Laeknishendr
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2015
- Posts
- 14
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- 0
TLDR Is at bottom
I'm searching for a portable Amp and Dac combo. I've been using Sennheiser Hd 518s for a year or so now, and they've held up to all the music I play through them, so I may get another pair down the road. Some may even say I probably don't need to Amp them or Dac them as they're satisfactory. Well, I can tell the difference between amped an un-amped with these trusty headphones of mine.
I run my music through VLC and recently got an SD card for my android for more music storage. And I can't turn the volume up high enough to satisfying levels unless I turn the gain up on the track, which results in noticeable distortion, mostly in the lower range. I'd like to be able to turn the gain down, bass up slightly since the HD518s open-back design restricts bass volume, then turn volume up. All within reasonable levels of course.
From all the descriptions I've read about other headphones, the HD 518s struck a good balance for me between soundstage, clarity, and also a decent amount of bass reproduction. The fidelity of it's bass extends satisfyingly low enough, while also remaining distinct throughout all of its frequencies across all ranges for me. I believe if I bought anything of a higher tier, I would just be getting diminished returns in price vs performance. Unless I went all out and got HD800s even I'm sure the difference would be pretty good to me, but I'm not paying for that.
That is of course considering I use Foobar2000 with an added 30-band equalizer, turn the 25hz-80hz frequencies up by a lot, then turn down gain, then turn up volume, then the Sennheisers can flex enough to drown out the higher frequency ranges, which of course isn't ideal. But I've experimented enough with the EQ bands to strike a good balance.
It's good plugged into my old Altec Lansing 2.0 satellites i've been using since I was 14, on my current PC, as they have these little built in amplifiers. It's a shame they don't make PC speakers like they used to, as I've yet to experience a good quality set without forking over good chunks of money for an A/V receiver and bookshelf speakers etc etc..
I'm in need of a good amp and dac combo for these headphones, on my Android device. I already bought a short cable for the headphones, even though I wanted the official short version from the Sennheiser website, but it's never in stock which has been ticking me off, and I grew impatient and bought a different one on Amazon; but it works and I notice no difference between the stock and aftermarket ones.
The price range is anywhere between $70-130 USD, for the Amp/Dac. Don't think someone should have to give a lot of money for something to simple. I bought an E10k without knowing it was for home use, and isn't portable and I probably should have done more research, so that was my mistake. Throw me whatever suggestions you have. I can't really give you an idea of what features I would want from it, so go ahead and show me what you think would be a good one.
If I had to name features, I'd like decent battery life and good sound over fancy little stuff that isn't necessary. If I had to give a kind of sound.. Probably something a little warm and if it has bass boosting qualities, preferably bass boosting in the real low frequencies of 25hz-60hz. I don't really like the frequencies between 100hz-200hz, and tend to turn them down a little - if I can - on anything I play music through.
TLDR: Need portable headphone Amp/Dac combo for my HD518's, between $70-130 USD price range. Features would probably be a little warm sound if that's even applicable to this sort of thing. Good battery life, and good sound as well. Doesn't need fancy things like a screen.
I'm searching for a portable Amp and Dac combo. I've been using Sennheiser Hd 518s for a year or so now, and they've held up to all the music I play through them, so I may get another pair down the road. Some may even say I probably don't need to Amp them or Dac them as they're satisfactory. Well, I can tell the difference between amped an un-amped with these trusty headphones of mine.
I run my music through VLC and recently got an SD card for my android for more music storage. And I can't turn the volume up high enough to satisfying levels unless I turn the gain up on the track, which results in noticeable distortion, mostly in the lower range. I'd like to be able to turn the gain down, bass up slightly since the HD518s open-back design restricts bass volume, then turn volume up. All within reasonable levels of course.
From all the descriptions I've read about other headphones, the HD 518s struck a good balance for me between soundstage, clarity, and also a decent amount of bass reproduction. The fidelity of it's bass extends satisfyingly low enough, while also remaining distinct throughout all of its frequencies across all ranges for me. I believe if I bought anything of a higher tier, I would just be getting diminished returns in price vs performance. Unless I went all out and got HD800s even I'm sure the difference would be pretty good to me, but I'm not paying for that.
That is of course considering I use Foobar2000 with an added 30-band equalizer, turn the 25hz-80hz frequencies up by a lot, then turn down gain, then turn up volume, then the Sennheisers can flex enough to drown out the higher frequency ranges, which of course isn't ideal. But I've experimented enough with the EQ bands to strike a good balance.
It's good plugged into my old Altec Lansing 2.0 satellites i've been using since I was 14, on my current PC, as they have these little built in amplifiers. It's a shame they don't make PC speakers like they used to, as I've yet to experience a good quality set without forking over good chunks of money for an A/V receiver and bookshelf speakers etc etc..
I'm in need of a good amp and dac combo for these headphones, on my Android device. I already bought a short cable for the headphones, even though I wanted the official short version from the Sennheiser website, but it's never in stock which has been ticking me off, and I grew impatient and bought a different one on Amazon; but it works and I notice no difference between the stock and aftermarket ones.
The price range is anywhere between $70-130 USD, for the Amp/Dac. Don't think someone should have to give a lot of money for something to simple. I bought an E10k without knowing it was for home use, and isn't portable and I probably should have done more research, so that was my mistake. Throw me whatever suggestions you have. I can't really give you an idea of what features I would want from it, so go ahead and show me what you think would be a good one.
If I had to name features, I'd like decent battery life and good sound over fancy little stuff that isn't necessary. If I had to give a kind of sound.. Probably something a little warm and if it has bass boosting qualities, preferably bass boosting in the real low frequencies of 25hz-60hz. I don't really like the frequencies between 100hz-200hz, and tend to turn them down a little - if I can - on anything I play music through.
TLDR: Need portable headphone Amp/Dac combo for my HD518's, between $70-130 USD price range. Features would probably be a little warm sound if that's even applicable to this sort of thing. Good battery life, and good sound as well. Doesn't need fancy things like a screen.
