[Slackaveli]

Can somebody help me understand pre-amp math a bit better?
Fiio K9 Pro ESS puts out 1.1w @ 300ohm so it'd be at least that at 150ohm (it's 2.1w @ 64Ohm fwtw).
It's rated as 5v out as Dac/Pre.
Sending that to a say, Jotenheim 2 (Maximum Power, 50 ohms: 4W, Maximum Power, 300 ohms: 1.2W- sorry i dont know exactly what either amp does at exactly 155ohm)
would that add to the final output wattage?
If so how do I do the math?

 

[chrisnyc75]

Can somebody help me understand pre-amp math a bit better?
Fiio K9 Pro ESS puts out 1.1w @ 300ohm so it'd be at least that at 150ohm (it's 2.1w @ 64Ohm fwtw).
It's rated as 5v out as Dac/Pre.
Sending that to a say, Jotenheim 2 (Maximum Power, 50 ohms: 4W, Maximum Power, 300 ohms: 1.2W- sorry i dont know exactly what either amp does at exactly 155ohm)
would that add to the final output wattage?
If so how do I do the math?

I don't really understand the math either, but an AIO dac/pre won't boost the voltage output of the DAC, the maximum output voltage of K9 Pro appears to be 5V. I think the idea behind adding a dedicated preamp between the DAC and amp is to boost the output voltage of the DAC beyond its rated max. i.e. you put a Holo Serene between K9 and your amp, output 5V to Serene, use Serene to boost the signal to 7V before it gets to your amp. The amp will boost the amps, but not the voltage, so the more volts you can feed the amp the more likely the amp is to satisfy Tungsten's appetite for voltage.

That is my very amateur understanding of what I've followed so far, anyway.

 

[Erick Muller]

Can somebody help me understand pre-amp math a bit better?
Fiio K9 Pro ESS puts out 1.1w @ 300ohm so it'd be at least that at 150ohm (it's 2.1w @ 64Ohm fwtw).
It's rated as 5v out as Dac/Pre.
Sending that to a say, Jotenheim 2 (Maximum Power, 50 ohms: 4W, Maximum Power, 300 ohms: 1.2W- sorry i dont know exactly what either amp does at exactly 155ohm)
would that add to the final output wattage?
If so how do I do the math?

Use this link to calculate how much voltage your amp is going to produce at a given ohm load.

https://energyusecalculator.com/watts_volts_amps_ohms.htm

Already ran it and your Fiio K9 pro can give 18.17v at 300ohm, it probably is giving you the same voltage at 135-155ohms but I can't find that spec for this amp. In theory it should run Tungsten SS fine enough, it's going to drive them better than my S17 for sure.

Jot2 gives around 19v, so it's even better at driving tungsten.

Tbh I think people are exaggerating a bit in how much power you actually need to drive this headphones fine and good enough, I understand that you want as much power/voltage in reserve for those transients and to have full control of the driver, specially in the sub-bass region, if you want absolute performance from the Tungsten without breaking the bank, Jot2 or A70 pro from Topping should be more than enough, if you want insane levels of performance, go nuts and spend thousands of dollars on a headphone amp that can deliver more than 30v into 150ohms, or risk it with a cheap class D chinese amp and pray to all the audio gods that you follow every instruction to the letter and you don't blow out your ears and/or headphones in the process.

 

[Slackaveli]

Thanks, Fellaz.
The K9 Pro is under rated AF imo. It even has a toroidal transformer.
If it's not enough for Tungsten when I finally get them I'll just slap a Topping A70 on it, yeah.

 

[Anaz]

I don't know if it's been mentioned or not, but https://headphoneresource.com is a great place to find out how an amp will power a headphone.

...I like the presentation of the Headphone/Amplifier Max SPL tool

 

[marsmellow]

Thanks, Fellaz.
The K9 Pro is under rated AF imo. It even has a toroidal transformer.
If it's not enough for Tungsten when I finally get them I'll just slap a Topping A70 on it, yeah.

I have the k9 pro ess and the a70 pro and to me the a70 is quite a bit better than the k9 pro as an amp. However, the k9 pro is a great DAC and works well fed into the a70 pro. The a70 has a blacker background and there’s more bass weight in its presentation.

 

[Slackaveli]

I have the k9 pro ess and the a70 pro and to me the a70 is quite a bit better than the k9 pro as an amp. However, the k9 pro is a great DAC and works well fed into the a70 pro. The a70 has a blacker background and there’s more bass weight in its presentation.

Thank you for the post! If A70 is blacker than K9 it is indeed impressive. The amount of power that dude puts out is class leading @ $500.

 

[Hannu]

Those of you who have listened to DS tungsten with the hybrid pads, how much of a difference did the pads make?
I've been listening with the perf pads and think that it's maybe too thin sounding for my preferences.

 

[muths66]

Those of you who have listened to DS tungsten with the hybrid pads, how much of a difference did the pads make?
I've been listening with the perf pads and think that it's maybe too thin sounding for my preferences.

To me perf is kinda like what you say but kinda like how it sound. Hybrid have more bass and heavier note than perf. You can try get the hybrid pad with adapter it will be good to have this 2 pads to use.

 

[mfgillia]

Those of you who have listened to DS tungsten with the hybrid pads, how much of a difference did the pads make?
I've been listening with the perf pads and think that it's maybe too thin sounding for my preferences.

Opinions vary but to my ears the pads do make a significant difference as such highly recommend owning both. Also the hybrid pads do tend to sound weightier than the ultra perforated pads.

 

[muths66]

This sure very good for my portable laziness.It drive around 80% of tungsten. Lol

 

[Zachik]

This sure very good for my portable laziness.It drive around 80% of tungsten. Lol

What are you using to feed the PB5 amp? Seems like it is hidden under the PB5... A DAP, I assume?

 

[muths66]

What are you using to feed the PB5 amp? Seems like it is hidden under the PB5... A DAP, I assume?

I have 2 daps I using hiby rs6.

 

[Zachik]

I have 2 daps I using hiby rs6.

My current best DAP is the RS6. (I have a couple other lower-tier DAPs)
Are you driving PB5 directly from RS6, so that RS6 serves both transport and DAC duties?
If so, how is the synergy with the PB5 amp? I am thinking of exactly that setup...

 

[muths66]

My current best DAP is the RS6. (I have a couple other lower-tier DAPs)
Are you driving PB5 directly from RS6, so that RS6 serves both transport and DAC duties?
If so, how is the synergy with the PB5 amp? I am thinking of exactly that setup...

I been alway using rs6 most of the time. Pb5 add more bass impact with this setup.Staging is pretty good compared to my ex ak pa10 portable amp,warm sounding with more 3d with nice kinda tube sound. But pb5 maximum push tungsten around 80+-% stage is still not deep enough compare to my others desktop amp. But for portable or laziness is sufficient. I did try demo D16 too i prefer rs6 tone more.Lastly pb5 per click up for volume is abit high some my iems at this volume abit soft up one abit too high but still manageable.That the only negative side I find.