[Captain Magenta]

As the title suggests has the E9 got the power to properly drive these? I don't normally need to go higher than 12 o'clock or so on the volume dial unless it's a really quiet recording but have read that these need a lot of voltage to be at their best.  I'm very happy with the sound but would something with more juice give an improvement?  If so any recommendations?  I fancy an E17 for portable use so I'm hoping the E9 replacement will be suitable when it comes.

 

[Gwarmi]

Quote:

As the title suggests has the E9 got the power to properly drive these? I don't normally need to go higher than 12 o'clock or so on the volume dial unless it's a really quiet recording but have read that these need a lot of voltage to be at their best.  I'm very happy with the sound but would something with more juice give an improvement?  If so any recommendations?  I fancy an E17 for portable use so I'm hoping the E9 replacement will be suitable when it comes.

 The big problem I found when testing the E9 with a whole host of headphones - LCD-2 and HD800 included was that
 it does sound compressed and lacks sound stage and separation at best, this can be attributed to the crazy amount
 of gain and basic componentry that Fiio designed into it for the price.
 
 The K601's strong point is a light airy sound stage and the bottom is fairly robust when powered correctly.
 
 You're in Scotland, you should be able to find a second hand Violectric V100 or V181 if you search hard
 enough - most amps cannot keep up with the amount of voltage swing these Germans produce.
 
 My V200 was enough for me to go from considering to sell my K601 to deciding to keep it - no matter
 what headphone also landed in the stable.
 
 

 

[mikeaj]

So the argument is:  if an amplifier can handle 20V (or whatever large number), it will be better than another amplifier which can only handle 7V, when driving headphones at maybe 3V and below?  I mean...not necessarily?  You really should be interested in the performance driving headphone loads at the kind of levels you'll actually be listening at.
 
If by power you're talking about electric energy per time, then yeah, E9 is plenty powerful enough and should have pretty respectable performance (low distortion, very reasonably flat frequency response and lowish but not great phase error) driving relatively high-impedance headphones all the way up to its clipping limit at around 7V, particularly those not sensitive enough to pick up its mediocre noise floor.  If by power you mean some kind of audiophile definition of "power" that I haven't quite yet figured out, then that's harder to answer.

 

[Captain Magenta]

Quote:

 The big problem I found when testing the E9 with a whole host of headphones - LCD-2 and HD800 included was that
 it does sound compressed and lacks sound stage and separation at best, this can be attributed to the crazy amount
 of gain and basic componentry that Fiio designed into it for the price.
 
 The K601's strong point is a light airy sound stage and the bottom is fairly robust when powered correctly.
 
 You're in Scotland, you should be able to find a second hand Violectric V100 or V181 if you search hard
 enough - most amps cannot keep up with the amount of voltage swing these Germans produce.
 
 My V200 was enough for me to go from considering to sell my K601 to deciding to keep it - no matter
 what headphone also landed in the stable.
 
 

Looks very nice will keep my eyes peeled for one of those.  Bit out my budget though at the moment.  Anything else a little cheaper that would suffice?

 

[Gwarmi]

Quote:

Looks very nice will keep my eyes peeled for one of those.  Bit out my budget though at the moment.  Anything else a little cheaper that would suffice?

 Audio-gd NFB-5 DAC/Amp
 
 299 quid from Amp City in London - great amp section and the twin Wolfson 8741 DAC's are very good too.
 
 A quality unit that in terms of bang for ye buck stands alone.

 

[rictee]

Quote:

 Audio-gd NFB-5 DAC/Amp
 
 299 quid from Amp City in London - great amp section and the twin Wolfson 8741 DAC's are very good too.
 
 A quality unit that in terms of bang for ye buck stands alone.

Which other amps would ye recommend for the K601 at <$500?

 

[Gwarmi]

Quote:

Which other amps would ye recommend for the K601 at <$500?

  Schiit Valhalla or Lyr should deliver at that price point.

 

[rictee]

Quote:

  Schiit Valhalla or Lyr should deliver at that price point.

What about the Asgard?  Are tubes better for the K601 (can drive better / complements better) ?

 

[Satellite_6]

I really wouldn't bother with a different amp. They sounded really funny out of my hybrid amp so I would suggest to stick to solid state. 

 

[Captain Magenta]

Quote:

 Audio-gd NFB-5 DAC/Amp
 
 299 quid from Amp City in London - great amp section and the twin Wolfson 8741 DAC's are very good too.
 
 A quality unit that in terms of bang for ye buck stands alone.

That looks ideal.  Would be looking for something with a dac.  Will put it on the Christmas list.
 
Thanks for the advice, appreciate it.