[BigO]

Hello,

First post here. I recently purchased my first headphones, the MSR7B with HM5 pads. I am a total newbie to this hobby so please bear with me. Currenty, I’m only using the non balanced cable connected to my Samung Galaxy S10 phone ,using the the Poweramp App. I tried using the recommended Neutron App but the sound was horrible to me and the equalizer seems so limited as to not produce the sound I wanted. Poweramp, on the other hand, sounds amazing to me.

The music I listen too is loaded on my 128MB micro card inserted in my phone. The genre I mostly listen to is heavy metal / 80’s metal / rock / classic rock. Examples of bands loaded on my memory card are: Alice Cooper, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Iron Maiden, Ozzy, Def Leppard, Fleetwood Mac, Scorpions, Police, Rush, Van Halen, Heart, etc. Most of these old albums are remastered 44.1KHZ 320 KBPS MP3. In total, so far I have over 300 bands with over 1,000 albums.

I understand there are those that want to enjoy their music as it was recorded. I’m not certain that is what I’m looking for myself. What I do know, is that I enjoy the music as it sounded and felt when I was at concerts. That full sound stage, with separation, clear vocals, and quick heart thumping bass, is what I am now currently getting, with the current setup.

Now for the question. In my case, is there any improvement in sound if I invest in an iFi Hip-dac Portable DAC Headphone Amp in order to plug in and listen to my music using the balanced option?

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[iFi audio]

Now for the question. In my case, is there any improvement in sound if I invest in an iFi Hip-dac Portable DAC Headphone Amp in order to plug in and listen to my music using the balanced option?

Your headphones should sound audibly better upon connecting them to a DAC/amp product. It can be our hip-dac (it is balanced, yup!) or something similar by other manufacturers, but many people report instant improvements after outsourcing DAC and headphone amp functions outside their smartphones. Good luck

 

[Mhog55]

Short answer is yes. But, you're missing a piece of the full audio chain, and that is high res files. A balanced connection will provide a little better resolution with a few additional improvements, including greater power. The dac in the Ifi will definitely be an improvement over that in your phone, but the files are equally important imo if you're looking for more. You can always convert those files to a higher sample rate, but you're going to need a bigger card if you wish to keep all that music.

 

[iFi audio]

Short answer is yes. But, you're missing a piece of the full audio chain, and that is high res files. A balanced connection will provide a little better resolution with a few additional improvements, including greater power. The dac in the Ifi will definitely be an improvement over that in your phone, but the files are equally important imo if you're looking for more. You can always convert those files to a higher sample rate, but you're going to need a bigger card if you wish to keep all that music.

I can agree on the part about files. But I would rate a track's recording quality higher than its format. Some music sounds lifeless even auditioned as DSD, and some redbook files sound far better.

 

[Mhog55]

I can agree on the part about files. But I would rate a track's recording quality higher than its format. Some music sounds lifeless even auditioned as DSD, and some redbook files sound far better.

This also holds true

 

[BigO]

Short answer is yes. But, you're missing a piece of the full audio chain, and that is high res files. A balanced connection will provide a little better resolution with a few additional improvements, including greater power. The dac in the Ifi will definitely be an improvement over that in your phone, but the files are equally important imo if you're looking for more. You can always convert those files to a higher sample rate, but you're going to need a bigger card if you wish to keep all that music.

Thank you. Interestingly, I took an online audio test to try and determine if I could tell the difference between Flac, 192kbs, and 320kps, music files. I went through the samples and in the end, I could only tell the difference between 192 and 320. I could not tell the difference between 320 and Flac.

It sounds like going balanced anyways may be worth while so I'll probably go for it.

Thanks again for everyone's input.