Scott_Tarlow
1000+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2009
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Hello all, this is my first review on Head-fi, so if this sucks well, don't read it. This review mainly chronicles my 5 month experience with portable amps, mainly 3 very popular ones out here: FiiO E5, iBasso D2 Boa, and the Pico Amp/DAC. Why do this? There are already a number of reviews on each of these amps/dacs, but there has never been a review that simply addressed the explicit differences between the what now appears to be the three different types of portable amps out there (budget, mid priced, expensive). Usually you have to read through a bunch of super reviews, then wait for replies when you have questions.
I have now owned a cheap headphone amp, a mid priced headphone amp, and a leader of the pack headphone amp. These impressions may be different from what others may believe, but I think the more opinions out there the better so here we go. I mostly listen to Techno, Classic Rock, and Alt Rock with some occasional reggae and rap.
Enter the FiiO E5:
When I first bought the FiiO E5, I had only one set of headphones that are even remotely mentioned on this site, which were the Shure se210. They have no bass, and sound thin and anemic. Really the only nice trait that these earphones offer are their mids, which IMO aren't really the best in this price bracket anyway, but what is a brown eyed Boston boy to do anyway? I was actually satisfied with the sound the se210's gave me at the time, as I really wasn't really into my audio as much as I was into getting an A on my physics final. Anyway, I saw my friend looking at this site because he was looking for a pair of headphones, and we started reading up on headphone amps. Both of us really had no idea there was such a thing as headphone amps! So I saw the FiiO E5 thread... it was about 20 bucks on head-direct, so I though why not give it a shot.
After ordering the FiiO, I knew what to expect in terms of build, but I had no idea what to expect in terms sound. So I quickly plug the interconnects that came with the FiiO into my Zune 120, and plug my se210's. I couldn't believe it, the earphones sounded different. The overall sound was muddier and less clear than before, but there was tons more energy. It is like the difference between having a shower head on half pressure and full pressure. The se210's were no longer anemic, and had a full warm sound. The bass was still lite, but it had some actual impact. I was happy to exchange this new found energy at the expense of a small amount of sound stage (the IEM's had none anyway), treble (like the se210 had any) and instrument separation.
I was pretty happy to be honest, but I am a bit of a hobbyist and since all my hobbies were left in California when I went away for college, I was hungry for one. So I was looking for a new set of full size cans that looked cool, and sounded cool. There I saw the ESW9's. A can that sounded good out of a portable source without an amp, but was also known to benefit from one. I bought one for 225, which I still think is a good price. Anyway, when I got my ESW9's I almost instantly plugged them into my little FiiO. I loved the sound, but I really did wonder what the cans sounded like directly out my Zune. Well, to be honest, they sounded a lot cleaner. I actually stopped using my FiiO e5 with the ESW9's because they really didn't need more energy than they already had, and they also had a very warm sound to begin with.
Ok, so we all know the Head-Fi effect, we spend money once we start coming here. I ended buying a set of TF10 pro's used here for about 200 bucks, and I am so glad I did because I found my favorite sound signature. Anyway, I plugged them into my Zune 120 directly this time and loved them, but I am also curious by nature and wanted to use my little FiiO once more. Whoa, this time the TF10's actually sounded better amped with the FiiO then unamped. One of the biggest qualms with the TF10's sound signature is that the mids are recessed. The FiiO E5 pushed the mids forward a little bit, making them prefect for me. They weren't recessed but they weren't forward, right in the middle. This of course did not come with its drawbacks, as the sound stage got a little smaller, the the instrument separation when from fabulous to above average, and overall the sound seemed a little more congested instead of open. I thought the trade was fair so I continued to use my little FiiO.
I had started my research paper for Ancient Japanese Civilization, and started listening to my computer more than I listed to my Zune. I never really hooked the FiiO up to my laptop, as I saw no point really. Anyway, the laptop sounded worse than the zune, especially with my TF10's and ESW9's, so I decided I needed a USB DAC. I didn't really want to spend that much money, as I was pretty satisfied at this point, so I thought that 200 bucks maximum was fair.
Enter the iBasso D2 Boa:
As many of you know, or are beginning to know, there are a few good choices for DAC/Amps in this price range. I chose the iBasso D2 mostly by the fact that the iBasso D10 was in super FOTM mode, and I thought that since iBasso could turn a good product like that, maybe their lesser model is pretty good as well. Also it looked more professional than the NuForce Icon Mobile, which was the other device I was considering. Anyway I ordered the the D2 and two days later the box came from IBasso. This was great. I quickly used the USB with my ESW9's and OMG. The sound was super clean. Not only was it an upgrade from my Laptop's sound card, but it sure seemed like an upgrade from the DAC inside my Zune, which here is applauded for its sound quality. Sound stage, bass, detail, lows, mids, highs, treble and energy were all improved substantially with my ESW9 and TF10's, with NO DRAWBACKS at all.
The overall build quality was way better than the FiiO, which was ok but I felt I had to be careful with the buttons or it would break. The D2 was also a lot smaller than I had expected, thinking it would be about the size of an iPod. Anyway, the battery seemed to last forever on the D2, and I had thought I would have problems because you can only charge the battery 500 times. As a portable amp, the effects were the same with the zune as the USB DAC except not as drastic. I wouldn't say the differences are significant, but I wouldn't say subtle. Somewhere in between. When you hook the zune up to the IBasso, you are double amping it, which is some controversy because they say double amping the signal could distort the signal. I noticed no distortion. It was worth bringing the iBasso around with me, even though it added a little bulk in my pocket. The bus sounded sweet sooo sweet.
The iBasso does have its flaws though. First off, the amp is always battery powered. This was annoying, because the battery isn't user replaceable. The nob is annoying to turn, and sometimes hard to grip. I use the nob a lot depending on the music I listen to, so you could see how this was uncomfortable to me. Despite these flaws, the iBasso gave me the best sound I have ever owned. This did not stop my ambition though, as I was eying the big boys of the the portable amp pack. Only thing is, the voice inside me said I couldn't really spend that much money on something when I was happy with what I got, so I made a compromise and sold off some old airsoft stuff I didn't use and also I sold off the D2 Boa.
Enter the Pico Dac/Amp:
While I couldn't test the Pico and the D2 Boa side to side, I didn't need to. This is a different breed. The Pico and D2 are about the same size, the Pico is a little thinner. The overall difference is changing a video game graphics from medium to high quality. The build is sophisticated. The nob, shell, paint, and even headphone jacks seems to be much more solid than the D2. You could tell, this amp took a lot of hours to make. It doesn't scream quality, it defines it.
Connected via usb, there is one way to describe the Pico, wow. Every instrument is distinct, every sound has its own identity. The Dac/Amp combo was clearly in another league of both the FiiO and D2 Boa. Live music recordings produced sounds that would actaully be heard at the concert, it felt like the Pico was not compensating for anything. If these amps were weapons, the FiiO would be an old musket, the D2 Boa would be an assault rifle, and the Pico would be a Sniper Rifle. All accurate in their niche, but the Pico just goes further. I felt like I had never heard drums before I heard them through the Pico. Everything was bigger and better. The stage was around me and and Pete Townsend was doing the windmill. I haven't tested the Pico with my TF10's as they are at Unique Melody right now for a remold, but they seem like an impressive match for my ESW9's.
The sound was not as impressive connect to my Zune, but still better than both the FiiO and the D2 Boa. I would say that the Boa connected to usb sounded better than the Pico connected to the Zune, but the sound was so good that it made me want to buy high quality interconnects. I have not got them yet, but I ordered a Fidelity Audio Xpert, A custom one made by a head-fier, and the Practical Devices made one. It seems to me that the DAC on the Pico is more impressive than its amp, but the amp on the Pico has more juice and sounds cleaner than the D2 Boa.
What is also more impressive about the Pico is that it has a 3 year warranty, and is made in the United States. Shipping to China can get messy, and it is so much easier to ship within the united states. Also, there is a separate charging circuit, so when the Pico is hooked up to the wall, it stops charging and goes off wall power, not killing the battery. What is also great is that the battery is covered by warranty and is user replaceable on the Pico, which is not the case with the iBasso.
Do I regret buying the FiiO and D2 Boa? No way, I think my ears are trained to notice details that I would have never noticed if I went straight to the Pico. I think most of the disappointments with people new to amps is that they actually go straight for the nice amp, instead of noticing the flaws on the worse amps. I actually think I appreciate my Pico more, which makes my purchase all the better.
For all the people who are trying to decide on what amp to get, or how much to spend, My suggestion is start out in the D2 Boa range. In the end, the FiiO really was never worth it, especially if you have higher end headphones. Since I move across the country back and forth between homes and dorms, I can have high quality sound anywhere I go with the Pico. I am sure that these don't match really strong desktop amps, but these are supposed to be the middle ground between no amp and a desktop amp. If you are expecting miracles, you may find them if you have never heard high quality audio before. If you have, I think you will just find adequacy.
Thanks for reading.
I have now owned a cheap headphone amp, a mid priced headphone amp, and a leader of the pack headphone amp. These impressions may be different from what others may believe, but I think the more opinions out there the better so here we go. I mostly listen to Techno, Classic Rock, and Alt Rock with some occasional reggae and rap.
Enter the FiiO E5:
When I first bought the FiiO E5, I had only one set of headphones that are even remotely mentioned on this site, which were the Shure se210. They have no bass, and sound thin and anemic. Really the only nice trait that these earphones offer are their mids, which IMO aren't really the best in this price bracket anyway, but what is a brown eyed Boston boy to do anyway? I was actually satisfied with the sound the se210's gave me at the time, as I really wasn't really into my audio as much as I was into getting an A on my physics final. Anyway, I saw my friend looking at this site because he was looking for a pair of headphones, and we started reading up on headphone amps. Both of us really had no idea there was such a thing as headphone amps! So I saw the FiiO E5 thread... it was about 20 bucks on head-direct, so I though why not give it a shot.
After ordering the FiiO, I knew what to expect in terms of build, but I had no idea what to expect in terms sound. So I quickly plug the interconnects that came with the FiiO into my Zune 120, and plug my se210's. I couldn't believe it, the earphones sounded different. The overall sound was muddier and less clear than before, but there was tons more energy. It is like the difference between having a shower head on half pressure and full pressure. The se210's were no longer anemic, and had a full warm sound. The bass was still lite, but it had some actual impact. I was happy to exchange this new found energy at the expense of a small amount of sound stage (the IEM's had none anyway), treble (like the se210 had any) and instrument separation.
I was pretty happy to be honest, but I am a bit of a hobbyist and since all my hobbies were left in California when I went away for college, I was hungry for one. So I was looking for a new set of full size cans that looked cool, and sounded cool. There I saw the ESW9's. A can that sounded good out of a portable source without an amp, but was also known to benefit from one. I bought one for 225, which I still think is a good price. Anyway, when I got my ESW9's I almost instantly plugged them into my little FiiO. I loved the sound, but I really did wonder what the cans sounded like directly out my Zune. Well, to be honest, they sounded a lot cleaner. I actually stopped using my FiiO e5 with the ESW9's because they really didn't need more energy than they already had, and they also had a very warm sound to begin with.
Ok, so we all know the Head-Fi effect, we spend money once we start coming here. I ended buying a set of TF10 pro's used here for about 200 bucks, and I am so glad I did because I found my favorite sound signature. Anyway, I plugged them into my Zune 120 directly this time and loved them, but I am also curious by nature and wanted to use my little FiiO once more. Whoa, this time the TF10's actually sounded better amped with the FiiO then unamped. One of the biggest qualms with the TF10's sound signature is that the mids are recessed. The FiiO E5 pushed the mids forward a little bit, making them prefect for me. They weren't recessed but they weren't forward, right in the middle. This of course did not come with its drawbacks, as the sound stage got a little smaller, the the instrument separation when from fabulous to above average, and overall the sound seemed a little more congested instead of open. I thought the trade was fair so I continued to use my little FiiO.
I had started my research paper for Ancient Japanese Civilization, and started listening to my computer more than I listed to my Zune. I never really hooked the FiiO up to my laptop, as I saw no point really. Anyway, the laptop sounded worse than the zune, especially with my TF10's and ESW9's, so I decided I needed a USB DAC. I didn't really want to spend that much money, as I was pretty satisfied at this point, so I thought that 200 bucks maximum was fair.
Enter the iBasso D2 Boa:
As many of you know, or are beginning to know, there are a few good choices for DAC/Amps in this price range. I chose the iBasso D2 mostly by the fact that the iBasso D10 was in super FOTM mode, and I thought that since iBasso could turn a good product like that, maybe their lesser model is pretty good as well. Also it looked more professional than the NuForce Icon Mobile, which was the other device I was considering. Anyway I ordered the the D2 and two days later the box came from IBasso. This was great. I quickly used the USB with my ESW9's and OMG. The sound was super clean. Not only was it an upgrade from my Laptop's sound card, but it sure seemed like an upgrade from the DAC inside my Zune, which here is applauded for its sound quality. Sound stage, bass, detail, lows, mids, highs, treble and energy were all improved substantially with my ESW9 and TF10's, with NO DRAWBACKS at all.
The overall build quality was way better than the FiiO, which was ok but I felt I had to be careful with the buttons or it would break. The D2 was also a lot smaller than I had expected, thinking it would be about the size of an iPod. Anyway, the battery seemed to last forever on the D2, and I had thought I would have problems because you can only charge the battery 500 times. As a portable amp, the effects were the same with the zune as the USB DAC except not as drastic. I wouldn't say the differences are significant, but I wouldn't say subtle. Somewhere in between. When you hook the zune up to the IBasso, you are double amping it, which is some controversy because they say double amping the signal could distort the signal. I noticed no distortion. It was worth bringing the iBasso around with me, even though it added a little bulk in my pocket. The bus sounded sweet sooo sweet.
The iBasso does have its flaws though. First off, the amp is always battery powered. This was annoying, because the battery isn't user replaceable. The nob is annoying to turn, and sometimes hard to grip. I use the nob a lot depending on the music I listen to, so you could see how this was uncomfortable to me. Despite these flaws, the iBasso gave me the best sound I have ever owned. This did not stop my ambition though, as I was eying the big boys of the the portable amp pack. Only thing is, the voice inside me said I couldn't really spend that much money on something when I was happy with what I got, so I made a compromise and sold off some old airsoft stuff I didn't use and also I sold off the D2 Boa.
Enter the Pico Dac/Amp:
While I couldn't test the Pico and the D2 Boa side to side, I didn't need to. This is a different breed. The Pico and D2 are about the same size, the Pico is a little thinner. The overall difference is changing a video game graphics from medium to high quality. The build is sophisticated. The nob, shell, paint, and even headphone jacks seems to be much more solid than the D2. You could tell, this amp took a lot of hours to make. It doesn't scream quality, it defines it.
Connected via usb, there is one way to describe the Pico, wow. Every instrument is distinct, every sound has its own identity. The Dac/Amp combo was clearly in another league of both the FiiO and D2 Boa. Live music recordings produced sounds that would actaully be heard at the concert, it felt like the Pico was not compensating for anything. If these amps were weapons, the FiiO would be an old musket, the D2 Boa would be an assault rifle, and the Pico would be a Sniper Rifle. All accurate in their niche, but the Pico just goes further. I felt like I had never heard drums before I heard them through the Pico. Everything was bigger and better. The stage was around me and and Pete Townsend was doing the windmill. I haven't tested the Pico with my TF10's as they are at Unique Melody right now for a remold, but they seem like an impressive match for my ESW9's.
The sound was not as impressive connect to my Zune, but still better than both the FiiO and the D2 Boa. I would say that the Boa connected to usb sounded better than the Pico connected to the Zune, but the sound was so good that it made me want to buy high quality interconnects. I have not got them yet, but I ordered a Fidelity Audio Xpert, A custom one made by a head-fier, and the Practical Devices made one. It seems to me that the DAC on the Pico is more impressive than its amp, but the amp on the Pico has more juice and sounds cleaner than the D2 Boa.
What is also more impressive about the Pico is that it has a 3 year warranty, and is made in the United States. Shipping to China can get messy, and it is so much easier to ship within the united states. Also, there is a separate charging circuit, so when the Pico is hooked up to the wall, it stops charging and goes off wall power, not killing the battery. What is also great is that the battery is covered by warranty and is user replaceable on the Pico, which is not the case with the iBasso.
Do I regret buying the FiiO and D2 Boa? No way, I think my ears are trained to notice details that I would have never noticed if I went straight to the Pico. I think most of the disappointments with people new to amps is that they actually go straight for the nice amp, instead of noticing the flaws on the worse amps. I actually think I appreciate my Pico more, which makes my purchase all the better.
For all the people who are trying to decide on what amp to get, or how much to spend, My suggestion is start out in the D2 Boa range. In the end, the FiiO really was never worth it, especially if you have higher end headphones. Since I move across the country back and forth between homes and dorms, I can have high quality sound anywhere I go with the Pico. I am sure that these don't match really strong desktop amps, but these are supposed to be the middle ground between no amp and a desktop amp. If you are expecting miracles, you may find them if you have never heard high quality audio before. If you have, I think you will just find adequacy.
Thanks for reading.
