Beyerdynamic DT 880 with Fiio A5 : Having second thoughts...

[PurpleAngel]

What would your suggestion be for a good portable DAC/AMP combo under $200. I know I guess I am asking for too much

Fiio X3 (MK II or MK III), portable DAP, it can also be used as a USB DAC/amp, with a computer (PC or Mac or other).

 

[abesh]

Check the new FiiO X3 Mark III which is both a DAP and a USB DAC/Amp. I've been testing one for a while and it's a solid device.
It comes with dual DACs from Texas Instruments and has both single ended and balanced outputs. It has a line out for the A5 and can decode DSD64 files.
Fully featured and good looking device for the money. It's still a very recent product so more firmware updates and improvements are expected for the following months.

Fiio X3 (MK II or MK III), portable DAP, it can also be used as a USB DAC/amp, with a computer (PC or Mac or other).

Awesome ! Looks great and seems to be within my budget too. What would be your recommendations for music files ? No I need to go the lossless way (FLAC) or should higher bit rate mp3s suffice as well ? Where do you buy your music from ?

 

[Me x3]

FLAC, WAV, APE, DSD are always safer than mp3 if you aim for maximum sound quality.
Keep in mind you need real lossless files from good origin.
(mp3 transcoded to look like flac, won't sound like the real thing)

HDTracks is a nice place to get various recordings.
Some great recordings I have come from Sound Liaison, Chesky, Reference Recordings, LINN, 2L, Telarc, FIM, Stockfish Records, Naxos...

You won't find many top class recordings for very popular genres, more often than not all these audiophile labels make classical, jazz, vocal, acustic, you know...

 

[abesh]

FLAC, WAV, APE, DSD are always safer than mp3 if you aim for maximum sound quality.
Keep in mind you need real lossless files from good origin.
(mp3 transcoded to look like flac, won't sound like the real thing)

HDTracks is a nice place to get various recordings.
Some great recordings I have come from Sound Liaison, Chesky, Reference Recordings, LINN, 2L, Telarc, FIM, Stockfish Records, Naxos...

You won't find many top class recordings for very popular genres, more often than not all these audiophile labels make classical, jazz, vocal, acustic, you know...

Thank you ! I have been looking at hdtracks from your previous post on this thread and it seems to have quite a bit of the music I like (mostly classic rock)... I will look into the other too !

 

[buke9]

A amp is not going to make the soundstage get a heck of a lot bigger and make things much bassier either. That has more to do with the headphone and music file. Some amps do help out with those things but a $125 portable amp is one I’m not betting on to do it. As far as highrez music goes I would not go there right now if I were you as I have a few 24 bit recordings of which I have on CD and not a big difference in the two to me a bit of difference but I don’t think worth the added expense . Also well recorded music sounds good on a well encoded 320 kbs mp3 some have a hard time telling the difference. That is from someone that has a Schiit Yggdrasil and Amps and Sound Kenzie listening thru HD-800’s and Mr Speakers Ether-C’s among others and I would just buy the cd’s and rip them and save yourself a bunch of money as you can get cd’s on Amazon for like $6 to 10 and most 24 bit is double that.

 

[abesh]

A amp is not going to make the soundstage get a heck of a lot bigger and make things much bassier either. That has more to do with the headphone and music file. Some amps do help out with those things but a $125 portable amp is one I’m not betting on to do it. As far as highrez music goes I would not go there right now if I were you as I have a few 24 bit recordings of which I have on CD and not a big difference in the two to me a bit of difference but I don’t think worth the added expense . Also well recorded music sounds good on a well encoded 320 kbs mp3 some have a hard time telling the difference. That is from someone that has a Schiit Yggdrasil and Amps and Sound Kenzie listening thru HD-800’s and Mr Speakers Ether-C’s among others and I would just buy the cd’s and rip them and save yourself a bunch of money as you can get cd’s on Amazon for like $6 to 10 and most 24 bit is double that.

Wonderful ! This is not something that I had thought about. I have quite a few of these CDs rotting away and maybe converting them into flac would be the cheapest way to go about things !
Thank you !

PS : I do want to get a Schiit Tube amp sometime down the line Just need to save up enough to justify getting one (and also a job that makes me travel less)

 

[Danger Mouse]

I recently acquired a set of DT 880s (250 ohms) and bought a Fiio A5 to drive them. While I like the combo, I was wondering if I should have tried out other amps namely, the Cayin C5, Topping NX5 and maybe the Aune B1 which is a little above the price range I am looking at, before I made the jump. The A5 is a great amp but I find the bass (even with the boost) and the soundstage a little bit lacking.

What other amps should I be looking at in the sub $200 price range? Looking mostly at amps and I do not want a DAC at the moment.

PS : Portability is a must for me.

Can I just ask please, how loud can you get your DT880's with the A5 (on low & high gain)?

I've got the A5 already but I'm considering some 250ohm headphones but concerned that it'll not be enough power?

Otherwise I may opt for the Magni 3 headphone amp?

Thanks

 

[abesh]

Can I just ask please, how loud can you get your DT880's with the A5 (on low & high gain)?

I've got the A5 already but I'm considering some 250ohm headphones but concerned that it'll not be enough power?

Otherwise I may opt for the Magni 3 headphone amp?

Thanks

With the low gain not so much. With the high gain it gets quite a bit loud about midway or a bit from it. The A5 has more than enough power for any 250 ohm headphones in my opinion. Check out my post history for how the A5 sounds with the DT880 (spoiler: really good)

 

[buke9]

Wonderful ! This is not something that I had thought about. I have quite a few of these CDs rotting away and maybe converting them into flac would be the cheapest way to go about things !
Thank you !

PS : I do want to get a Schiit Tube amp sometime down the line Just need to save up enough to justify getting one (and also a job that makes me travel less)

Really hard to beat a cd for digital source for the price and quality. As for Schiit tube amps I would look elsewhere as I had a Valhalla 2 a while back and it was more solid state sounding than my Cavalli Liquid Carbon the Mjolnir 2 is the only tube amp they have that I liked. Not a Schiit hater but no a big fan of their amps as I do have a Schiit Sys , Mani and Freya so I do think they make good stuff but for tube amps not my favorite.

 

[abesh]

Really hard to beat a cd for digital source for the price and quality. As for Schiit tube amps I would look elsewhere as I had a Valhalla 2 a while back and it was more solid state sounding than my Cavalli Liquid Carbon the Mjolnir 2 is the only tube amp they have that I liked. Not a Schiit hater but no a big fan of their amps as I do have a Schiit Sys , Mani and Freya so I do think they make good stuff but for tube amps not my favorite.

Understood. I was also looking at Little Dot for tube amps. Still pretty much a noob and assimilating all of this information has been a little overwhelming but fun nonetheless

 

[Me x3]

Can I just ask please, how loud can you get your DT880's with the A5 (on low & high gain)?

I've got the A5 already but I'm considering some 250ohm headphones but concerned that it'll not be enough power?

Otherwise I may opt for the Magni 3 headphone amp?

Thanks

FiiO A5 can drive the 600 Ohm Beyers with ease but keep in mind you need a source with at least 1 Vrms to let the A5 provide most of its power.
Anyway, it's adviceable to keep the volume at moderate levels, the headphones will perform better and your hearing will remain 100% safe.

 

[buke9]

Understood. I was also looking at Little Dot for tube amps. Still pretty much a noob and assimilating all of this information has been a little overwhelming but fun nonetheless

I have yet to hear a Little Dot amp so I have no comments on them. I was about to buy a Little Dot MKIII then a Bottlehead Crack popped up for $200 so I went with it. I’m glad I did as I have yet to hear anything as good with the HD-650’s (6xx’s in my case) it is just right for them . It was also nice with the 880 250’s that a guy brought to a meet also .

 

[abesh]

I have yet to hear a Little Dot amp so I have no comments on them. I was about to buy a Little Dot MKIII then a Bottlehead Crack popped up for $200 so I went with it. I’m glad I did as I have yet to hear anything as good with the HD-650’s (6xx’s in my case) it is just right for them . It was also nice with the 880 250’s that a guy brought to a meet also .

Awesome ! I thought the Bottlehead Crack was something you had to assemble yourself ?
Head-Fi local meets are something that I have heard about. How do I find out if one's happening locally where I live ?

 

[buke9]

Awesome ! I thought the Bottlehead Crack was something you had to assemble yourself ?
Head-Fi local meets are something that I have heard about. How do I find out if one's happening locally where I live ?

https://www.head-fi.org/forums/local-regional-head-fi-meets-parties-get-togethers.24/ Sorry for that as the forum has killed any way for a idevice to work normally. I hope this is right as Head-if is just being screwey right now.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Awesome ! Looks great and seems to be within my budget too. What would be your recommendations for music files ? No I need to go the lossless way (FLAC) or should higher bit rate mp3s suffice as well ? Where do you buy your music from ?

I buy 256k mp3 files, off Amazon,
once in a while, for a really special albums (like anything Pink Floyd), I'll buy FLAC files from HDtracks.