[Permagrin]

No problem. I'm really bored and at work so my options are kinda limited.

Just checking out the E7 and E9. The E9 is a desktop amp so I would assume that would be the choice. But it's primarily a dock, it cannot be used as a DAC for a computer. The E7 on the other hand, even though it's a slim device, can be used as a USB DAC (and you can use them together as a DAC/AMP, crazy stuff).

All I can say is keep reading. The more knowledge you gain, the more informed your decision will be. It sucks I know. It's much easier to just buy something because then you'll have it at your doorstep soon. I've bought all of my gear having never listened to it before but spent a lot of time reading these forums and so far I've made out really well (other than my wallet, but whatever).

Also, it's good to make a list and write pros and cons down for each choice you have. Eventually you can cross something off but sometimes you might add another choice...

Cheers!

edit: Oh yeah I looked at the pic of your mixer and there's no way you'd be able to use it with the Mac unfortunately (for sound of course).

 

[loscamos]

I'm not an expert, i just read that the high impedamce headphones need a dac. Now you told me that the e9 is perfect but it can't be used as a dac. I don't know the difference between dac and amp. I need a dac or am amp?

What about e5?

 

[bcasey25raptor]

Quote:

I'm not an expert, i just read that the high impedamce headphones need a dac. Now you told me that the e9 is perfect but it can't be used as a dac. I don't know the difference between dac and amp. I need a dac or am amp?

What about e5?

the fiio e5 is only good for lower impedence cans from what i understand. i do not think it will improve the following headphones much. get the fiio e7, it's an amp and a dac in one.

 

[Permagrin]

The reason is called Ohm's Law, read up on it and it will help you a lot in understanding all of this.

Basically it comes down to the output impedance of the source (your soundcard). If it matches the headphone (aren't too many that do) the headphone will benefit from the proper output power the soundcard is capable of. But if that headphone requires a lot of power (high sensitivity) it wont sound quite as good as it can.

The other side of that is if you plugged a high impedance (like 600 ohm) headphone in. It's a total resistance mismatch so it will receive a proportional amount, not the full amount (600/24 =25), so 1/25th (0.04) of the output power which unless it's also a very low sensitivity can (there are some, the 600 ohm cans people drive out of soundcards you read about) it wont work very well.

Take the LCD-2s for example they are a misfit. They are low impedance, high sensitivity. Their input impedance is 50 ohms but they have a very high sensitivity. Most amps don't put out a lot of power at the low end of the spectrum as they're designed around mostly 250/300 to 600 ohm cans. So at 50 ohms they're putting out a very low amount of power which is the reason why there's the whole amp issue with the LCD-2s.

I'm really tired and probably not explaining this correctly but if you dig around and learn this stuff it will help a lot! There is a lot of really good information on this site!

I'm going to slip into a coma now, later.

 

[joelpearce]

The difference between a 24ohm headphone and a 44ohm one almost zero, really.  It all depends on the sensitivity as well.  Remember, the difference between 99dB sensitivity and 102dB is DOUBLE, because decibels work on a logarithmic scale.
 
So the reason the Sony would be louder is the sensitivity, not the difference in impedance, especially when there are headphones that go up to 600 ohms.
 
Most computer sound cards will put enough volume into any of those headphones.  A laptop jack should have a bit more muscle behind it than a portable player.  The question is always whether the sound circuitry is decent in laptop sound cards, and there the answer is often no.  But that's going to affect any headphone you plug into it.
 
So I would say go for the one you want for sound quality--you'll probably be happy with it.  I used to have the Shures, and they sounded okay from most sources.

 

[loscamos]

Wow! I'm learning a lot of cool stuff.
Let's see if I Understood everything.

Player impedance>Headphone impedance= Low volume
Player impedancePlayer impedance=Headphone impedance= Sound good

Morover The volume depends a lot from sensitivity.

Last thing. What about frequency response. We can only listen to a 20-20000 frequence. Someone say that if the headphone have a frequence from 5-30000 the sound isn't perfect. I don't think so. Is that true?

I'm italian, I just want to be sure that I undersand

 

[joelpearce]

Just ignore the frequency response values.  Pretty much every modern pair of headphones can reproduce the full audio spectrum.