Broese
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Can I use an amp lie the fiio e11 with an android phone and still expect a similar increase in quality to an mp3 player or ipod? I'm new to amps and just confused about LOD and DAC
Fiio E11 with android?
sari0n
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Yes, the E11 should increase the sound quality in most cases. How much it does depends on your earphones and also your phone though.
Basically, a mp3 music player needs to have both a DAC and and amp to produce sound for your headphones.
A mp3 file is digital, meaning it is all 1's and 0's, as opposed to analog which would be something like a vinyl disk. A DAC is a Digital to Analog converter, meaning that it takes the .mp3 file and converts it to actual sound waves and music. This analog signal is then fed through the amplifier, which boosts the signal and provides power so that your headphones can produce the sound.
There is a DAC and also an amplifier built into your phone as well as pretty much every mp3 player. However, a phone will typically not have a very good amplifier since there isn't too much room to fit one in. Using an external amp will improve the sound quality and will also allow you to provide more power to your headphones since it has its own power source.
A LOD is a Line Out Drive or Dock or something. It basically is a special cable available for certain players that allows you to bypass the built in amp, so that the signal goes directly from the DAC to your own amp. This is good because there's no need to amplify the signal twice and if the internal amp was a really bad one then you can prevent the music from being distorted by skipping past that section and going straight to your own amp.
Basically, a mp3 music player needs to have both a DAC and and amp to produce sound for your headphones.
A mp3 file is digital, meaning it is all 1's and 0's, as opposed to analog which would be something like a vinyl disk. A DAC is a Digital to Analog converter, meaning that it takes the .mp3 file and converts it to actual sound waves and music. This analog signal is then fed through the amplifier, which boosts the signal and provides power so that your headphones can produce the sound.
There is a DAC and also an amplifier built into your phone as well as pretty much every mp3 player. However, a phone will typically not have a very good amplifier since there isn't too much room to fit one in. Using an external amp will improve the sound quality and will also allow you to provide more power to your headphones since it has its own power source.
A LOD is a Line Out Drive or Dock or something. It basically is a special cable available for certain players that allows you to bypass the built in amp, so that the signal goes directly from the DAC to your own amp. This is good because there's no need to amplify the signal twice and if the internal amp was a really bad one then you can prevent the music from being distorted by skipping past that section and going straight to your own amp.
Broese
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Anyone? also would I be able to use the e11 with both my android and PC if not what would you guys recommend? I'm thinking about getting a koss dj100 and heard its best amped so I was just wondering what that would take I was hoping to spend around $100 for the headphones + amp but am willing to go more if I see a big performance increase
Broese
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So would you recommend using the the amp with an optimums slider android and a DJ100 or do you think the phone would distort the audio to the point where there is little benefit from the amp? on my phone do you think the e5 wold produce similar quality to the e11?
Papander
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I think it is advised to not double amp. Android phones don't have LOD so you can't bypass the internal amp.
Also iirc E11 is battery powered portable amp and it can't be used while charging.
Why not get some easy to drive IEM's instead, so that you don't need to buy an amp.
Also iirc E11 is battery powered portable amp and it can't be used while charging.
Why not get some easy to drive IEM's instead, so that you don't need to buy an amp.
sari0n
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In your particular case I'd just get an E5 since it's so cheap. A E11 is much better but you won't be able to use it to its full potential with a source like your phone.
An amp only device such as the E5 or E11 will improve sound quality the same amount for both a phone and a PC because it is only an external amp. Honestly it's somewhat debatable if it's even worth it since you are going to be double amping and your sources are so poor. I'm only going to say it's going to help a bit since the DJ100's probably could use the extra power.
If you were to buy a amp + DAC combo like a E7 or E17, you will notice much greater improvement from your PC because you can bypass both the internal DAC and AMP. The improvement from your phone still be minimal since you cannot replace the internal DAC of your phone.
In a nutshell, a E5 or E11 only slightly improve music from your phone and PC.
A E7 or E17 will greatly improve music from your PC but will only slightly improve the sound from your phone.
An amp only device such as the E5 or E11 will improve sound quality the same amount for both a phone and a PC because it is only an external amp. Honestly it's somewhat debatable if it's even worth it since you are going to be double amping and your sources are so poor. I'm only going to say it's going to help a bit since the DJ100's probably could use the extra power.
If you were to buy a amp + DAC combo like a E7 or E17, you will notice much greater improvement from your PC because you can bypass both the internal DAC and AMP. The improvement from your phone still be minimal since you cannot replace the internal DAC of your phone.
In a nutshell, a E5 or E11 only slightly improve music from your phone and PC.
A E7 or E17 will greatly improve music from your PC but will only slightly improve the sound from your phone.
reddragon
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do phones have bad internal dacs?
Papander
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iphone seems to have pretty decent dac. Also I recently tried using my K601 straight from android galaxy s phone (I don't use it for music it only has 2 songs in it) it didn't sound super bad. I have to test more with it when I have the time. Perhaps after I have bought some decent IEM's, so I have something to compare it to. But if for some weird reason I would want to use my phone and K601 together it would work fairly. I wouldn't recommend it though as it lacked all the depth in sound. But that has nothing to do with the dac, K601 just isn't designed to work from a phone.
Also I'm not a huge fan of using full sized headphones with portable source like phone. It is just so inconvenient, you have 3+ meters long cable, the headphones are big in size and take a lot of room after you are done using them and your pocket is tearing from it seams, because it is stuffed with an amp + portable player. IEMs make so much better choice. No long cables, small in size and no need for amps.
Also I'm not a huge fan of using full sized headphones with portable source like phone. It is just so inconvenient, you have 3+ meters long cable, the headphones are big in size and take a lot of room after you are done using them and your pocket is tearing from it seams, because it is stuffed with an amp + portable player. IEMs make so much better choice. No long cables, small in size and no need for amps.
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