PanzerIV
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2009
- Posts
- 155
- Likes
- 29
Hello! I have a question which for some reason the answer appears to be extremely hard to find and I can hardly believe that I'd be the only person wondering this... I have a (Fiio X5 III and II) which is ALREADY suppose to have a very good DAC inside as it's in the main reason to buy such device as otherwise I would be using any cellphone with crappy internal rather than a real DAP.
Since I'm suppose to have a high-end DAC already in the X5, I bought a while ago a (Fiio A5) to replace the (E12) I had. I haven't noticed a sound quality difference between both version of X5 but I did between the E12 and A5. I would have a hard time believing the amplifier section from the (Fiio Q5) would be any better than the A5 if the whole unit is about the same size, yet they had to use more space for the battery and also to fit a DAC somewhere inside of it.
Question #1: A) Therefore the logic would be that the only reason you'd be paying twice more for the Q5 would be for the DAC rather than a "better amp" and since I use a X5 III rather than a cellphone to listen at music, using the DAC from the Q5 instead of the one from the X5 would be like changing 4x25¢ for 1$ right? B) Also, is there actually an easily noticeable SQ difference of using an even better DAC if you mostly listen to 16bit 44Khz 320 MP3 and sometime to Flac? I find there is a much bigger difference into good versus bad recording at the studio, than the amount of bitrate a file can have.
Question #2: I'm trying to find an even better portable amp than the A5 with a major improvement so I don't feel like throwing money out the window by paying twice more for a slight improvement. I now have the (Audeze LCD3) and they recommended me something that can push 500mW at 110Ohm which according to my searches, doesn't even seem to exist at all if you look into pocket sized amp. Yet, even in a bigger "portable" device such as the (Woo WA8) that cost as much as my (Woo WA6-SE), it is still very far from outputting such power so What with Audeze recommending that much power? Is it really necessary or even at 200mW @110Ohm I can still get 85-90% of my headphone potential? Here's below the specs of the Fiio A5 for example. I've checked also the 3 amp the VP of sales from Audeze suggested (Sony PHA-3, Sony PHA-2, Chord Mojo & Hugo 2) yet none of them has rating anywhere close to their suggested 500mW.
>800 mW (32 Ω/THD<1%)
≥ 150mW(300Ω/THD<1%)
Question #3: That whole rating about the amount of mW an amplifier can push, what is it all about exactly? Is it only the volume output, how loud it can play or an amp with a higher mW is usually always gonna sound better at the same dB because it will pack more punch in the bass and have more detailed highs? I'm wondering cause maybe Audeze is making me waste time and money finding a unicorn when I ain't really gonna notice much of a difference if any. However I can clearly say there is a major difference between my tiny portable A5 and the huge & heavy Woo tube amplifier on my desk and I don't think that it's only cause it can output much more wattage.
Thanks in advance for the help guys.
Since I'm suppose to have a high-end DAC already in the X5, I bought a while ago a (Fiio A5) to replace the (E12) I had. I haven't noticed a sound quality difference between both version of X5 but I did between the E12 and A5. I would have a hard time believing the amplifier section from the (Fiio Q5) would be any better than the A5 if the whole unit is about the same size, yet they had to use more space for the battery and also to fit a DAC somewhere inside of it.
Question #1: A) Therefore the logic would be that the only reason you'd be paying twice more for the Q5 would be for the DAC rather than a "better amp" and since I use a X5 III rather than a cellphone to listen at music, using the DAC from the Q5 instead of the one from the X5 would be like changing 4x25¢ for 1$ right? B) Also, is there actually an easily noticeable SQ difference of using an even better DAC if you mostly listen to 16bit 44Khz 320 MP3 and sometime to Flac? I find there is a much bigger difference into good versus bad recording at the studio, than the amount of bitrate a file can have.
Question #2: I'm trying to find an even better portable amp than the A5 with a major improvement so I don't feel like throwing money out the window by paying twice more for a slight improvement. I now have the (Audeze LCD3) and they recommended me something that can push 500mW at 110Ohm which according to my searches, doesn't even seem to exist at all if you look into pocket sized amp. Yet, even in a bigger "portable" device such as the (Woo WA8) that cost as much as my (Woo WA6-SE), it is still very far from outputting such power so What with Audeze recommending that much power? Is it really necessary or even at 200mW @110Ohm I can still get 85-90% of my headphone potential? Here's below the specs of the Fiio A5 for example. I've checked also the 3 amp the VP of sales from Audeze suggested (Sony PHA-3, Sony PHA-2, Chord Mojo & Hugo 2) yet none of them has rating anywhere close to their suggested 500mW.
>800 mW (32 Ω/THD<1%)
≥ 150mW(300Ω/THD<1%)
Question #3: That whole rating about the amount of mW an amplifier can push, what is it all about exactly? Is it only the volume output, how loud it can play or an amp with a higher mW is usually always gonna sound better at the same dB because it will pack more punch in the bass and have more detailed highs? I'm wondering cause maybe Audeze is making me waste time and money finding a unicorn when I ain't really gonna notice much of a difference if any. However I can clearly say there is a major difference between my tiny portable A5 and the huge & heavy Woo tube amplifier on my desk and I don't think that it's only cause it can output much more wattage.
Thanks in advance for the help guys.
Last edited: