[nugget2013]

i am going to get the audio technica ATH-M50, i have been told an amp is good to use with these pair of headphones. i was looking at the fiio E9 desktop amplifier, if i bought this AND the E7 portable DAC amplifier too would it be even better quality by using the E9 as a dock, or does it just recharge the E7 and not change the sound at all? i do not know which of the two to get, if not both!

 

[Thujone]

Quote:

i am going to get the audio technica ATH-M50, i have been told an amp is good to use with these pair of headphones. i was looking at the fiio E9 desktop amplifier, if i bought this AND the E7 portable DAC amplifier too would it be even better quality by using the E9 as a dock, or does it just recharge the E7 and not change the sound at all? i do not know which of the two to get, if not both!

The E09 and the E7 work together. The E09 is purely an amp while the E7 is an amp/DAC combo. FiiO also has the E17 that is an amp/DAC combo that pairs with the E09. Basically, the E09 by itself is going to take your computer's analog signal and amplify it. This means that the sound will still be processed (converted) through your computer's sound card. A DAC is essentially an external sound card. This means it takes the digital signal and converts it to analog by itself.
 
For example, I just recently got my first DAC/amp combo. Before, I was using my computer's analog out and a pocket amplifier (one of those Altoid can amps you can get on eBay). For some reason, my computer's sound card had some noise and distortion associated with it. Because of that, the pocket amp only amplified the noise and distortion (i.e. I could hear a feedback high frequency tone when moving my mouse around or depending on the color my screen was outputting). So my suggestion is, if you don't have a nice sound card in your computer and you are using your computer's STOCK audio card (stock headphone jack) get the E7 or E17. Then later you can buy the E09 if you want to pair it up (when paired, the DAC is used in the E7/E17 while the E09 does the amplification). Another thing you might want to think about is portability. The E7/E17 is very portable while the E09 is not.