[Walk Humongous]

Hi All,
New to the game. Just bought a used Sony Z1R headphone set and I need a headphone amp. I'll be usually listening to music on my iPhoneX through iTunes or Vox.
I'm mostly curious about the Fiio Q5S ($350+) that was just announced and the McIntosh MHA50 ($700). I'm not sure why the McIntosh has very few reviews out, is it even shipping? I want something with bluetooth ideally. The McIntosh doesn't have balanced output, does that really matter as much as other considerations? How would the two compare? Please be gentle on me for not knowing everything, thanks!

 

[Thenewbie76]

I can't tell you much about the McIntosh but I can say that the fiio q5s is bloody amazing and you can't go wrong with it. I was at Canjamm Singapore recently and saw their booth , alot of people wanted to see the new products. I myself pre ordered the m11. If you wanna have more options I will say get the chord mojo or the ifi micro idsd black label seeing as how you got more money to spend on. The only difference is that the ifi and chord dac/amp don't have Bluetooth and the ifi is freaking huge, it's like a brick and that's why it can power hard to drive headphones .But I think since you have the Sony Z1R you don't need that much power

 

[Walk Humongous]

Thanks! Yes I thought it was a very exciting item and looks great for the price. I do think in the end Bluetooth will be important to me, not for all the time but for when it's more convenient. People rave about McIntosh in general and very little that is out there about the MHA50 seems positive. The price isn't a huge concern to me though of course I'd rather pay less if all things were equal. I do care about the more warm tube type sound McIntosh is supposed to offer. But what are the thoughts on the lack of balanced outputs on it. I have researched and users seem to be split on this, some thinking it's great and others don't think it matters much. But if 4.4mm is offered as a module option on the Q5S I figure I might as well go for it. And on that note....
Can someone explain the real world difference between the AM3 modules for the Q5S will be? Will the D and E both have 4.4mm balanced, and if so what's the difference? Can I buy either as options for the Q5S without having to have an extra upgrade module purchase? Is the THXAAA only in the D and is that worth focusing on? I'm also wondering if it's just the same and cheaper to get 4.4mm>2.5mm adapter or have a 2.5mm balanced cable made. Or if balanced isn't a big deal, maybe just stick with a company like McIntosh that has history and great customer service. So many options
Thanks!

 

[mattiav]

Just to confuse things further there’s also the iFi xCAN (if you want power and don’t need a DAC) or xDSD to consider...

 

[marka250]

Hi All,
New to the game. Just bought a used Sony Z1R headphone set and I need a headphone amp. I'll be usually listening to music on my iPhoneX through iTunes or Vox.
I'm mostly curious about the Fiio Q5S ($350+) that was just announced and the McIntosh MHA50 ($700). I'm not sure why the McIntosh has very few reviews out, is it even shipping? I want something with bluetooth ideally. The McIntosh doesn't have balanced output, does that really matter as much as other considerations? How would the two compare? Please be gentle on me for not knowing everything, thanks!

will buy the q5s for sure.

 

[Kukuk]

For the Z1R I feel the Sony PHA-2A would be the obvious choice. Fantastic little DAC/AMP, with 4.4mm balanced output. It's quite powerful for a portable amp, especially out of the balanced output, and has an incredibly clean DAC in it. The only real downside is the battery life is a little low at about 5 hours.

 

[stereonerd]

I’m in the same situation, weighing the McIntosh MHA50 vs other brands I am unfamiliar with (FiiO, iFi, etc...) I’m looking to drive my RHA CL2 Planar IEMs with a solid dac amp and possibly MQA. What did you end up going with?

 

[starstern]

weighing the McIntosh MHA50 vs other brands .....
any update since ??