[Gabe Springhett]

Hey guys, I'm pretty new to the whole "good headphone" thing. I recently bought a pair of Audio Technica ATH-M50. I figured I would also buy a small headphone amp for them so my iPad and it together would better drive the headphones. I was wondering if I'm going even see benefit from the Fiio E3? I'm 16 years old, and I spent every penny I had on the headphones and the mini amp. Should I bother even using the amp? Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you, Gabe

 

[alv4426]

return the amp if possible, then use the money to buy like 30 tacos... man im hungry 

. 
whoops didnt know that amp is only $8. I guess you can try it out for awhile to see if you can tell the difference but I really doubt you will

 

[Gabe Springhett]

Bought off ebay, already shipped. Would you say this will worsen the sound quality in any way?

 

[alv4426]

 You might get some interference(dont know if I should call it that)  if you dont use a LOD like this one http://www.amazon.com/FiiO-L3-Line-Cable-iPhone/dp/B003UCESP8/ref=sr_1_7?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1337983662&sr=1-7
 
What that does is bypass the ipads internal amp and uses the one in whatever amp you want to use. But I dont think I would even buy one if I was you since I think the ipads amp will outperform that Fiio anyway.

 

[Gabe Springhett]

Well the Fiio does put out 70 mw of extra power which isn't super powerful, but seems like more than the iPad would put out. What do you think?

 

[Necrontyr]

It won't have a major impact on quality, but it will help you drive the ATH's louder with less distortion, thats about the only noticeable effect you'll see.
 
Your a smart kid getting the ATH-M50's at your age, at 16 by biggest buy was a half decent gaming headset, Now at 21 I can afford the good stuff, Hifiman HE-400's paired with an E17 , woot  
 
But for a while I used the Fiio E1 with my iTouch and Sennheiser HD595's, and tbh I enjoyed the sound more than from the iPod jack. The E3 is a better amp than the E1 by a fair margin too, but noticing a difference will come down to music selection and a bit of testing, going back and forth on the same track etc.
 
On another note though, using an E3 with an iPad is gonna be annoying, a whopper dangly device hanging off a cable from your line out.
 
Keep on reading, and save up for more expensive shhtuff, or Alternatively ban this website from your browsers and delete your account, because if you wanna have any money at all try get rid of the upgrade itch before its too late

 

[Gabe Springhett]

Well thank you for the help. I'm very new to headphones, and it might seem weird that I'm spending my hard earned money on headphones instead of video games, but that's because I was born loving music and hearing it at a high quality. If you heard my home stereo setup you would love it (that is if you like the vintage klipsch sound) by the way my name is Gabe Springhetti (it wouldn't fit my full name as a username haha)

 

[a_tumiwa]

if you are hardcore basshead, i think no problem with E3

 

[dhruvmeena96]

Many people say E3 is bad as it disengage frequency, hiis and distort

But these problem occur in only certain circumstances

1. Never keep them near a smartphone or use a dedicated music player

2. Use high quality AAA batteries like eneloop pro

A good mod which can remove rf noise from battery electron movement
Wrap your battery with aluminum tape

 

[dhruvmeena96]

E3 and E6 sound same in a way and different in a way

As E3 is simple buffer power chip with same Fiio integrity.... they crappified the E3 by making body plastic and circuitry to prone to rf and emf.

Jitter is less than E6 due to simplicity

If both ran in ideal with E6 to be at power saving mode(lower db)
They both sound same(SQ wise)

Modding E3, if any body is in hardware/soldering can inverse the right channel by 180 degree to remove extra low frequency limit

And pasting aluminum tape over the circuitry, inside of body and on battery will remove all rf and emf troubling the sq of e3

 

[dhruvmeena96]

Actually ground is pretty nice on E3.....all noise and distortion comes due to channel sine balance and super prone to environmental factors like rf(when calling or using radio on ur phone with this ampnearby to source.......

 

[dhruvmeena96]

Otherwise e3 can have nice match with e6 and e5....
Some of my friends modded e3 completely out of box to make it simple to use and long to last, with pro audio quality

As i mention e3 is not a full amp but a buffer to provide power to the requirred device. They modded it with adding pretty high grade components like nihicon mini capacitor etc.

Then theythey redesigned the body with aluminium with holding of 4 AAA battery.

That e3 soundedsounded compdifferent from the different from the stock e3.

No noise , pretty to dark sound for any amp to achieve.

And yeah, they designed the new circuitry in such a way which remove internal opamp flior noise effectively than e18

Total price bumped to 45$, but the sq was like of O2 on adrenaline, dammed to tight bass for warm signature.......it was flatter than neutral signature

Treble started toto go clearer and clearer....sibilant prone song started to sound clear(e3 stock can also do till a limit).

 

[dhruvmeena96]

So if ur buying e3, pls dont use to sensitive head gear plus dont use a phone(go flight mode or just keep it away from source).

Plus dont use radio apps
Pc use is fine but get a long aux cable