PsychicKangaroo
New Head-Fier
Hey guys,
Long time lurker. Purchased a Fiio E10 with the help of this site in 2012 to pair with my Ath-M50's, but I couldn't tell any difference with the E10's Wolfson chipset vs my phone. My young ears at the time were sensitive enough that a phone also provided enough volume, but a few years later I naturally switched to only using the E10 because of the need for more volume. I also chose the E10 in preparation for my next headphone, one of the Beyerdynamic DT's. I bought the DT 990 250 Ohm recently and have been listening to them with the E10 at high gain dialed up to (5-6)/8 on average. However, plugging into my laptops cheap USB ports (supplied less power than desktop, even while on charge) caused me to turn the Fiio up all the way up to 8 because the sound quality dropped as well as the volume. Listening to the DT's at (5-6)/8 for the past week I've noticed a familiar issue I've had experience in, it gets worse over time. Turning the dial up to 8 made the issue accelerate. I was sure that the E10 was clipping my headphones. I found a review made by NwAvguy (creator of the Objective 2 on the net) for the E10, he stated that on high gain.. the Fiio will clip at 50% volume, at 5 on the dial. No issues with it in low gain however. It's a pain and I've learnt my lesson. I've narrowed down my new amp choices to be either an Objective 2 which I can get for $212 Au, or a Fiio K5 for $159 Au. I'll be using the lineout of my Fiio E10 to connect to the amp from desktop and my phone is a Galaxy Note 5 with an adequate Wolfson chipset as well which I can also connect to either amp.
I need some help choosing as my research has come down to mainly brand bias on the net atm, I also like the objective 2's extra portability with its built-in batteries but my priority is sound quality reproduction. The Fiio K5 by spec is a no-brainer, a lot more power, but products are more than just specs.
Thank you for reading. Looking forward the replies!
Long time lurker. Purchased a Fiio E10 with the help of this site in 2012 to pair with my Ath-M50's, but I couldn't tell any difference with the E10's Wolfson chipset vs my phone. My young ears at the time were sensitive enough that a phone also provided enough volume, but a few years later I naturally switched to only using the E10 because of the need for more volume. I also chose the E10 in preparation for my next headphone, one of the Beyerdynamic DT's. I bought the DT 990 250 Ohm recently and have been listening to them with the E10 at high gain dialed up to (5-6)/8 on average. However, plugging into my laptops cheap USB ports (supplied less power than desktop, even while on charge) caused me to turn the Fiio up all the way up to 8 because the sound quality dropped as well as the volume. Listening to the DT's at (5-6)/8 for the past week I've noticed a familiar issue I've had experience in, it gets worse over time. Turning the dial up to 8 made the issue accelerate. I was sure that the E10 was clipping my headphones. I found a review made by NwAvguy (creator of the Objective 2 on the net) for the E10, he stated that on high gain.. the Fiio will clip at 50% volume, at 5 on the dial. No issues with it in low gain however. It's a pain and I've learnt my lesson. I've narrowed down my new amp choices to be either an Objective 2 which I can get for $212 Au, or a Fiio K5 for $159 Au. I'll be using the lineout of my Fiio E10 to connect to the amp from desktop and my phone is a Galaxy Note 5 with an adequate Wolfson chipset as well which I can also connect to either amp.
I need some help choosing as my research has come down to mainly brand bias on the net atm, I also like the objective 2's extra portability with its built-in batteries but my priority is sound quality reproduction. The Fiio K5 by spec is a no-brainer, a lot more power, but products are more than just specs.
Thank you for reading. Looking forward the replies!
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