[Chris J]

I own an Q701 + Fiio E17. I have no problems with volume and SQ is ok. Will I have a significant improvement in sound, if i'll buy an Fiio E09k amp?

The E09K will sound slightly better, but I must emphasize that the difference is very slight.
The E09K does sound slightly warmer and fuller.
For a true upgrade you want something like the Matrix M Stage headphone amp, for example.

 

[donunus]

Doing a loop of some burn in tracks from my library and I noticed that very bassy/low bass tones shake the enclosure causing it to rattle. At first I thought it was the driver but whats weird is that if I hold on to some parts of the cup, the vibrations lessen. Anyone experience this? Of course the drivers rattle as well but thats at a higher volume than what I am playing them at right now.
 
The specific track where I can hear it right away in the first 3 seconds or so of the track is on track 8 of the XLO Reference Recordings Test & Burn-In CD. Its a demagnetizing fade track.

 

[Danpyre]

I'm getting the Schiit Vali, and I'm wondering how far up I should put the gain.
I don't want to blow out my q701's.

 

[jodgey4]

Mine do rattle, but it disappears as soon as I play music, even with that deep bass at high levels. It's strange.

 

[Solrighal]

 

 
Surely your ears & brain might give you a clue?

 

[PleasantSounds]

Originally Posted by Danpyre /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
I'm getting the Schiit Vali, and I'm wondering how far up I should put the gain.
I don't want to blow out my q701's.

 
The best way is to set it to the lowest setting and check how loud it goes.
Start with the volume pot at 0 and keep increasing to the desired level.
If it is not loud enough with the volume close to the max then increase gain and start over.
 
At the lower gain settings you are less likely to encounter background noise, although with this headphone it probably doesn't matter as it is not very sensitive.

 

[donunus]

just use good judgement. dont make the sound constantly clip, rattle or distort any way that is clearly audible and you will be fine.

 

[donunus]

Back to the Q701... after over 24 hours of burn in, these are FANTABULOUS! I will do a shootout against hd580/600s soon but these are very promising now. No more congestion due to the blurry upper mids. I can now pick things apart while enjoying the music at the same time. Its been a while since I have not had the urge to always change tracks in the middle of songs

 

[Danpyre]

I heard that there was a difference between driving force and volume, so I figured the gain would be the driving force.  I figured that there was a good cross point between the two that would assist me in my goal to make it sound at its best.
I have never used an amp before, so I'm a bit of a noob.

 

[donunus]

The answer to to your question would depend on what exact amp you are getting. The Vali for xample has no adjustable gain setting. Its fine.

 

[Danpyre]

The answer to to your question would depend on what exact amp you are getting. The Vali for xample has no adjustable gain setting. Its fine.

I thought the knob was the gain.  I wouldn't really see the use of two volume controls, unless the amp itself doesn't actually make anything louder, so they included another volume to make it louder on low volume devices.

 

[Solrighal]

You might want to have a look here...
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/615449/gain-vs-volume

 

[Chris J]

  I heard that there was a difference between driving force and volume, so I figured the gain would be the driving force.  I figured that there was a good cross point between the two that would assist me in my goal to make it sound at its best.
I have never used an amp before, so I'm a bit of a noob.

 
The driving force would be power, a headphone requires power to create sound, i.e. make the diaphragm move. 
 
One way to think about this is gain is the amount of voltage amplification provided by the amplifier.
The volume control actually controls how much signal goes into the amplifier.
 
Low gain is typically used for more sensitive headphones.
High gain is typically used for less sensitive headphones.
 
Q701's typically need an amp with a moderate amount of gain, when I owned a Matrix M Stage, I usually left the gain at 10 dB.
 
Confused yet?  

 

 

[Criss969]

I want these.

 

[PleasantSounds]

Some vendors call it 'pre-gain' and that probably makes it clearer. Think of it as a facility to calibrate your volume pot so that you can have a decent range:
 

1. Too high pre-gain and the sound gets too loud before the pot reaches 10 o'clock.
2. Too low and it's not loud enough even when the pot is at max.

 
That works of course within the capabilities of the amp: some will never power adequately the least sensitive headphones.