Weird my Clear I have confortable volume at 50 in low gain with my X7II which has similar power output compared to the M11
Are you both each using single-ended or balanced? Also, it is certainly possible for a source to be good at driving current-hungry planars but not high-impedance dynamics such as an HD800 (or vice versa), but the impedance on the Focal headphones is not that high, is it?
I'm single-ended still. Does the balanced cable open it up for more power output? Google was my source for the Elear Ohms. I read on Head-Fi that someone tested them to be closer to 100ohm if I'm not mistaken. Maybe my hearing is trash compared to you dudes. 130-140dB car audio setups during high school and night clubbing probably took the edge off. Still, I don't feel like they have the same punch as they do connected to the Sony CAS-1 DAC/Amp so I can't personally recommend the M11Pro for similar cans.
When the budget is low the 3.5 amp will not be able to give you a lot of MW for demanding iems or headphones , so with balance configuration you will get more MW which can improve the sound.
Sweet, thanks for educating me. I will order some balanced cables and get back to this thread with an update on how it works. M11Pro + FH7 are a match made in heaven at this price point folks, if you're on the fence about the same combo I'd say go for it immediately.
Yeah you definitely need to use full size headphones balanced on the M11/Pro. SE is less than half the power, and balanced opens up the sound so nicely. I'm at 90/120 at good listening volume with the HD800 in balanced mode. Elears should be simple to drive in balanced mode.
Interesting to hear if the M11 Pro suffers from the painfully loud white noise issue when you turn it on whilst charging? That is the reason i returned the M11 ( plus the fact it sounded thin and lacked dynamics to me).
I don't own M11 or M11 PRO, but I DO own the Fiio Q1MK2 dac/amp. I can say for certain, that balanced output is the way to go to get better power. I never use single-ended...every earphone I use has a balanced 2.5mm plug. Better power, separation, stage...everything. If I'm not mistaken, M11 puts out over half a watt in balanced mode...over 2.5 times more than my Q1MK2. And I can get my iems deafeningly loud on the Q1MK2, with 32 ohm iems. My Takstar Pro82 at 82 ohms also works great. My Massdrop Hifiman HE4XX...not so great. If you are looking to drive planars or high impedance/low sensitivity headphones off a DAP; you're looking in the wrong direction, IMHO. Those types of cans need more juice than a DAP can deliver. Better to use those with a desktop system with a higher powered amp and dac.
Plenty of planars can be driven by some DAPs, but you're looking towards things like the Kann Cube and DX220 with Amp 8 (12 and 9Vrms respectively) for those. Stupid hungry cans like HE-6, Susvara and Abyss still out of reach, but majority of other planars will work fine.
I ordered mine from Amazon on Sep 28th and got it in the mail on Oct 2nd. Here's the listing: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XPTM5YS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Balanced cables on the way. Thanks for the information guys!
I've been looking all over the internet and I thought it wasn't available yet,. SMH, getting old .. Thanks!
If the guy thinks the EQ is rubbish, then he's entitled to say it. Doesn't need to be sugarcoated. Calling people rude for having an opinion of a feature on a device lol nice one mate.
I would say if you need EQ to make your dap/IEMs sound good, you’ve bought the wrong gear. Just my 0.02.