[Jeffy141]

The E17 should be enough in itself and be a pretty versatile unit. I run my E17 from and optical out from my macbook and appreciate tge improved sound quality. You can also use it to amp a portable player for mobile use with harder to drive headphones.

The E09K is a pretty good amp for the money and and has a pretty decent amount of power. 10 ohm output impedance will be fine with your 250ohm cans. For more sensitive/lower impedance headphones the E17 will do the trick.

Get the E17, if you want more juice go for the E09K. Between the 2 you'll have a buttload of power as well as input and output options. Both are pretty good sounding units.

Damn man! Great answer! THx a lot I feel better now

 

[Jeffy141]

Where is it that you live such that only FiiO and Asus is available to you?

Dubai.
I can order stuff from China but if the price is too high there is going to be a mess with the custom, I am going to have to pay taxes and it will take 6 weeks to arrive. I wanna avoid that.

There is however an official Fiio supplier and you can find Asus easily. 

 

[cel4145]

That makes sense.

I'd still encourage you to see if there are desktop DAC/headphone amp options in your area. I have owned the E17, and it's great for a portable amp, but a good desktop dac/amp would be worth it for having a great sounding setup with such good sounding headphones.

Also, if there are places that you can order from that don't take as long to receive the item, you might consider that. I just got the Meier Corda Rock desktop amp from Germany (free shipping internationally), and it was pretty quick for me. (a little over a week). Then the Objective 2 and ODAC, which many on Head-Fi consider as a reference quality, is an open source design that's built by many companies around the world. It's superior to the FiiO products, and always possible maybe someone is building and selling them local to you or selling them somewhere that would give you better shipping.

One way around import taxes some people find (depends on your country) is to order a separate DAC and headphone amp, but from different locations to keep the cost of the items down when going through customs.

I've also owned the STX. I think it's a bit better than the E17 in overall sound quality. However, soundcards can be subject to EMI from your computer. So you might get it and have noise problems. That's why if you don't need the digital sound processing of an internal soundcard, most Head-Fiers will say go with an external DAC/amp setup.

 

[Jeffy141]

That makes sense.

I'd still encourage you to see if there are desktop DAC/headphone amp options in your area. I have owned the E17, and it's great for a portable amp, but a good desktop dac/amp would be worth it for having a great sounding setup with such good sounding headphones.

Also, if there are places that you can order from that don't take as long to receive the item, you might consider that. I just got the Meier Corda Rock desktop amp from Germany (free shipping internationally), and it was pretty quick for me. (a little over a week). Then the Objective 2 and ODAC, which many on Head-Fi consider as a reference quality, is an open source design that's built by many companies around the world. It's superior to the FiiO products, and always possible maybe someone is building and selling them local to you or selling them somewhere that would give you better shipping.

One way around import taxes some people find (depends on your country) is to order a separate DAC and headphone amp, but from different locations to keep the cost of the items down when going through customs.

I've also owned the STX. I think it's a bit better than the E17 in overall sound quality. However, soundcards can be subject to EMI from your computer. So you might get it and have noise problems. That's why if you don't need the digital sound processing of an internal soundcard, most Head-Fiers will say go with an external DAC/amp setup.

Alright! Great info. Now I understand better the limitation of the E17.
I will try to shop around for the brands that you recommended. Some store may have them indeed.

 

[cel4145]

The brands I mentioned won't be in stores. LOL

HRT Microstreamer products get good recs here, but I don't know much about them. Perhaps they might be available locally to you.

 

[benthughes]

Agree with this. The Fiio setup is good for the money. The Objective 2 and ODAC would be superior and a ton of people make them ( well... Not a ton) . I never went O2 because I didn't like the ins/outs of the ones I saw. That being said, they are somewhat customizable.

Having started with the Fiio gear as mentioned I can appreciate and understand what improvements I'm getting when I upgraded. The sound quality of my current setup is improved but not in a mind blowing way. Sometimes it's just picking an amp/DAC that jives with your phones and is a flavor you enjoy. The Fiio stuff is fairly vanilla. The O2 should be a bit more resolving and maybe a bit leaner sounding. For my personal tastes I'm not sure that I'd like the DT880s with the O2. The amp would drive them well but I imagine the sound would be a bit sterile. Maybe that's your thing where I prefer a somewhat warmer, colored sound.

Anyhoo, good luck. I'd be interested to see what you get.

 

[Jeffy141]

Does anyone know the brand RME? Are they any good? They are available in Dubai.

 

[Jeffy141]

OK guys I looked at the prices and many of the options you gave me are way above what I would like to spend. I'm ok to spend between $200 and 250.

I was thinking either:
1) Schiit magni/modi.
2) E9k+E17 Fiios
3) O2+ODAC

Which one would be the best solution please? COuld you rank them?


Again, thanks a lot for your help. I'm really noob in all this.


 

 

[PurpleAngel]

  OK guys I looked at the prices and many of the options you gave me are way above what I would like to spend. I'm ok to spend between $200 and 250.
I was thinking either:
1) Schiit magni/modi.
2) E9k+E17 Fiios
3) O2+ODAC
Which one would be the best solution please? Could you rank them?

 
As you do gaming..
Get the Schiit Modi with the optical input and the Magni amp.
Connecting to your computer using optical will allow to still use the features of your on-board audio.
USB will bypass the on-board audio features.

 

[Jeffy141]

Guys I pulled the trigger.
I bought the magni/modi combi.

Here is the reason why:

First I really wanted the O2+ODAC because it is only one box. I love this. But the price is higher and I checked with the UAE customs and I broke the barrier which determines when you have to pay additional taxes.

The magni/modi is below this barrier. Too bad it is 2 boxes but I think I will survive.


For both of these options I also have to consider the shipping cost etc...
I hope I wont have any problems with them.

I also looked at the Asus STX but it is very expensive in the UAE, $400!!

E9k, E17 comes down to almost the same price as magni/modi including shipping cost but people seems to say that magni modi is better.

I hope I made the right choice

 

[cel4145]

The Modi/Magni will sound awesome

 

[Jeffy141]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to give a small update. I received mi magni/ modi combo. This is amazing I love it. At first I was disappointed because they dont provide you with the cables.....so I had to make a trip to the mall. Are the ACR cable that important? I read that you should not buy the cheap ones. Is that true? Is there really a change?

Anyway, I wanted to thank you all for helping me in my research. The boxes look very nice and they are much smaller than what I thought. I would have liked to have only one like for the 02 /0DAC but nvm.

The sound is amazing and the DT 880 finally get the power that they needed. A real pleasure. (Granted that I am just an amateur so it is probably just good for you but I dont have anything better to compared with).

Thanks again for your help!

 

[Lorspeaker]

RCA cables/  power cords / usb cables / headfone cables : do change the color of the sound..to my ears. 
( others do not hear a diff...shruggs ) ...u can finetune the sound to your taste...within your budget.
 
u can borrow a pair or two from a friend, n experiment with it for a few hours/days. 
If u dun hear a diff..then save the money

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Just wanted to give a small update. I received mi magni/ modi combo. This is amazing I love it. At first I was disappointed because they dont provide you with the cables.....so I had to make a trip to the mall. Are the ACR cable that important? I read that you should not buy the cheap ones. Is that true? Is there really a change?
Anyway, I wanted to thank you all for helping me in my research. The boxes look very nice and they are much smaller than what I thought. I would have liked to have only one like for the 02 /0DAC but nvm.
The sound is amazing and the DT 880 finally get the power that they needed. A real pleasure. (Granted that I am just an amateur so it is probably just good for you but I don't have anything better to compared with).
Thanks again for your help!

 
You could ordering some lower costing "Premium" cables off eBay.
I usually order "Premium" cables from Monoprice, in California.

 

[Jeffy141]

OK thank you guys.... I could not borrow from anyone and in the store I went they only had either the cheap kind at 10USD or some at 75USD. I took the expensive ones.. But damn it hurt me to pay that much for cables.....The brand is Van Den Hul.