[tmak67]

Hi,
 
I have kind of a noob question, i have seen many people with their portable rigs using a small portable amp with their dap and iems - i have a Sansa clip+ and a new Fiio X1 and using either my Koss portapros or shure se215s i seem to have more then enough volume from these devices.  I could understand using a portable headphone amp if someone was using large full size headphones but why with iems?  what am i missing?  does the amps improve the sound is some way?
 
jt

 

[Sefelt103]

Sometimes the amplifiers in media players are not very good. They might lack fidelity compared with other components, they might lack power to drive some full size headphones to loud volumes or they might colour the sound too much. A good portable amplifier usually gives better sound quality, more accurate volume control, may give a more balanced sound (ie no bass/treble boost) and has the ability to go very loud if required. Sometimes a feature of an amplifier is to colour the sound or provide a bass boost. Fiio by putting in powerful and good quality amplifiers reduces the requirement for external amplifiers unless the user is very critical.

 

[tmak67]

I have to say i tried my new Fiio X1 with the Topping NX1 - using the line out option from the X1 to the Topping and I can't put my finger on it but it does sound a little better - i would describe it as "airy" in my new guy language - but there is a different, its not a huge difference but i can hear it.

 

[Sefelt103]

Something I forgot to say was the improvement in soundstage and separation. The X1 probably does benefit from an external amplifier but it is less necessary on an X5. I personally prefer not to carry an extra amplifier that has limited battery life as well as the inconvenience. There is also the cost aspect and the waste of paying for two amplifiers for in some cases very little benefit.

 

[H20Fidelity]

  I have to say i tried my new Fiio X1 with the Topping NX1 - using the line out option from the X1 to the Topping and I can't put my finger on it but it does sound a little better - i would describe it as "airy" in my new guy language - but there is a different, its not a huge difference but i can hear it.

 
What you heard using NX1 with X1 is removal of some warmth coming from X1's internal amp section. When using a direct line out you bypass the players internal amp section taking a signal directly from the players DAC. The amp is then providing all the power to your headphone or IEM and you're hearing the amps tonality and presentation rather than the player.
 
Its reasons like this some people simply like to use portable amp with their low impedance IEMs to flavour the sound. In theory an amp shouldn't colour the signal or change the tonality at all, simply provide more power. That's all very well in theory though real experiences and many amps out there alter the sound in some way, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. 
 
Another reason one might add an amp is if the headphone out of their player emits high output impedance, this can alter the frequency response of low impedance IEM, especially those using multiple balanced armatures with a crossover. A good example of this would be a cheap laptop headphone out that was never designed for  music playback at high quality. By adding an amp to the laptops headphone out you then take on the amps output impedance correcting any possible problems.
 
End of the day, there's several reasons why one might use an amp in their rig and the simple  explanation:"it doesn't do anything but provide more power" doesn't cut the mustard.