[FadeOne]

Looking for some help as to a few options of portable dac/amps that will power a set of mk3 argons?

Thanks in advance guys

 

[corgifall]

Whats the budget?

 

[FadeOne]

Hi Corgi. Thanks for the reply. Sub $500

 

[corgifall]

The FiiO q5s is currently $299 on amazon. It's one of the more powerful portable DAC/Amps. The hip dac from IFI is $150 currently too. Did you get the argons with the option to go balanced or is it the standard single ended only? The Q5s does 220mW single ended and the Hip dac from ifi does 280mW. The q5s does let you swap modules out and if you're running single ended only then you can get their AM5 module that does 500mW off single ended. Those are getting harder to find these days but the Q5s gives you some flexibility. I had the ZMF classics which are also a t50rp modded headphone like the argons and they definitely need more power to sound close to a desktop amp.

 

[FadeOne]

Great info there. Yes, I opted for the balanced. Was looking at the q5s but wasn’t sure if it would power these cans. Is that the thx module you’re talking about? Damn things are pricey lol.

I’ll have to look into the hip dac. Didn’t know ifi made anything worth mentioning besides the black label.

 

[corgifall]

I would just use the stock amp the Q5s comes with. It can push out 560mW via the balanced connection. Would say go THX module if you wanna try it but the stock module is perfectly fine. The stock one squeezes a little more power than the THX one too.

I haven't tried the hip dac personally but I know there was alot of hype when it launched. I imagine it will be fine but I like smaller devices and the Q5s is small enough that I don't get irritated carrying it around If I forget my dap at home or If I'm gonna use it with my laptop at work.

 

[corgifall]

Are you gonna be connecting to a source with the portable DAC/Amp via an aux cord? Or will you be going bluetooth/usb? I only ask cause at under $500 you could always buy a good dap like the Fiio m11 or hiby R5/r6 pro. My Fiio M11 pushes about the same power as my Q5s and sounds the same but It allows me to save battery on my iphone. It doesn't allow line in via aux though so I use the Q5s for my switch and anything else that wont let me go usb. If you need a line in via aux then at least the two daps I mentioned are useless.

 

[FadeOne]

Man I’m glad you took the time to reply to this. Saved me quite a bit of coin. Super happy to know the q5s will perform well by itself.

I’ll be going usb into an iPhone most of the time but plan on going optical into an Xbox as well. Main reason I got these cans was for gaming.

 

[corgifall]

Yeah the Q5s would be a great option then. It comes with a optical adapter too! Well mine did anyways haha

 

[FadeOne]

I bet games on the switch are sooooo fun

 

[corgifall]

I play a lot of music games on the switch and the Q5 doesn't introduce any noticeable latency so that should help with the xbox if you game online.

 

[FadeOne]

Sweeeeet

 

[FadeOne]

Corgi do you know what difference there are from the am3e and am3d? Someone’s offering me a deal on the E

 

[corgifall]

The am3e is actually what comes with the Q5s. Only buy the am3e if you end up with the original fiio Q5. am3d is the thx module and thats gonna be more of a preference.

 

[corgifall]

You can usually find good deals on the am3e and am3a as those are both the stock modules that came with the original Q5 and Q5s. Make sure to buy the "Q5S" verison if you pick one up new on amazon. They list both the original and newer model for $299.99.