molecule
1000+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2014
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I've had my Koss Pro DJ 100s for a couple years now, and I really like them for their soundstage and clarity. I was aware when I got them that they would likely need an amp, but I decided to get them without an amp anyway.
I use these phones both on my desktop and laptop. Since I use a receiver for my desktop's speakers, I've been using the headphone output of the receiver for these headphones. I think this receiver has a built-in amp circuit as well as a "super-bass" mode that I leave on. The result is that I can hear the bass end well enough through the receiver at home.
In contrast, my laptop sounds very lacking on the bass side; even worse than the headphone output on my (tracfone) android phone! While I could just listen to music on my phone, I would prefer to be able to listen through the laptop since it is much faster than my phone. While I might get a newer laptop soon, I don't know whether it's soundcard would be any better or not.
So, I'm wondering if getting an amp, DAC, or both would help improve the laptop's sound quality. I'm thinking of either the Fiio E10K or Q1:
https://www.amazon.com/FiiO-E10K-Headphone-Amplifier-Black/dp/B00LP3AMC2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479574377&sr=8-1&keywords=fio+dac+amp
https://www.amazon.com/Q1-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier-Black/dp/B0157DKAU4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479574415&sr=8-1&keywords=fio+dac+amp+q1
Would these solve my laptop problem, or should I go a different route?
Also, would it be crazy to use this with my desktop (e.g. plug receiver into this instead of desktop's mobo input), or would it be better to go the soundcard route for that?
Finally, does anyone know if these would work at all with Arch Linux (what I use on both the desktop + laptop)?
Thanks in advance for the advice!
I use these phones both on my desktop and laptop. Since I use a receiver for my desktop's speakers, I've been using the headphone output of the receiver for these headphones. I think this receiver has a built-in amp circuit as well as a "super-bass" mode that I leave on. The result is that I can hear the bass end well enough through the receiver at home.
In contrast, my laptop sounds very lacking on the bass side; even worse than the headphone output on my (tracfone) android phone! While I could just listen to music on my phone, I would prefer to be able to listen through the laptop since it is much faster than my phone. While I might get a newer laptop soon, I don't know whether it's soundcard would be any better or not.
So, I'm wondering if getting an amp, DAC, or both would help improve the laptop's sound quality. I'm thinking of either the Fiio E10K or Q1:
https://www.amazon.com/FiiO-E10K-Headphone-Amplifier-Black/dp/B00LP3AMC2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479574377&sr=8-1&keywords=fio+dac+amp
https://www.amazon.com/Q1-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier-Black/dp/B0157DKAU4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479574415&sr=8-1&keywords=fio+dac+amp+q1
Would these solve my laptop problem, or should I go a different route?
Also, would it be crazy to use this with my desktop (e.g. plug receiver into this instead of desktop's mobo input), or would it be better to go the soundcard route for that?
Finally, does anyone know if these would work at all with Arch Linux (what I use on both the desktop + laptop)?
Thanks in advance for the advice!