[nicdub]

i just noticed that hifiman is selling the HE-300's with the EF3 amp as a $250 combo, which appears to be the same as the EF2A minus the DAC.  Pretty good package.

 

[DemonFox]

  i just noticed that hifiman is selling the HE-300's with the EF3 amp as a $250 combo, which appears to be the same as the EF2A minus the DAC.  Pretty good package.

 
Wow, that is a great deal! Heading to the site now to check it out! 
 
 
Thanks,
 
 

 

[lithium1085]

definitely interesting particularly with the gain switch on the front and you get an entire system from 250$

 

[archimonde]

Hi,
 
I'm planning to buy a headphone amplifier for my headphone (Shure SRH840) and IEM (Ostry KC06). 
 
I liked FiiO E17 but I can't decide between EF2A vs. E17. I have Asus Xonar D2X at my computer but I will also use that ampifier with my laptop which has onboard soundcard. I also have a Creative X-Fi 5.1 Surround USB sound card.
 
Which option should I choose? (or another suggestions)
 
Thanks,

 

[Boffy]

How is the noise level on this tube amp? I am tempted to buy it, but I will be using it with some of my IEM's. I would not buy this if it creates a lot of noise though.

 

[mark5hs]

Anyone try pairing it with a magni DAC?

 

[Stalkeryan]

Hi,
 
I just bought an EF2a, but the problem is, my ef2a seems have no bass at all. I used my computer, my dx90, with my HE-500, Q701, SR225, they all have very strong and deep bass. But with my new ef2a, I dont see any bass at all. There is some plastic bass, but not deep and strong at all. Could anyone here help solving my problem? Thanks!

 

[Grave]

This was my first DAC/amp it sounds really bright with the standard tubes.

 

[gradofans]

Pretty great Amp for its price . I had one when I was in China .It can drive my re262( made by Hifiman ) well 

 

[ZachPtheDude]

Has anyone ever attempted to switch out the on-board DAC chip for a better one?  I figure it's likely extremely difficult if not impossible, but as a DIY guy I'd love to push this dac/amp to it's limits with my own hands.

 

[clusterm]

Folks,
  I've heard 2 different things regarding DAC vs RCA input.
 
  If I was to send RCA from Schiit http://schiit.com/products/modi-2 to EF2a via RCA... wouldnt that be better since the modi is a much better dac?
 
Thanks!

 

[clusterm]

Folks,  can you please straighten out my confusion?  I keep hearing mixed information regarding sending audio via RCA vs DAC ports on this amp.
I was going to use the Schiit Modi-2 and connect it with good rca cables to EF-2A.   Is this ideal setup, as the 16bit dac on ef2a is a bit meh.
 
So,  use the external DAC and connect with RCA cables?
or forget about it, and use the dac provided?
 
Thanks!

 

[HPiper]

  Folks,  can you please straighten out my confusion?  I keep hearing mixed information regarding sending audio via RCA vs DAC ports on this amp.
I was going to use the Schiit Modi-2 and connect it with good rca cables to EF-2A.   Is this ideal setup, as the 16bit dac on ef2a is a bit meh.
 
So,  use the external DAC and connect with RCA cables?
or forget about it, and use the dac provided?
 
Thanks!

Well you could do either but the built in dac is has two problems, it does sound pretty underwhelming. Even more to the point though is it will only decode straight cd (16/44.1) signals. If you ever want to listen to any high res files (24/96 for example) it won't work. The modi not only sounds better, but you can listen to pretty much any high res file you download. So the Modi sounds better and is far more versatile. Personally I would have got a vali and a modi and passed on the EF2A, but too late now.

 

[clusterm]

 
Well you could do either but the built in dac is has two problems, it does sound pretty underwhelming. Even more to the point though is it will only decode straight cd (16/44.1) signals. If you ever want to listen to any high res files (24/96 for example) it won't work. The modi not only sounds better, but you can listen to pretty much any high res file you download. So the Modi sounds better and is far more versatile. Personally I would have got a vali and a modi and passed on the EF2A, but too late now.

Great!  So there is no quality loss by using RCA cables between a Modi2 dac and the EF2A amp?  Or should i say... its the way to go to get 24bit depth?

 

[HPiper]

  Great!  So there is no quality loss by using RCA cables between a Modi2 dac and the EF2A amp?  Or should i say... its the way to go to get 24bit depth?

I am sure you could find somebody on these forums who would say there is a quality loss by adding another section of cable in the chain, but that wouldn't be me saying that. So yes, if you ever want to download and listen to some high res music files the Modi 2 combined with your EF2A amplifier is the way to go.