[jkghdf]

I am looking to purchase a portable amp and would like to know which portable amp is best suited for my Hd555s. My source would be my iPod Touch and my budget would be up to $150. I am currently looking at iBasso amps and would like to know which of the T3, T4, or T3D is best for the 555s.

As well, are there any other alternative headphone amps that I should look into? I've heard some things about Fiios, Nuforce, cMoys, but I'm not sure how they stack up against iBassos.

Help is appreciated

 

[jkghdf]

You mean no one knows at all? Come on... all I need to know is which amp is good for 555s.

 

[fenixdown110]

The HD555 doesn't benefit much from amping. A good portable amp is the Headroom Total Bithead.

 

[jkghdf]

Thanks for the reply, but surely one of the amps I listed or the one you listed will have a positive and notable effect on the sound?

 

[fenixdown110]

It would improve, but not noticeably. Only a better headphone would really take advantage of it.

 

[jkghdf]

Hmm... I guess, but they sound pretty underpowered. It's probably my source but I want to make up for that with an amp, so I am trying to decide which one is best.

 

[fenixdown110]

The HD555's sound pretty good unamped. Even the HD595 isn't that great amped. The HD580/600/650 need one though.

 

[jkghdf]

They sound pretty good unamped, but I want to maximize the potential of them.

 

[pekingduck]

I agree with fenix. I had them for 6 months. They did not improve much with amplification...
(tried iBasso D10 and Minibox e+)

 

[Poetik]

I have a pair of re0's and 595's that I wanted to get a lil bit more out of it as well. Just like the 595's the 555's are already pretty efficient phones so I wouldn't expect anything game changing from the amp (although I do hope it sounds better). On my quest to help them reach their potential I researched the whole day and basically found out a few things about those ibasso amps:

-The t3 is the newer version of the t4 (no idea why they went backwards in numbers as an upgrade).

-Although the t3 lacks the bass boost button that the t4 has, it is still a bassy amp. If you play with the gain settings the bass should be more apparent.

-The t3 supposedly sounds better than the t3d and the t4.

Needless to say I ended up ordering a t3 at the end of the day to replace my fiio e5.

Hope that information helped you a bit and it never hurts to do a lil bit of research on your own especially since $150 is a good portion to spend.

 

[fenixdown110]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pekingduck /img/forum/go_quote.gif I agree with fenix. I had them for 6 months. They did not improve much with amplification... (tried iBasso D10 and Minibox e+)

I had the HD555 for a while as well and got fed up with it's SQ cap. I ended up upgrading to what I have in my sig.

You can mod the HD555's for better soundstage and other benefits rather than amping. Best thing is the mods are free.

 

[Poetik]

Yea man, I'm about done with my 595's too. The last straw is this amp and seeing if it makes it a lil bit better before I sell them off. Judging from what you said about them not improving much with even a d10 and a minibox e+... that really makes me severely lose hope.

Oh well though, the t3 is mostly for my re0's and I know they'll sound much better with it.

 

[Zaubertuba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenixdown110 /img/forum/go_quote.gif The HD555 doesn't benefit much from amping.

I can't speak much for the amp stage of the iPod, but when I went from my onboard sound card to the headphone stage of my NAD preamp the improvement was quite noticeable.

Going to an a47 (basically a CMoy on steroids) was an improvement. Going balanced was another notable improvement.

Getting a better source (my EMu 1212m soundcard) was a rather large improvement.

All of this I noted and heard first hand doing very thoughtful and systematic listening to my HD 555's. So I guess from my own standpoint, the 555's actually do scale quite well.

Now, I will agree, everything's relative, and you shouldn't expect night-day improvements tweaking with amps and such. I suppose that's the point with the oft-heard tip that the single best place to invest your money is an improvement in headphones.

But everything's relative. From my experience, there's no harm (and indeed quite a benefit to be had) from making reasonable improvements in the rest of your rig that are within the appropriate range of your headphone gear and your wallet. What I mean by this is it doesn't make sense to buy a $350 amp for a $70 set of headphones--if you're going to spend that much, of course you'd be better off spending it on a headphone upgrade.

Spending $100 or less, however, actually makes sense. Heck, my balanced a47 only set me back about $60 in parts, and it actually drives my HD 580's rather nicely, as well.

Taking this approach--learning to be happy with what you have, and buying sensibly within your means, will make you (and your wallet) much happier in the end.

 

[pekingduck]

Actually, if you are OK with desktop amp, you might consider the Little Dot I+. The I+ is specifically designed for low-impedance current-hungry headphones so it might work for the HD555!

 

[fenixdown110]

Well the I+ isn't specific for low impedance cans. It just drives them particularly well. It handles up to 300 ohms as well with good results. However, no matter how good the amp, the HD555 just won't show much improvement. It's the law of diminishing returns with a lower end can.