[optisynapsis]

At the moment I have a pair of Sony MDR-1As, which are only 24ohm so I presume getting them sufficient power shouldn't be a problem. I'm aware that other similarly priced models beat this hands down in terms of hi-res support, but what they lack that the e17k does not is hardware bass / treble boost that can be nudged in fine detail. The only thing I'm concerned about (besides the price) is if they'll hold up with higher resistance headphones. (I was going to get the A3, which I'm fairly confident could and is around £40 cheaper, but it'll take a week to get here and I'm too excited to hear loud music to wait that long)

Anybody have any experience / suggestions? I don't mind trying other brands if there's something out there sub £100 that could do the same job.

Also, hello, I'm new here.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

At the moment I have a pair of Sony MDR-1As, which are only 24ohm so I presume getting them sufficient power shouldn't be a problem. I'm aware that other similarly priced models beat this hands down in terms of hi-res support, but what they lack that the e17k does not is hardware bass / treble boost that can be nudged in fine detail. The only thing I'm concerned about (besides the price) is if they'll hold up with higher resistance headphones. (I was going to get the A3, which I'm fairly confident could and is around £40 cheaper, but it'll take a week to get here and I'm too excited to hear loud music to wait that long)

Anybody have any experience / suggestions? I don't mind trying other brands if there's something out there sub £100 that could do the same job.

The key factor in how easy the MDR-1A to drive is its sensitivity of 105dB/1mW. Even if that's actually 105dB/1V, that still translates to around 97dB/1mW, which is still pretty high, more so when at 24ohms most amp circuits with their peak output at 32ohm loads will be able to give a lot of power. This is basically like having a Lotus Elise chassis and even an engine that starts out ultimately as a Corolla engine (and even without Yamaha messing around with it and leaving only the engine block stock) still managing to hit 60mph in just 5.9seconds (5.1 on the Yamaha-tweaked Celica engine).

That said, as for your concern with other headphones, this is where the impedance becomes a problem. The HD650 might have a 97dB/1mW sensitivity, but at 300ohms, the output off the E17 will also be a lot lower. Comparing it with the A3 though is problematic since the E17 has a built-in DAC, so it really depends on what you'll use a source.

What you can do instead is get an Ibasso D-Zero Mk2 (it also has a bass boost switch), use it as a DAC-HPamp, then later if you get a headphone that needs more power, you can use the line out from the D-Zero Mk2 to a desktop, wall-powered amp, since it's not really practical to use a low sensitivity or higher impedance open back headphone while moving around anyway.

 

[optisynapsis]

Cheers for the comprehensive and interesting reply. In terms of source, I'm currently using an Android tablet as my go to device for music production, and a cheap old Honor device for music on the go. I'm guessing a built in DAC will help a lot for the production side of things. So the e17k still makes a lot of sense.

(I just wish I could find a cheap one, as £90 is quite a lot for a thus far somewhat unsuccessful musician like me - I found the Sony MDR-1As for £70 and if they were any more expensive, I would probably still be using my tattered and malfunctioning Beats Studio 2s).

If I find myself some headphones requiring more power, I suppose that's when I'll consider a wall-powered amp. I've shied away from open-backs thus far since I'm always listening in quite noisy environments.

Your reply also brought to my attention my lack of knowledge on the subject of impedance / sensitivity. Time to educate myself, I guess

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Cheers for the comprehensive and interesting reply. In terms of source, I'm currently using an Android tablet as my go to device for music production, and a cheap old Honor device for music on the go. I'm guessing a built in DAC will help a lot for the production side of things. So the e17k still makes a lot of sense.

If it's for producing music what you need is an ADC, not a DAC. Something like a Focusrite. Problem with those is that the cheaper audio interfaces have high output impedance on the headphone output and low power output. Power won't be a problem with the MDR-1A but distortion due to the lower damping factor will be. Basically it can potentially sound like a totally different headphone on a Scarlett 2i4 vs proper headphone amplifiers.

 

[optisynapsis]

Hmm. I did own a Roland Quad-Capture at one point, which worked with Windows but didn't have driver support for Linux. I don't have a PC at the moment so am pretty much working exclusively with Android DAWs now, and focusing on the software side of production. Recording live is not top priority.. I've actually been using an inline mic to record vocals(!) (but I have a USB mic which I'm going to try with an OTG cable coupled with a powered hub in a sec). What I'm really looking for is as much loudness and clarity as possible, and possibly an increase in sample rate, if the e17k can work that way with Android - from what I've read, it's detected as a generic sound card in windows with the capacity to run at 192khz/24bit. If that feature translates to Android, that'll actually be perfect for me (but I have my doubts that it will just because of Android's track record with audio).

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Hmm. I did own a Roland Quad-Capture at one point, which worked with Windows but didn't have driver support for Linux. I don't have a PC at the moment so am pretty much working exclusively with Android DAWs now, and focusing on the software side of production. Recording live is not top priority.. I've actually been using an inline mic to record vocals(!) (but I have a USB mic which I'm going to try with an OTG cable coupled with a powered hub in a sec). What I'm really looking for is as much loudness and clarity as possible...

Depending on the efficiency of the headphone loudness can be a problem.

Clarity might also be a problem as the E17 isn't exactly known for having a very flat reference response (though it's better than the E7 and E07K), if at least if you compare it to a really good console with a decent headphone amp or a Violectric amp.

...and possibly an increase in sample rate, if the e17k can work that way with Android - from what I've read, it's detected as a generic sound card in windows with the capacity to run at 192khz/24bit. If that feature translates to Android, that'll actually be perfect for me (but I have my doubts that it will just because of Android's track record with audio).

AFAIK most Androids run 24/96 for playback, a few can do 192 but it can depend on the app being used.

Your real problem there is the extremely wide variety of devices that use Android so it's hard to standardize what works with what device since each manufacturer tweaks that software unlike with iOS. So far the only safe Androids brand-wide are Samsungs since the S3, but note that when people say that it's generally people in an audio forum giving feedback that the S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, S8, S9, S10, Note3, Note4, Note5, Note7, Note8, Note9, and Note10 work. There's little feedback on the phones outside those two lines, although I can add one: T-Mobile J7 Prime works with USB audio but I haven't tested it at 24/96 since this is my US sim phone and I loaded it with my Spotify (and I have an S7 Edge with a local sim down here loaded with FLAC).