[alterndog]

Hey everyone,
 
So I am getting the RE-262's ($99!!!) in the mail next week and have some questions. I've done a lot of research on head fi but couldn't quite answer my question with it. I have an iphone 4s with a Fiio LOD and the Fiio E5 amp. I know the RE-262 do best with amping and was wondering what exactly in the sound I'll be missing out on by using my setup? I unfortunately don't have the money to get a better amp (saving up for one) and so was curious what exactly I'll missing out on while I'm saving up.
 
The second part is about a better amp. I'm looking at the E11 because I can get it off of amazon and its cheap. Is it the best amp under $70 to use with the RE-262 or is there a better one under that price?
 
Thanks!
 
Paul

 

[NA Blur]

Your setup will be fine.  The thing about low impedance headphones is two fold:
 
1.)  The lower the impedance the more power a headphone will take to get to a specific volume ( in general )
This is because of Joule's law:  Power = Voltage Squared over the Impedance ( Resistance in Ohms )
P = V^2 / R
 
as R plummets the power consumption goes way up.  Some devices will have definite limits on how much power you can draw from the amp stage, but for most portable devices this transfers to using up your batteries much faster.
 
2.)  If the impedance of a headphones is too low and the output stage of the amp has high impedance the damping factor climbs.  The damping factor is a ratio of device impedance over the output impedance of the amp stage.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damping_factor
 
DF = R(load) / R(output device )
 
If the damping factor approaches 5 or less the amp stage will have poor control of the driver and thus create distortion.  You can also look up damping an oscillator, but the math is pretty messy.  Basically think of your headphones like a spring and the amp a device controlling a force on the spring.  If the amp has poor control of the force applied to the spring the spring will oscillate possibly undesirably.  Because our "spring" is a diaphragm producing sound waves this leads to distortion.
 
I think with your portable device and the 262 you will be just fine.

 

[ibuckeye]

I own a pair of 262s, and they are surprisingly easy to drive with my iPhone 5 & iPad 4. I actually bought and returned an E6 because I didn't like how it colored the sound. I haven't found the battery drain to be noticeably worse either

 

[Gozzer]

I wouldn,t call the E6 proper a amp. I have the E17 and it does not do them justice  when using the Amp. However data streaming through the E17 DAC works well.  I would recomend one of the JDs labs amp for potable player.