[Aevum]

i have a 2 year old NW-HD5, its a nice player, the headphone out can be configured as line out, i was wondering if it was worth setting up a microamp with it ?

i do plan on getting a paid a decent canalphones, q-jays or super.fi 5 pro´s

 

[jonnywolfet]

the noise floor on the hd5 is very noticeable with iems, when i had one i used an external amp which eliminated the issue. the sq increased too, but wasn't as drastic as say the difference between the headout/amp'd lineout of my nano. the hd5 has very good headphone out sq.

 

[Quaddy]

definitely, the NW-HD5's lineout is awesome.

and it suits and benefits from ampage.

do it

 

[guma]

From my experience with a PAV2 :

With etymotic er4p: No noticeable difference in sound quality between amped an non amped, but with the amp you'll get higher volume if needed.

With etymotic er4s: Definite improvement with the amp. The hd5 unamped simply won't drive those phones. Sounds better than er4p with or without amp.

I'm using the hd5 almost exclusively unamped with er4p nowadays since carrying the amp and the extra cable seems too much hassle for mobile applications ...