[gwangcho]

Hello, fellow music lovers. I'm sure t his is probably mentioned and discussed somewhere in the threads, but I had a hard time finding one. So please excuse me for startign a new thread.
Having that said, I am starting a new journey with my newly acquired d7000. It's been almost two weeks since I got them. Due to my current situation, I have started my first step with iphone4(Yeah, I know). However, my experience with them so far has been just speechless. I can't believe how good they sound unamped. It was nothing like I have heard before. I can't believe they could sound any better than this. But most of you who have the d7000 would say that I haven't even tasted the ture "color" of them yet, right? So as an upgrade from unamped to pc-fi, would E9 be a good choice? Is there night and day difference between unamped and amped(with E9). If not, would you experts give me an advice on portable amps on the similar price range as the E9? Thank you for your help. 

 

[soocha2]

gwangcho,
I'm glad you're liking the D7000s. Just to give you my two cents, I've never had the chance of owning the E9s, however based on my experiences from a short-term listening session at a friend's house, I would have to say E9s don't do justice to the D7000s as it provided poor synergy. Maybe it was some malfunctioning in the device itself or the listening environment and other variables that could have affected it, nevertheless those two didn't seem to work too well with each other. If you're looking for some entry-level dacs maybe try nuforce udac as a setup - but don't trust me on this since it's just my opinion. Good luck with your d7000s, it surely is a great pair of cans

 

[gwangcho]

Thank you for your reply. It was quite the opposite from what I was expecting. haha. From what I've read, which wasn't in-depth, thought that E9 would be a good choice for a start. I want to hear more from other people who have had the change to listen to E9 with D7000. Perhaps, not that many people had the chance to listen to E9. Others with recommendation for a nice DAC/AMP at a relatively low price(100~300), it would be greatly appreciated. Help please!

 

[Smallville]

Just a heads up, but the E9 isn't a portable amp. It is a desktop amp. However, FiiO is releasing a portable amp (E11) in March, so you could wait a little and pick that up if you want.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Bad synergy? Uhh, NO.

The E9 provides a CLEAR upgrade to the D7000 vs going unamped. Not even a contest. Everything is improved. The loose and bloated bass becomes quite noticably tighter and more controlled, the mids step forward now that the bass isn't loose, the speed of the D7000 is improved (sounds noticably slower without the E9) and the treble keeps the aggressive bite.

Synergy is based off PERSONAL preference, and not overall compatibility.

I'm close to actually gettiing a new dac and amp, and it has nothing to do with the E9's performance. I'm just impulsive and wanna see what can truly be a clear upgrade from the stellar E9. For $130, The D7000 + E9 would put a smile to most people's faces. Its a very musical and engaging combo, IMHO.

The only ones I can think wouldn't like it are those who find the innate treble of the D7000 too aggressive and would like to soften it. If so, then that's not a downfall of the E9. Then, you're just gonna wanna go with an amp that rolls off treble, which the E9 doesn't do. It enhances what's already there, not alters or masks deficiencies like head-fiers seem to be into.

The D7000 isn't a demanding can whatsoever, so a powerful and clean amp like the E9 serve it quite well in terms of refining the innate sound, not transforming it into something else. If you love the D7000 unamped, you will be thrilled with the E9.

If anything, I'd get the E9 with a better DAC than the E7 to provide it with a better source, as the E9 has proven to be a powerful and engaging amp.

I would say out of all the headphones I owned, the D7000 is one of the best matches for the E9.

Like Smallville mentioned, the E9 is NOT a portable amp. I'd probably wait on the E11 myself if you're looking for a portable amp. The E9 tramples over the E7's amp in comparison with the D7000.

 

[gwangcho]

Thank you very much smallville and Mad lust envy. That was what I was expecting from E9 as I heard d7000 is quite easy to drive. And why did I assume E9 to be a portable amp? I should fix that as well. Mad lust nvy, I want to try out E9, but you don't seem to recommend E7 with it. Do you have any good suggestions for DAC?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Oh, I LOVE the E7. Its a tried and proven dac/amp. However, I don't need a portable dac/amp, so I'm looking into a desktop DAC that would be a clear and complete upgrade to the E7.

The E7 is great. It definitely works well with the D7000 as a both a portable amp, and a dac, though the dac portion is clearly superior to the amp portion.

If you wanna save money, you can't go wrong with the E7/E9 for $200 for the D7000.

Ideally, I think maybe a UDAC2 and E9 would be even better than the E7/E9, but it will cost a bit more.

I'm looking at dacs costing about 2x to 3x the price of the E7/E9 combo to pair up with the Schiit Lyr later on, so.... ymmv. XD

For the D7000 I doubt there will be any significant improvements over the E9 as an amp. I want the Lyr not for the D7000, but for the eventual purchsase of something craving some serious power later on.

 

[gwangcho]

Got it! It won't be too soon before I get a DAC or amp. Definitely going to consider E7/9 combo. Thank you so much for your input.

 

[Chapbass]

Gwangcho, I hope you dont mind me doing a small bit of thread hijacking, I'm in a similar situation.
 
 
I just bought a new pair of Sennheiser HD650's, and I'm looking for 1-2 amps to pair with it. I was considering the e7+e9 combo as well, heres my situation:
 
 
I mainly listen to music at work, this is where the e9 would go, and the e7 would plug into it when at work, source is a Lenovo laptop, so having the DAC would be nice.
 
The 2nd most listened to place would be at home, with the source being my Desktop pc.  I would use just the e7 there.
 
Finally, when I'm occasionally on the road, I could use the e7 by itself with my source probably being my Droid X phone, but it would be powering my Etymotic ER4P (I may get the P->S adapter).  I know the DX doesn't seem to have the line out that the ipods do, but I won't have an apple product in my household.
 
I'm trying to keep the entire headphone amp setup around 200 bucks, anyone have any recommendations for my setup?
 
Thanks!