[Bayonetwork]

Hi guys, I recently bought a pair of Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro (250 Ohm) cans and a Fiio E17 portable amp. 
When comparing the 990s unamped from my macbook vs amped from macbook I dont notice any significant difference. Best I can tell is the sound may be a bit more clear with less distortion but certainly nothing significant. 
In fact I almost prefer running it unamped from my macbook using the Boom amp app because it gives me a 10 band EQ and I can play with the settings to get the sound signature want. It certainly has enough volume unamped from my macbook or iphone for my ears. 
 
When using the 990s/E17 from my xbox using the astro mixamp (xbox-->mix amp-->E17-->990) again Im not really noticing much of an improvement as I can run the 990s plenty loud straight from the mixamp and there is no discernible change in sound quality when I add the E17. My E17 is set on 0 gain and I listen to it around 25 volume when chained this way. 
 
A couple other thoughts: my 990s are new with <50 hours burn in. Also I usually hook up E17 to macbook with usb. So it goes macbook-->usb-->E17-->990s. With mixamp it goes xbox-->mixamp-->E17 (via the small 3.5 to 3.5 included)-->990s.  I set the volume on mixamp all the way up and have E17 on about 25 volume with 0 gain when I play games.
 
So, any thoughts? As it stands now Im not at all convinced that this amp is worth the money.  

 

[acti0n]

I'm not convinced an amp makes any audible difference other than loudness (by audible I mean passable in an ABX test).
 
My Macbook Air drives my DT770 Pro 80s way beyond listenable volume, yet everyone claims they still need an external amp to sound their best. I'm wondering if they're really hearing a difference, or if it's just in their heads. For example, I find it hard to believe the reviewer at http://www.headfonia.com/jdslabs-the-next-level-the-c5/ can really discern the wildly specific changes in sound between those amps that he's claiming.

 

[Bayonetwork]

Quote:

I'm not convinced an amp makes any audible difference other than loudness (by audible I mean passable in an ABX test).
 
My Macbook Air drives my DT770 Pro 80s way beyond listenable volume, yet everyone claims they still need an external amp to sound their best. I'm wondering if they're really hearing a difference, or if it's just in their heads. For example, I find it hard to believe the reviewer at http://www.headfonia.com/jdslabs-the-next-level-the-c5/ can really discern the wildly specific changes in sound between those amps that he's claiming.

Thank for the reply glad to hear Im not alone. Makes me wonder exactly what kinds of volumes people actually listen to these things with. 
I tried out the AKG Q701 before the DT990 on the same E17 amp and even though I read the Q701s are difficult to drive I still didnt see much gain in amping with the E17. I dont know if break in may have something to do. Curious to hear anyone else with similar or differing thoughts? 

 

[TrollDragon]

I have a Colorfly C3 as a source, it only has 12mw of output which does not power my DT880 Pro's at all. Plug in the E17 with a gain of 12 and I have enough power to drive the beyer's properly, tone controls as well as volume.

Now my MacBook C2D has a really noisy heaphone out jack, lots of mainboard noises make the HP jack unuseable. The E17 plugged into the USB or Optical remedies the board noise problem by working as a new DAC and Fidelia rocks out the FLAC's with noiseless ease.

The E17 as an Amplifier it boosts the C3 for my high impedance headphones and as a DAC it fixes a noisy sound card which is its designed purpose.

Maybe I just am misunderstanding what you think the E17 should do for you.

Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Bayonetwork]

Quote:

I have a Colorfly C3 as a source, it only has 12mw of output which does not power my DT880 Pro's at all. Plug in the E17 with a gain of 12 and I have enough power to drive the beyer's properly, tone controls as well as volume.

Now my MacBook C2D has a really noisy heaphone out jack, lots of mainboard noises make the HP jack unuseable. The E17 plugged into the USB or Optical remedies the board noise problem by working as a new DAC and Fidelia rocks out the FLAC's with noiseless ease.

The E17 as an Amplifier it boosts the C3 for my high impedance headphones and as a DAC it fixes a noisy sound card which is its designed purpose.

Maybe I just am misunderstanding what you think the E17 should do for you.

Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using Tapatalk 2

Thanks for the reply. I knew the E17 would amplify the volume but I thought it was necessary and it turns out it plays plenty loud unamped. I also thought it may "clean up" or even enhance the sound signature as a lot of reviews seem to mention. 
 
I should mention I have a new 2012 macbook pro w/ retina display so maybe it has decent onboard sound. I also play my music through iTunes via MP3s at 320kbps. Ive compared the MP3s to FLAC and cant tell much difference. Maybe I should use a different player?

 

[Swy05]

I'm not convinced an amp makes any audible difference other than loudness (by audible I mean passable in an ABX test).

My Macbook Air drives my DT770 Pro 80s way beyond listenable volume, yet everyone claims they still need an external amp to sound their best. I'm wondering if they're really hearing a difference, or if it's just in their heads. For example, I find it hard to believe the reviewer at http://www.headfonia.com/jdslabs-the-next-level-the-c5/ can really discern the wildly specific changes in sound between those amps that he's claiming.

When I first started getting into the portable audio world I only focused on getting the best bang for buck iems (I dont listen to headphones for personal reasons). I never paid much attention to portable amps.

On a whim I decided to pickup a fiio e6 to get my feet wet in the portable amp world.

Lemme tell you, it made a big difference. The obvious volume increase. Plus the additional increase in bass and increase in clarity, soundstage, etc. Everything came to life.

Ive since upgraded to another amp and the trend continues.

I now refuse to listen to my portable music without an amp. It just feels empty.

 

[TrollDragon]

Quote:

Thanks for the reply. I knew the E17 would amplify the volume but I thought it was necessary and it turns out it plays plenty loud unamped. I also thought it may "clean up" or even enhance the sound signature as a lot of reviews seem to mention. 
 
I should mention I have a new 2012 macbook pro w/ retina display so maybe it has decent onboard sound. I also play my music through iTunes via MP3s at 320kbps. Ive compared the MP3s to FLAC and cant tell much difference. Maybe I should use a different player?

I am not familiar with the 2012 Pro but from what you found it seems to have a good audio output already, you could try the MacBook's Optical Out / USB into the E17 and see if the sound changes for you in any way.
 
I personally don't use iTunes as it will not play my audio files, I use FLAC's as that is the best way to convert my CD's over to a digital format without any loss in sound. After it's on the computer one can convert the FLAC file to whatever you need either AAC's or ALAC for the iPod, MP3 for the car CD player or whatever... Apple Lossless (ALAC) would work as well but my C3 will not play those so instead of having to convert files 2 or 3 times FLAC is the format I use.
 
There are many who claim they can tell the difference between 320K V0 MP3's and FLAC's but it requires an very analytical listen and the differences to most would only be minor. You will find in this game there are those with the "Golden Ears" who can hear into the MHz range that would totally disagree...
 
As you look around most music listeners are out and about with Apple Ear Buds out of a phone, and they really don't care about or know anything about the bitrate of the music or they just listen to local radio station from their internet feeds...
 
So try the E17 as a DAC either Optical / USB, import one of your CD's into iTunes that you know well. Use ALAC and MP3 check the bitrate setting before importing, play and compare the onboard sound with the E17 for yourself.
 
If you are looking for an alternative to iTunes check this wiki page and thread link here.

 

[MichRT]

Well shoot, if you're in the mood to sell your e17, I'll buy