAC with amp. Basically you plug in the DAC into a USB port and it becomes an external soundcard (thereby bypassing the one in your computer). So it would be PC>usb cable>DAC>Headphones.
There are many good Amp/DAC combos out atm. Ibasso D2 Boa and Go-Vibe Petite (and maybe Go-Vibe Magnum) are had for under $200 while the Corda 2Move is about $250. Those are the cheapest options and really all great for what they do at their pricepoints.
Edit: Well you could do Soundcard>mini to mini cable>Amp>Headphones but that is inferior to using a Amp/DAC combo and I don't recommend it.
Originally Posted by Devon8822 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Is it possible for IEMs to need an amp? do people every use amplifiers with IEMs? From what I know... amps are used when the ipod or other source cannot power the headphones, and I would imagine IEMs to have no problem being powered due to their size...
Is this true? or will a dedicated amplifier improve the sound quality of an IEM as well?
IEM's theoretically are efficient enough not to need amplification, but I've not heard any of the better ones that were not improved by a good amp, and to be honest I just don't understand why that is so, but it is.
The SE530's are quite sensitive, but so much better through a great amp. I'm using iHP-120 > FLAC > iBasso D1 > iQube > SE530's and that is just sooo nice..
Originally Posted by Mr. Bojangles /img/forum/go_quote.gif You guys use 2 amps at the same time? Why, esp. for se530?
What headphones are on the pic?
No not using 2 amps. Using just the dac in the iBasso (via optical-out from the iRiver), this bypasses the inferior dac in the iRiver and replaces it with a very nice one in the iBasso (the amp in the iBasso is not used). The iQube is the amp. Trickywombat's 'phones look like Denons, so I would guess they are the Denon AH-D1001 he lists in his signature.
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