Quote:
Originally Posted by winty
My soundcard is significantly better than my DAP (RME HDSP 9632 vs iRiver iHP140). On most of my headphones, I really hear a difference. With the UE10Pro, I struggle to tell the difference between the soundcard and the DAP.
I've drawn the conclusion that the UE10 is very unfussy about source.
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That's interesting, I think this is hard to determine because this question has two different factors that will sway your opinion in one way or another depending on how you interprete it.
1. Driveability (hmm.. not very technical term, is it?)
Since high-end IEM's are designed to reach a very high quality of sound even when driven from poor sources (it's like singing an old tune, they are designed for battery driven wireless belt-packs for on-stage performance), you can easily reach a very high level of performance even directly out of a DAP. Most high-end headphones have trouble reaching a high level of performance without being properly amped.
This is more than just a factor of sensitivey and impedance. For example, Sony CD3000 is very sensitive and low impedance, but it doesn't sound nearly as good when coming directly from a DAP versus when it's driven properly.
UE-10 and 2X-S, on the other hand, is pretty consistent with its sound signature regardless if a separate amp is used....
2. Source material
So, one can argue based on the previous observations, that high-end IEM's are more forgiving of its source material because it's easier to drive. Yet, you can also say that because they're so easy to drive, amping is really not that big of a problem, so its performance almost entirely rely on the source material.
I mean, basically, if your source doesn't have enough detail, your encoding bitrate isn't high enough, then it becomes the single biggest factor to affecting the resulting sound. Basically, the amp is out of the equation, the IEM itself is consistent, so what exactly improves your sound quality? It's gotta be the source, right?
So, I think depends on the way you look at it, the answer really isn't that simple. Personally I think lossless encoding sounds much better on these IEM's than any sort of lossy compression, and there is a significant difference; at least a very addictive difference for those who perceive it. I would say that source matters, but in a way, especially in a portable environment, encoding bitrate and method matters even more, because regardless of your DAP's ability to resolve detail, if the source file doesn't have it, it can't add anything back.
On the other hand, the overall sound signature should be pretty consistent even if your original music is crap... disregarding artifacts and such, I'm sure more subtle characteristic such as soundstaging, imaging and decay detail will be somewhat absent.