[berzerk428]

I will double check tonight. Also, I believe its been covered that 2x just allows for a bit higher volume and doesn't change any type of Gain to increase volume. My ES100 volume is always about -23 or -20 db with the AKG. Are you using EQ as well with a lowered Preamp to prevent clipping?

all I can say is that in my case the increase in volume isnt minor at all, it's very noticeable. I don't have much knowledge when it comes to audio hardware besides what I've gathered over the years following threads on head-fi but giving the amp more power to work with must have some kind of effect I'm assuming. not using any preamp/tailored eq to avoid clipping, I havent experimented much since increasing the voltage seems to solve all the problems I encounter with lower voltage, 1x voltage ends up messy on higher volumes, 2x voltage allows me to crank it up as high as I want without any loss in quality whatsoever - I just want to avoid damaging the N5005/ES100, and the warning message isnt exactly comforting : )

 

[Julien]

Previous sales lasted about 6 hours. I guess these will be the same.

If it went on Flash sale for $75 at 8:40PM EST then it didn't last longer than 6 hours. I just checked at 4:05AM EST and it is listed at $100. Did it go on sale?

 

[civciv]

If it went on Flash sale for $75 at 10:40PM EST then it didn't last 6 hours. I just checked at 4:05AM EST and it is listed at $100.

It lasted for 6 hours. If you open the Keepa link and zoom to the red lightning deal dot, yo can see it.

 

[phattrance]

Can someone explain to me what the 2x current (3.5mm) does? Does it make the sound better? Or is it just for getting higher volume?

 

[IrishAudio]

Can someone explain to me what the 2x current (3.5mm) does? Does it make the sound better? Or is it just for getting higher volume?

My understanding is that increasing the current drives the drivers and that voltage drives the volume. High volume with low current would result in drivers not being pushed to their maximum so dynamic range would be impacted (e.g. flat bass).

EarStudio told me that current doesn’t increase in balanced mode when you go from 1x to 2x voltage. Current doubles in single mode but doesn’t increase further when you move to balanced. Balanced only increases voltage which only impacts volume. So, if the volume is sufficient at 1x in balanced mode then no need to double the voltage and increase battery drain.

What I don’t know is the maximum output of the current for the ES100 to know if it is maximizing the range of the drivers in my HD650s.

An electrical engineer may have a better description.

 

[kukkurovaca]

Can someone explain to me what the 2x current (3.5mm) does? Does it make the sound better? Or is it just for getting higher volume?

My understanding is that increasing the current drives the drivers and that voltage drives the volume. High volume with low current would result in drivers not being pushed to their maximum so dynamic range would be impacted (e.g. flat bass).

EarStudio told me that current doesn’t increase in balanced mode when you go from 1x to 2x voltage. Current doubles in single mode but doesn’t increase further when you move to balanced. Balanced only increases voltage which only impacts volume. So, if the volume is sufficient at 1x in balanced mode then no need to double the voltage and increase battery drain.

What I don’t know is the maximum output of the current for the ES100 to know if it is maximizing the range of the drivers in my HD650s.

An electrical engineer may have a better description.

Speaking generally, increasing current is good for low-impedance hard-to-drive headphones (like planars), while increasing voltage is good for high-impedance hard-to-drive headphones (like 300ohm+ Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic, etc.)

 

[phattrance]

My understanding is that increasing the current drives the drivers and that voltage drives the volume. High volume with low current would result in drivers not being pushed to their maximum so dynamic range would be impacted (e.g. flat bass).

EarStudio told me that current doesn’t increase in balanced mode when you go from 1x to 2x voltage. Current doubles in single mode but doesn’t increase further when you move to balanced. Balanced only increases voltage which only impacts volume. So, if the volume is sufficient at 1x in balanced mode then no need to double the voltage and increase battery drain.

What I don’t know is the maximum output of the current for the ES100 to know if it is maximizing the range of the drivers in my HD650s.

An electrical engineer may have a better description.

Oh, so it doesnt have to do anything with sound quality? My in-ear have 16ohm, so they dont need that much power. Should i go with 2x or 1x? How big is the battery drainage between 1x and 2x?

 

[SubMash]

Can someone explain to me what the 2x current (3.5mm) does? Does it make the sound better? Or is it just for getting higher volume?

Double current uses 2 amps instead of 1. It makes higher Frequency response error (it's a sum of both amplifiers errors), but it's negligible. It also makes lower output impedance which with low impedance headphones becomes important (significant frequency response distortion could be decreased) and also makes 2x lower current demand per amplifier, so decreases harmonic distortions and decreases chance of hitting horrible distortion if amplifier circuit will be overloaded.

Balanced output though better since it uses one amp for left and another for right ear. It gets same perks, but also noise cancelling and no FR error addition.

Anyway, use balanced whenever you can. And use double current if you don't want to save battery.

 

[SubMash]

Oh, so it doesnt have to do anything with sound quality? My in-ear have 16ohm, so they dont need that much power. Should i go with 2x or 1x? How big is the battery drainage between 1x and 2x?

Use 2x. Or better switch to balanced.

 

[phattrance]

Use 2x. Or better switch to balanced.

Thx for the reply. Unfortunately my in-ear only have 3,5mm plug, so they don’t support unbalanced cables.

Do you know how much more battery the 2x uses compared with the 1x?

 

[B_Rich]

So I know I've been praising the crap out of the ES100 lately, but I've ran into a problem. When I power on the device, I get a nasty click and pop right when the turn-on music starts, and when it ends. I also get the nasty click-pop when I press Play/Pause. Has anyone else experienced this issue? It happens on both bluetooth and USB/DAC modes. I'm using the ES100 with Sennheiser IE80's if that makes any difference (although the issue also happens on my Samsung IEM's).

 

[SubMash]

Thx for the reply. Unfortunately my in-ear only have 3,5mm plug, so they don’t support unbalanced cables.

Do you know how much more battery the 2x uses compared with the 1x?

I don't remember, numbers were posted long time ago here. I have impression it's around 10%

 

[IrishAudio]

Oh, so it doesnt have to do anything with sound quality? My in-ear have 16ohm, so they dont need that much power. Should i go with 2x or 1x? How big is the battery drainage between 1x and 2x?

If the current is not sufficient to fully drive the drivers, it will impact sound quality.

I would suggest to test songs between x1 and x2 current. If you cannot tell the difference, x1 should be suitable. At the end of the day, we should trust our own ears and just enjoy the music.

 

[ebrandon]

I just got my es100 today from the $75 Amazon sale. Have been curious about this device for quite a while.

So far, I'm very impressed. SQ is excellent, and I love all the options in the very well designed companion app. Lots of fun experimentation & listening ahead!

This is the first device I've had that has a balanced output jack, so I'd like to give that a try.

Here is my question. From the following list of headphones, which one would most worth trying out in balanced mode?
Factors include:
- Likely to sound better in balanced mode than unbalanced
- Balanced cable would be relatively easy & cheap to acquire

I have easy to drive:
- Etymotic ER4XR
- EMU Teak
- HE400s

I have hard to drive:
- Audio Technica r70x

I'd also be grateful if you can recommend where to get a relatively inexpensive, fairly good, cable that would be compatible with the es100 2.5mm jack and one of my headphones.

Thanks!

 

[kukkurovaca]

Here is my question. From the following list of headphones, which one would most worth trying out in balanced mode?
Factors include:
- Likely to sound better in balanced mode than unbalanced
- Balanced cable would be relatively easy & cheap to acquire

I have easy to drive:
- Etymotic ER4XR
- EMU Teak
- HE400s

I have hard to drive:
- AT70RX

Certainly harder to drive will benefit more than easier to drive from the added power.

Beyond the added power, the effects of balanced are pretty subtle. You may notice a small difference in soundstage presentation b/c of the increased channel separation.