Best portable amp for se425?endation!!!

[Chan Jae Lee]

Hello.... Kinda new to this comunity... I was wondering if there is a good portable amp for the shure se425...... It should be portable and it would be the best id the thing costs sub $100 Also if there is anybody who would recommend another earphone around the same proce range as a se425 feel free to give me a recommendation!!

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Unless whatever you would plug the SE425 to has a high output impedance, an amplifier will not make any difference. if you'll be using a smartphone might as well keep it all compact and easy to carry and skip the amp, as long as your phone has decent audio output hardware.
 
If you'll use it with a computer though at least carrying it around isn't a problem, and the volume knob on the amp is easier to manipulate than Windows volume control. Try the Fiio Q1.

 

[Chan Jae Lee]

Thanks for the reply. I have been using an android smartphone with the fiio e6 amp. When i use low end earphones i can clearly hear the difference in the earphones. But when i use my ath m40x headphones, i cant feel much difference..... So i was wondering if it would make a difference for th se425..... Also i have never had a DAC before so i dont know if i shiuld buy the fiioq1..... And was also thinking about buying the fiio x1 and q1 toghether.... Do u think it would be ok?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

Thanks for the reply. I have been using an android smartphone with the fiio e6 amp. When i use low end earphones i can clearly hear the difference in the earphones. But when i use my ath m40x headphones, i cant feel much difference..... So i was wondering if it would make a difference for the SE425..... 

 

What IEMs were the others you've tried? What impedance are they? If the impedance is lower than 32ohms then it's all because your smartphone loses damping factor on lower impedance loads. Maybe also that the E6 isn't dramatically a lot more power at less distortion for the M40X.

 

 

 

Quote:

Also i have never had a DAC before so i dont know if i shiuld buy the fiioq1..... And was also thinking about buying the fiio x1 and q1 toghether.... Do u think it would be ok?

 

Redundant. You'll spend $160 on those and have a brick that needs a $10 stacking kit.

 

You could just get the Fiio X3 which works as a DAC with computers and has a more powerful amplifier than the X1 so you can drive more fullsized headphones better than the smaller player.

 

[Chan Jae Lee]

thanks for the reply. In the us the fiio x3 seems to have an OK price, but since i live in South korea, the prices go up to $260.... and the x1 at $120.... So If i have to stick with the x1, what are some recommendations as in amp/dac and other things?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chan Jae Lee /img/forum/go_quote.gif

thanks for the reply. In the us the fiio x3 seems to have an OK price, but since i live in South korea, the prices go up to $260.... and the x1 at $120.... So If i have to stick with the x1, what are some recommendations as in amp/dac and other things?

 

Get the X1 and don't bother with an amp or DAC. For starters, I don't think it even has a digital output, so you can't use a DAC; and second, getting an amp that would have a lot more power with less distortion than the X1 would put you around the price of the X3, and you say you don't want to spend that much.

 

You might as well just save up for a really nice desktop amp too. The X1 can work as a DAC through the K5 or the DK1. Its circuit board doesn't allow the normal DAC-HPamp use as with the X3 but when docked into the K5 amplifier it works as a USB DAC. If it works the same way with the DK1 then you can use any other desktop amp with it. Save up, and then maybe later you can have the HD600 and use it with a decent OTL tube amplifier for example.

 

[Chan Jae Lee]

Thanks for the tip...... Cause im still a high school student i dont plan on getting a tesktop amp... Ill go with the se425and x1 and see how it goes.. Maybe ll upgrade them later. Thanks for the tip!!

 

[smy1]

thanks for the reply. In the us the fiio x3 seems to have an OK price, but since i live in South korea, the prices go up to $260.... and the x1 at $120.... So If i have to stick with the x1, what are some recommendations as in amp/dac and other things?

Is there any headphone stores in Korea? Because I am from Korea to but live US and I come to Korea once in awhile.

 

[H20Fidelity]

If you just want to try a better amp than the Fiio E06 find the Topping NX1 thread and have a read. If that's what you want, won't break the bank.

 

[Chan Jae Lee]

Well of course....... Are you referring to an offline site or online?

 

[smy1]

Well of course....... Are you referring to an offline site or online?

Store. Emart and homeplus don't carry any good headphones.

 

[HiFiChris]

Instead of getting a different amp (the E6 is quite sufficient for the SE425, though there's better), I would recommend to save a little and get other in-ears which would make a much bigger improvement than the amp. Good alternatives, going from the least ($199) to the highest ($499) price, are the Pai Audio MR3, Etymotic ER-4S/4P (or the new models), Fischer Amps FA-3/3E (same internals and sound, different bodies), Westone W20, InEar StageDiver SD2 and Noble SAVANNA.

Benefits over the SE425 would be a larger soundstage, higher resolution and better treble extension.