Ideal amp for EIMs, not can's.

[bmckenney]

There is a thread about being underwhelmed with a ipdo, dlo, dedicated amp and iem's that I might have started. I read all of the responses and I think I get it. iem's do not respond to a dedicated amp compared a difficult load like can's. One of the replies in the thread stated that a CMOY amp (my amp is a govibe) isn't ideal for iem's. I'm curious if there is an ideal amp for iem's. Ideal as in.. better than a CMOY.

If not, would changing the sens/imped of my iem's be the best way to....

 

[Dual]

Theres a little amp called "The Tomahawk" it is designed for IEMs. Check it out.

 

[kramer5150]

Its all a matter of oppinion, and its all relative to the abilities of the unamped source. I have noticed a very dramatic improvement amp-ing all my IEMs, but thats compared to my unamped sources.... many of which sound crappy at best with low impedance IEMs.

True... IEMs don't need gobs of power compared to headphones. So, getting a "wire with gain" type of amp will not do much (IMHO). What you want is an amp that COLORS the sound, in a way thats favorable to your ears and musical preferences.

I have yet to hear a DAP that plays low impedance / balanced armature IEMs cleanly, without hiss. So, if nothing else adding an amp will alleviate an impedance mis-match, 9/10 times.

My 2 fave IEM amps are Rays Tomahawk and Justins AE2. Rays amp sounds better with warmer/thicker sounding IEMs like the shure SE series and d-jays monitors. The AE2 sounds best with fast, dry kind of IEMs like the er4 or q-jays.

IMHO of course... ymmv

 

[BIG POPPA]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dual /img/forum/go_quote.gif Theres a little amp called "The Tomahawk" it is designed for IEMs. Check it out.

ABSOLUTELY

 

[Claus-DK]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kramer5150 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have yet to hear a DAP that plays low impedance / balanced armature IEMs cleanly, without hiss.

Well I have just bougth a very cheap one called DNT and it does not have any hiss at all....

Unfortunately it also does not sound nearly good as my ipod...

 

[sidewinder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kramer5150 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have yet to hear a DAP that plays low impedance / balanced armature IEMs cleanly, without hiss. So, if nothing else adding an amp will alleviate an impedance mis-match, 9/10 times.

Have you ever heard a Cowon iAudio? I don't hear any hiss with my Shure E1.

 

[kramer5150]

I have never heard a DNT player, or an iAudio U3.... note the "I have yet to hear..." statement in my above post.

 

[Wildcard30]

Another Tomahawk vote.

 

[GAD]

Tomahawk all the way, unless you want a Hornet, which is even better.

GAD

 

[mrarroyo]

Any of the following four (no particular order) will be fantastic with IEMs.

Supermicro IV
Tomahawk
Supermini IV
Reference Xin

 

[oicdn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kramer5150 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Its all a matter of oppinion, and its all relative to the abilities of the unamped source. I have noticed a very dramatic improvement amp-ing all my IEMs, but thats compared to my unamped sources.... many of which sound crappy at best with low impedance IEMs. True... IEMs don't need gobs of power compared to headphones. So, getting a "wire with gain" type of amp will not do much (IMHO). What you want is an amp that COLORS the sound, in a way thats favorable to your ears and musical preferences. I have yet to hear a DAP that plays low impedance / balanced armature IEMs cleanly, without hiss. So, if nothing else adding an amp will alleviate an impedance mis-match, 9/10 times. My 2 fave IEM amps are Rays Tomahawk and Justins AE2. Rays amp sounds better with warmer/thicker sounding IEMs like the shure SE series and d-jays monitors. The AE2 sounds best with fast, dry kind of IEMs like the er4 or q-jays. IMHO of course... ymmv

Couldn't have said it any better.

With my UM2's, amps didn't do much for the cans themselves, but like said, you'll have to find the one that COLORS the sound to your liking. And this is where ALOT of amps will only be mediocre at best, since they don't color the sound much, and just try to keep the purity in the track, which in the case of IEMs, is NOT what you want. My Indigo DJ does nothing to color the sound at all through the HP jack. I mean AT ALL....it's really clean too.

The reason the TH is so successful, IMO, is it adds bass to IEMs, and alot of IEMs lack it. It keeps the details, but adds a little oomph to the music. And if you're a basshead, with UM2s, you can see how positive the outcome will be. This is with the obvious great service and pretty case aside. Ray has found a nice balance there...

I rediscovered a little portable that I thought was mediocre at best...but the built in EQ allows you to color the sound to your likings, and drives the phones just fine:

It's perfect for what I'm using it for.

So in essence, if your source has a built in EQ, an amp may not be necessary, as it's likely it can power them to your listening level, as well as color it to your liking.

 

[MrFaust]

For the longest time I just couldn't get into IEMs. But I got a decent deal on some first gen V-Moda Vibes recently. I've actually come to enjoy them now that I got use to them. I bought a used Tomahawk since it was advertised as "For IEMs". The day I got my Tomahawk, I did some comparing between it and my Mister_X built XP Amp with dual LM6172 opamps. Surprisingly the XP amp sounded 10x better to my ears with my Vibes. I then managed to pick up another XP amp, this time with AD8397 and LM6172 opamps. Now true the XP with the dual LM6172 opamps lasts for about 30 hours where as the one with the AD8397 and LM6172 opamps lasts for about 8 hours, but it sounded even better than my original XP amp. I ended up selling my Tomahawk the very next day after i received it. Not only was the XP amp more than HALF to cost of the Tomahawk, but it sounded that much better. I've been kind of surprised that in most of the threads where people inquire about amps for iems that not many if any at all have suggested this amp in the past. The XP amp is basically a pint . Which has been referred to by many as possibly one of the best sounding portable amps yet. Only thing is, good luck finding one now.

 

[jcx]

iems vary in sensitivity but start much higher than most headphones and range up the ue 5 pro's 119 dB/mW => 134 dB SPL with the 1 Vrms an iPod can push out (the example in the other thread – I checked the ue site several places to be sure they really meant 119dB/mW)

iems are also on the lower Z end with < 32 Ohms being common, the ue 5 pro are 21 Ohm

the sensitivity gives a problem in preserving S/N, many sources will need substantial attenuation of signal V - in the digital domain this can give problems with the source noise floor

if the recording engineer thought 0 dB digital full scale should equate to 120 dB SPL, the ue 5 Pro would require only 150 mVrms

many “loudness war” pop recordings only have 6 dB peak-to ave and shouldn’t be listened to with a full scale of even 100 dB, meaning driving the ue 5 Pro with 15 mVrms = the digital recording 0dB full scale would be dangerous to your hearing with those recordings, requiring an attenuation of >70x with the iPod

adding amps with V gain just means you have to attenuate more, analog volume pots may not introduce the S/N problems at high attenuation but volume pots can have tracking problems at high attenuation and an amp with gain also amplifies its own input noise even if the attenuated signal is good so you still drop into a noise floor sooner than necessary

iems are so sensitive that attenuation on the output is practical if inelegant, I pointed to this Hiss thread: (its worth repeating here)
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=201098

more techy ramblings later…