[Hifi Man]

I have the FiiO E7 but I feel kind of half ass'd using this portable amplifier as my main desktop DAC and AMP. I was thinking of returning it and getting the schiit magni and modi. Then that would make my AKG K240 sound really good and my Sennheiser HD 558. Also this way I could upgrade in the future to something like the Sennheiser HD 650.
 
Would this DAC and AMP be overkill for the headphones I own? Would I just be better off with something like the FiiO E17? Or is the E7 totally adequate?

 

[wafflezz]

Bump. 

I have the same question. I think it should be fine, but then again...I'm not sure. Obviously the amp isn't going to be doing a lot of work to power these but even then it might be too powerful

 

[Hifi Man]

I wonder if the Magni can be used alone without a DAC.

 

[drewhaj]

the E17 wont be good enough for the 650's, but great for what you have now.  As far as damaging headphones, that usually happens from under powering them.   try the NuForce: 
 
http://www.nuforce.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=25:icon-ido&Itemid=1421#specifications
 

 

[Hifi Man]

Quote:

the E17 wont be good enough for the 650's, but great for what you have now.  As far as damaging headphones, that usually happens from under powering them.   try the NuForce: 
 
http://www.nuforce.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=25:icon-ido&Itemid=1421#specifications
 

that thing is marketed as an iDevice dac/amp. I'm going to be using this out of my computer's motherboard.

 

[sinphase]

The fiio e9/e7 combo sounds pretty great with my HD650s, but note that the combo will only power the 650's to about 80% of their full potential. Never the less the fiio combo is a perfect budget choice that only limits you if you think you'll want to upgrade again soon, as they for sure don't have what it takes to power many other headphones. I think there's a thread that tested the e9 with a whole range of other headphones like the HD800s, and that was pretty helpful to my buying decision.

 

[Hifi Man]

Quote:

The fiio e9/e7 combo sounds pretty great with my HD650s, but note that the combo will only power the 650's to about 80% of their full potential. Never the less the fiio combo is a perfect budget choice that only limits you if you think you'll want to upgrade again soon, as they for sure don't have what it takes to power many other headphones. I think there's a thread that tested the e9 with a whole range of other headphones like the HD800s, and that was pretty helpful to my buying decision.

That sounds interesting, but how would it compare to the Magni and Modi. Also does the Magni work for motherboards without the Modi? My brother says it won't work.

 

[drewhaj]

Check these out.  Not sure what format your music is but the NuForce will go up to 24/96 and the HiFiMAN will do cd quality 16/44.1.  These will both fully power the 650's as well. 
 
http://www.nuforce.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=4:udac-2&Itemid=1108
 
http://www.amazon.com/Hi-Fi-Man-EF2A-Tube-Headphone/dp/B004357WL8/ref=sr_1_38?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1370729997&sr=1-38&keywords=headphone+amp
 

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

I wonder if the Magni can be used alone without a DAC.

The Magni, on it's own, should work plugged into just about anything.
And you can always add a DAC in the future.

 

[Hifi Man]

Quote:

Check these out.  Not sure what format your music is but the NuForce will go up to 24/96 and the HiFiMAN will do cd quality 16/44.1.  These will both fully power the 650's as well. 
 
http://www.nuforce.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=4:udac-2&Itemid=1108
 
http://www.amazon.com/Hi-Fi-Man-EF2A-Tube-Headphone/dp/B004357WL8/ref=sr_1_38?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1370729997&sr=1-38&keywords=headphone+amp
 

The Hifiman dac/amp  has some bad reviews on this the website we're on. Maybe I should go for the magni.