[derrick14]

Hello everybody,
 
I have recently just gotten a Shure SE215 and is pondering whether should i get a portable amp as well. I am looking at the Fiio E11 and Fiio E07K but is kinda confused of the differences between them.
 
Appreciate if the seniors over here can explain the differences as well as if getting the portable amp will improve the sound quality.
 
Thanks alot..

 

[kaliku]

Sorry to hijack your thread, but I'm a newbie as well. Was given a fiio e6 and the question is, its plugged into my samsung note2, do I set the volume on my phone to a minimum and adjust the volume from the amp, or do I set the volume on the amp to a minimum and adjust the phone's volume?
 
Any help is greatly appreciated!!
 
Thanks!

 

[cel4145]

Sorry to hijack your thread, but I'm a newbie as well. Was given a fiio e6 and the question is, its plugged into my samsung note2, do I set the volume on my phone to a minimum and adjust the volume from the amp, or do I set the volume on the amp to a minimum and adjust the phone's volume?

Any help is greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!

Set the volume on your phone near maximum if not all the way up. That's what I do with my Note 2

Then I use PowerAmp music player app with replaygain enabled so that some songs don't clip the headphone amp of the Note 2 from being being recorded with levels that are too high. PowerAmp is an awesome music player if you have not tried it.

 

[kaliku]

Hey Cel, thanks for the tip! I myself am using poweramp even before getting the amp. Btw about the replaygain, do I need to tweak any settings for optimum audio satisfaction? Not really sure what the settings does after turning on the replaygain function.

 

[Brooko]

  Hello everybody,
 
I have recently just gotten a Shure SE215 and is pondering whether should i get a portable amp as well. I am looking at the Fiio E11 and Fiio E07K but is kinda confused of the differences between them.
 
Appreciate if the seniors over here can explain the differences as well as if getting the portable amp will improve the sound quality.
 
Thanks alot..

 
Hi Derrick - welcome to Head-Fi
 
You don't say what your source is - so it's kind of hard to give exact advice. I'll assume it's a portable player.
 
I've owned almost all of Shures IEM line (315, 425, 535) - but not the 215.
 
The SE215 is relatively low impedance (20 ohms) and pretty sensitive (107 dB SPL m/W).  In laymans terms - they're very easy to drive, and don't need much power to get them to a very high volume.  Their impedance and sensitivity specs are actually very close to those on the 425 which I used to own.
 
So as to your question - no an amp will give you extra volume which you don't need for these headphones.  It's not going to increase the SQ.  If you hear hissing from your current player, that's another story - then a well designed amp can lower the output impedance and provide better damping (to eliminate hiss).  But as you haven't told us what your player is - I can't comment further on that.
 
With regard to difference between E07K and E11 - one is a portable amp & DAC, the other is a straight amp.  As far as suitability for you goes - it is impossible to say until we know what your player is.
 
But again with these IEMs - you don't really need an amp.

 

[derrick14]

   
Hi Derrick - welcome to Head-Fi
 
You don't say what your source is - so it's kind of hard to give exact advice. I'll assume it's a portable player.
 
I've owned almost all of Shures IEM line (315, 425, 535) - but not the 215.
 
The SE215 is relatively low impedance (20 ohms) and pretty sensitive (107 dB SPL m/W).  In laymans terms - they're very easy to drive, and don't need much power to get them to a very high volume.  Their impedance and sensitivity specs are actually very close to those on the 425 which I used to own.
 
So as to your question - no an amp will give you extra volume which you don't need for these headphones.  It's not going to increase the SQ.  If you hear hissing from your current player, that's another story - then a well designed amp can lower the output impedance and provide better damping (to eliminate hiss).  But as you haven't told us what your player is - I can't comment further on that.
 
With regard to difference between E07K and E11 - one is a portable amp & DAC, the other is a straight amp.  As far as suitability for you goes - it is impossible to say until we know what your player is.
 
But again with these IEMs - you don't really need an amp.

Hi Brooko.. Thanks alot for the explaination.. i am currently using either my ipod nano or ipad on the go and my imac at home.. 

 

[Brooko]

Most of the modern iDevices are low impedance on the headphone out - so hiss shouldn't be an issue.  From memory (with my 425s) - the iPod Touch G4 I had onlu needed about 30% volume to have them plenty loud - so you don't need an amp.
 
If you want a decent app to play around with the sound signature - look for Accudio Pro in the app store, or for a very good equaliser (parametric) - search for "Equalizer".

 

[derrick14]

  Most of the modern iDevices are low impedance on the headphone out - so hiss shouldn't be an issue.  From memory (with my 425s) - the iPod Touch G4 I had onlu needed about 30% volume to have them plenty loud - so you don't need an amp.
 
If you want a decent app to play around with the sound signature - look for Accudio Pro in the app store, or for a very good equaliser (parametric) - search for "Equalizer".

thank you brooko for clearing my doubts and also the recommendation..

 

[cel4145]

Hey Cel, thanks for the tip! I myself am using poweramp even before getting the amp. Btw about the replaygain, do I need to tweak any settings for optimum audio satisfaction? Not really sure what the settings does after turning on the replaygain function.

Replaygain is a tag that is present on MP3s and FLAC (not sure which other file types). When the song is played back on Poweramp with that feature enabled, it will adjust the volume so that all the songs are more similar in volume. You do need a player on your computer like Foobar, Winamp, MusicBee, and MediaMonkey that will set that feature for each song. Some modern songs are recorded with the signal really loud, and so if the phone amp is at full volume it could clip it. But at the very least, it's great convenience so you don't have turn the volume up and down on songs hardly at all.