[heatofamatch]

In my limited knowledge I'd start with any amp that sounds cold and analytical...definitely no Fiio amps for this puppy!
 
The other route is to experiment with EQ, chances are cutting back on a few low/mid bands can give you an impression of more clarity. But technically all EQs degrade sound quality, so I'm not sure if you'll want to go there, just writing it down as an aside.

 

[Darkseth]

  Hey are there any headphone amps that the M8 would benefit from? I'm kinda hitting this brick wall where I'm wondering if the weak point is my source, my phones, or my audio. I'm using HD25s with the M8. It sounds great, but I feel like I want more clarity but I don't know where to start.

Start with another Headphones. Seriously. Do you expect an Amp to change the sounding? That would be a horrible Amp (except its wanted, like tube amps).
The HD 25 is a bass heavy DJ headphone, which a VERY good/high sensitivity AND a low Impedance. A stronger Amp will do nothing really but just raise the maximum Volume, since the M8 already has plenty of Power.
I know that from my Beyerdynamic T90 (i can compare between my Asus Phoebus and my M8). On the Phoebus it does sound slighitly better. But thats NOT because of the Amp, its because of the better DAC. The T90 doesnt profite from an Amp, as his sensitivity is high. --> It does NOT need much power, to be driven well.
 
Or let me ask differently: On which source do you have your wanted clarity with the HD 25? You have another soundcard/Dac/amp, where it sounds better? If yes, which?

 

[Rex24-7]

Before I go switching cans, and hearing a different signature, I want to try to understand what its potential is. I have an Asus Essence ST but I haven't listened to it since I changed to velour pads. I will test them for you later. Do you have experience with this card that you could provide some insight from? Thanks!

 

[Darkseth]

I would be VERY surprised if an Essence ST would not be able to bring the HD 25 to its absolute maximum.

 

[Rex24-7]

I downloaded the sampler tracks from HDTracks.com, and had a listen to its various jazz tracks. On my HTC One, I have turned off BoomSound and uninstalled any EQs.
 
Issues:
1. I need an analog way to set the volume because the button isn't getting the sweet spot like my PC can.
2. I am noticing the HTC One sounds slightly compressed compared to my PC. This could be due to the phone's default equalization.
3. When I changed the sound card's ohms from (0 to 64) to (64 - 300), I believe I got more clarity. Reminder that HD25-1 II has an impedance of 70 ohms.
 
Other than these issues, the HTC One is a joy to listen to. To think I finally have a phone I can directly compare to my Asus Essence ST is surprising.

 

[Duncan]

I downloaded the sampler tracks from HDTracks.com, and had a listen to its various jazz tracks. On my HTC One, I have turned off BoomSound and uninstalled any EQs.

Issues:
1. I need an analog way to set the volume because the button isn't getting the sweet spot like my PC can.
2. I am noticing the HTC One sounds slightly compressed compared to my PC. This could be due to the phone's default equalization.
3. When I changed the sound card's ohms from (0 to 64) to (64 - 300), I believe I got more clarity. Reminder that HD25-1 II has an impedance of 70 ohms.

Other than these issues, the HTC One is a joy to listen to. To think I finally have a phone I can directly compare to my Asus Essence ST is surprising.

Re point one, not sure how analogue it is, but try Poweramp, that has a rotary volume dial...

Re point two, no - I think you'll find that that is just the phone reaching it's natural limits (only so much you can squeeze out of it, and don't forget at this point you're comparing in effect a deskbound rig versus a portable one!)

Re point three, yes - I agree that changing output impedance can improve (or, obviously degrade) the sound - mostly - in my mind, damping of bass...

 

[Darkseth]

Well, naturally, the One M8 will have its limits. The Essence can have more, and bigger (and so also better) components (like capacitors, opamps, etc) on the platine. The M8 has pretty much just a small on-chip solution.
But its impressive, how close the M8 can come with this small thing ^^

 

[MrSpock2002]

Well I can say that my Sony XBA-4's do not need an amp.  I had to carry my little Fiio just to hear anything out of them using my old Galaxy Nexus.  With this phone, they can get too loud un amped.  Pretty amazing.  I love Boom Sound, it gives a bit more bass to the XBA-4's which is a good thing to my ears.  I am not a bass freak by any means, but the XBA's have always been very flat when it comes to bass in my opinion. You can tell that there is definitely a built in amplifier.  

 

[Whaleshark12]

Just bought m8 today, amazing. Pair it up with my Fiio e18. But the boom sound cant be turn off when i connected as dac/amp :/ Any idea how to turn off it? As it distort some song 

 

[Duncan]

Just bought m8 today, amazing. Pair it up with my Fiio e18. But the boom sound cant be turn off when i connected as dac/amp :/ Any idea how to turn off it? As it distort some song 

That seems odd?! - I haven't used it as stock since the day I got it, however - try connecting earphones to the headphone out, defeating boomsound, and then plugging the E18 back into the USB port, see if that works...

 

[Whaleshark12]

That seems odd?! - I haven't used it as stock since the day I got it, however - try connecting earphones to the headphone out, defeating boomsound, and then plugging the E18 back into the USB port, see if that works...

Still the same, when i plug it back and play song the boom sound became on and in the notification bar :/

 

[Darkseth]

Do you even hear a difference between those 2?
Why not just use the M8 headphone jack without the E18? (which i would, if Boomsound cant be turned off by using the E18)
Which headphones are you using?
 
I know from a user, who has the One m7, and tested his Westone um3x with an Fiio X3. He heared literaly Zero difference.

 

[Whaleshark12]

  Do you even hear a difference between those 2?
Why not just use the M8 headphone jack without the E18? (which i would, if Boomsound cant be turned off by using the E18)
Which headphones are you using?
 
I know from a user, who has the One m7, and tested his Westone um3x with an Fiio X3. He heared literaly Zero difference.

From what i have listen, the m8 have good sounding with boomsound on in earphone. But when boomsound is off the vocal sound really weak. While the e18 have a much darker sounding. When i tried connecting the e18 to m8 it got the sound of the e18 but the boomsound is still on the notification bar and in the setting it is still on (grey out)
After like every 2 min i can hear some clipping noise. Have no idea why, my m8 aint rooted yet. So ya..

 

[Duncan]

After like every 2 min i can hear some clipping noise. Have no idea why, my m8 aint rooted yet. So ya..

...From the E18 or the M8?

M8 - common issue with clipping / distorting I'm afraid...

E18 - not heard about that if that is the case...

...As to the poster that says to use the M8 rather than the E18, there is one key reason not to - if you have ANY hi-res (above 16/48) files - the M8 cannot do hi-res of any description without offloading it to the USB...

 

[Darkseth]

I can tell you where the clipping comes from. From this unbelieveable utterly Crap called "Boomsound".
Turn that crap off, if you want soundquality. This setting with earphones/headphones will do nothing than worsen the soundquality by a mile.
Bass and treble are getting raised too much, causing distortions. I couldnt listen with that, it hurt my ears because its that bad.
 
Other than that.. i have never heared any clipping or distorting from my M8. Perfectly clean everything (using UE 900, without any additional DAC/AMP)
 
To the hi-res argument: So what? Do you really think the soundchip is even close in beeing that good, that you could possibly hear any difference between 16/44,1, or higher? I call 100% voodo on that. NOONE will be able to hear a difference there --> doesnt matter. you probably wont even hear a difference between lossless and a good 320 kbit/s mp3 on most songs (well, maybe because most songs have a mediocre quality), by using "just a smartphone".
Caring about hi-res on "just a Smartphone" is like caring about a spoiler on a city car :/
 
Btw: A GOOD soundchip, that can only 16/44,1 will sound by miles better than a bad soundchip, that is capable in playing hi-res bitrates.
 
In my Optinion, there are only 3 reasons, why you should use a DAC instead the M8 itself as a player:
- You want a better soundchip, because you use high end headphones (and no, high end is not 200 dollars)
- You want/need more Output power
- You want/need a <1 Ohm output impedance because you drive extremely sensitive multi-BA inears.
 
From my experience: the Soundchip/dac/source/whatever you want to call it has MUCH less influence on the Soundquality, than most people claim ^^