[homeriscool]

My sound card on my laptop is rubbish. will i need to buy an external sound card for it or will these headphones still perform well? same as with iphone?

 

[IronIWolf]

Well it will perform adequately from your phone or laptop, but resolution and volume will not be up to par with what these headphones truly can reproduce. I dont think youll need a 1000$ amp for these, that may have some benefits in the end, but the most bang for the buck youd probably get from a FiiO E11,E12 (+ FiiO D03K) or E18 or a JDS Labs 5C or Objective 2 Amp+Dac. I personally use an E12 + D03K, because i need Toslink and that combination workd perfectly well Soundstage got bigger, detail got better, bass got more controll and the volume you can get out of this is deafening if you want it too, although id recommend using a maybe still loud, but at least reasonable level if you really want to have fun  
 
Changing the cable will also give the bass a bit more controll, but the gain is only slight, but i mean for 5$-10$ you can get a tad better sound...^^
 
Personally use them all day everyday now, also have had the HD598,Denon D600,Sony MA900 the Astro A50s, but the Philips X1 was definitely the best for my taste. The Denon you should forget completely though, that really isnt a matter of preference anymore :O 

 

[homeriscool]

  Well it will perform adequately from your phone or laptop, but resolution and volume will not be up to par with what these headphones truly can reproduce. I dont think youll need a 1000$ amp for these, that may have some benefits in the end, but the most bang for the buck youd probably get from a FiiO E11,E12 (+ FiiO D03K) or E18 or a JDS Labs 5C or Objective 2 Amp+Dac. I personally use an E12 + D03K, because i need Toslink and that combination workd perfectly well Soundstage got bigger, detail got better, bass got more controll and the volume you can get out of this is deafening if you want it too, although id recommend using a maybe still loud, but at least reasonable level if you really want to have fun  
 
Changing the cable will also give the bass a bit more controll, but the gain is only slight, but i mean for 5$-10$ you can get a tad better sound...^^
 
Personally use them all day everyday now, also have had the HD598,Denon D600,Sony MA900 the Astro A50s, but the Philips X1 was definitely the best for my taste. The Denon you should forget completely though, that really isnt a matter of preference anymore :O 

Hey thanks for your very informative  answer
 
So you think i should go with a Fiio E11, E12 on my laptop? what is the FiiO D03K used for? sorry im a noob to all this.

 

[IronIWolf]

Hehe, the E10 is basically a E11 combined with a D03K, the D03K takes the digital data and processes it into analog data which you headphone can reproduce, the E10 basically does all the work, while the E11 is just doing the amplifictation, so with E11 = Game -> Soundcard Dac -> E11 Amp -> Headphone and with E10 = Game -> E10 Dac -> E10 Amp -> Headphone I think either a E10 or a E11 + D03K & E12 + D03K, i personally run a E12 + D03K and its more than satisfactory No hissing, black background, wide soundstage and tremendous detail.  E12 output impendance is 0.5 Ohm, which is perfectly low for a 32 Ohm headphone E11 and E10 should be around there to, because they are meant for low impedance to medium impedance, while something like a Little Dot MK IV has much higher output impedance and is meant for high impedance headphones like Audeze LCD 3 or Oppo PM1 / 2 

 

[homeriscool]

  Hehe, the E10 is basically a E11 combined with a D03K, the D03K takes the digital data and processes it into analog data which you headphone can reproduce, the E10 basically does all the work, while the E11 is just doing the amplifictation, so with E11 = Game -> Soundcard Dac -> E11 Amp -> Headphone and with E10 = Game -> E10 Dac -> E10 Amp -> Headphone I think either a E10 or a E11 + D03K & E12 + D03K, i personally run a E12 + D03K and its more than satisfactory No hissing, black background, wide soundstage and tremendous detail.  E12 output impendance is 0.5 Ohm, which is perfectly low for a 32 Ohm headphone E11 and E10 should be around there to, because they are meant for low impedance to medium impedance, while something like a Little Dot MK IV has much higher output impedance and is meant for high impedance headphones like Audeze LCD 3 or Oppo PM1 / 2 

Hey thanks again for your input. I actually went ahead and bought the Fiio E17 as well as the headphones. Im very happy with the sound quality better than i expected to be honest. Thanks again

 

[IronIWolf]

Np, glad you like it

 

[OMGLadyGaga]

Glad you liked the X1 it really is an incredible bargain. There's a thread dedicated to it, if you ever want to ask more questions.