I haven't done a ton of reviews or a/b comparisons, but I'll try to do my best. Just received my T3 from ibasso and have been using it with my PFE's. My main problem was getting volume out of my laptop, and obviously this fixes that. Although my laptop doesn't seem to have a line-out port, so I plug it into the headphone jack, and it produces a different (fuller, slightly veiled?) sound from when I connect it to the LOD on my older ipod nano. There's also a slight hiss when connected to my laptop but not with the nano. I'm going to assume this is because I'm not using a true line out with my laptop, although the port was described as headphone/line out so whatever. Anyways I'm going to be comparing it on my headphone out on my nano for the most part.
To be honest, whether due to my inexperience or the amp needing to burn in or whatever, I didn't notice too much of a difference when plugged in thru the LOD. For the most part though I was trying to compare the presentation for specific instruments/melodies rather than listen to the overall presentation, and once I did I could notice the improvements.
Biggest differences I felt were the trebles were smoother. The PFE's are fairly bright/cold out of the box, and although the highs never bothered me, I could see how they couldn't be someone's cup of tea. The T3 took away any semblance of sibilance, and overall just gave the headphones a fuller, slightly warmer sound. Bass feels more present, but not drastically so. When my E5 comes in I'm going to have to make another comparison, and if there's not a huge difference to my ears I'll sell the T3. So far though I am enjoying them. I'm not really experienced in analytical listening or whatever, so there are probably things I'm not catching.
