[Opus131]

Leave the little plastic solid state amp with the glowing piece of glass on eBay where it belongs...

I enjoy the sound of the X3 through my E09K and Little Dot MK IV as desktop amps and the E12 while portable.

The Vali gets great recommendations, it's a little microphonic when it starts up and there is no tube rolling fun to be easily had. I don't use a lot of Solid State desktop amps so others might give you some options.

 
What's wrong with the Bravo? 
 
Also, is the E09K really better than the e12? If so, by how much? 
 
The MK IV is way out of my current budget so that isn't an option. Still mulling over the Vali, despite the high European price compared to how much it can be had in America. 

 

[nmatheis]

I sent a pair of AD8620's to a Head-Fi'er in the Philippines so he could mod his X3. The AD8620 has less output than the stock X3 opamp and is way too bright for my liking...

My E12 has an OPA1611 stock, if it had an AD8620 in it that would be cut out quickly and replaced with an LME49860NA...

Yup, got that wrong. E12 is definitely OPA1611. With my DIY, I find I like the AD797. I've yet to try my MUSES - saving them for last opamp rolls .

 

[MicroEuphoneum]

Just got through listening to..

 
It is an excellent recording, with superb performance throughout. Recordings like this make me so glad that I bought X3.
On some things it makes no difference because the recording wasn't good enough for X3 to shine. Listening to recordings like this I would buy X3 all over again.
Listened laying down with X3 plugged into Presonus Eris E4.5s on the nightstands. Such a nice experience I'm listening to it again on Sennheiser PX100-IIs Even BETTER!
This album can be previewed on Amazon, but it's not possible to tell how well recorded it is from the low def streamed sample.
Check it out!

 

[nmatheis]

Just got through listening to..



It is an excellent recording, with superb performance throughout. Recordings like this make me so glad that I bought X3.
On some things it makes no difference because the recording wasn't good enough for X3 to shine. Listening to recordings like this I would buy X3 all over again.
Listened laying down with X3 plugged into Presonus Eris E4.5s on the nightstands. Such a nice experience I'm listening to it again on Sennheiser PX100-IIs Even BETTER!
This album can be previewed on Amazon, but it's not possible to tell how well recorded it is from the low def streamed sample.
Check it out!

Love, love, love Satie!!! Are you listening to a hi-res recording? If so, where'd you get it?

 

[Pituky]

Yessss ive used this recording today to test my brand new srh840, it sounds fantasti on it, still waiting to receive the x3.
I expect the x3 and the srh840 work fine together !

 

[MicroEuphoneum]

Love, love, love Satie!!! Are you listening to a hi-res recording? If so, where'd you get it?

Just got the CD a couple days ago. Listened to some other albums first and just got to this one today. The only disappointment was when it ended. NO! More, please!!!

 

[TrollDragon]

What's wrong with the Bravo? 

Also, is the E09K really better than the e12? If so, by how much? 

The MK IV is way out of my current budget so that isn't an option. Still mulling over the Vali, despite the high European price compared to how much it can be had in America. 

The Bravo V2 is an ugly little solid state amp that has a $2 Chinese 12AU7 running in starved plate mode. There is just enough power to the tube to get it to conduct. Wide open plexiglass design that fills full of dust and cat hair, no shielding and cheap parts...

Leave it and its ilk on eBay.

The E09K is a warmish amp with a nice collection of inputs and outputs. I picked it up as my E17 would not drive the DT880 Pro's with any authority, and since I already had the E17 it was the logical choice. The E09K is wall powered with a protection relay for your headphones and will work as a preamp or line stage to other amplifiers like the LD MK IV.

The E12 is designed as a portable amplifier, no extra inputs or outputs and battery driven, which I wouldn't leave it on charge all the time for desktop use.

The sound I enjoy most is from the MKIV at the desk or from the X3/E12 out on the deck.

Your best way to find out if an amp would help the sound of the X3 for you is to hook the X3's Line Out to a receiver or a friend's amp that has a headphone jack on it. Do an AB from a CD and the X3 on the receiver / amplifier.

We all pay more for stuff, I ordered my GermanMaestro GMP 8.300 D's directly from the factory in Germany as the seller in the States wanted to charge me double the price for the velour earpads and the Canadian distributor wasn't interested in selling to an end user...

Even with the exchange and outrageous DHL postal shipping I still came out ahead.

 

[MicroEuphoneum]

@Mmet
I saw that you are considering a mod to change the DAC.
This is a no go. WM8741 can be configured to read DSD direct and pin 27 can be either the system clock input or the DSD input. WM8740 has the system clock input on pin 5. X3 is not designed for DSD use. There are a few other pin differences as well, most significantly the analog outputs are on different pins. You probably don't want to be doing any board mods.
There are program register differences too. For instance WM8740 register 4 selects the differential output mode, and WM8741 register 4 sets the volume level. Other differences as well. This would require re-writing the X3 firmware.
Don't even go there.

 

[Opus131]

The E12 is designed as a portable amplifier, no extra inputs or outputs and battery driven, which I wouldn't leave it on charge all the time for desktop use.
 

 
So if i leave the e12 plugged it keeps on using the battery even if the latter is charged? That isn't good, considering it doesn't seem the battery is easily replaceable.
 
Connectors are not an issue for me. I'm just going to use the x3 as a DAC with the amp hooked to that. No frills or anything, just as basic a setup as possible. All i care about is sound quality. 
 
Ho, one of the reasons i'm considering a Bravo is that i have a Gold Lion 12AU7 tube laying around. The unit is so cheap that as long as it sounds good, does it matter that it is a bit on the ghetto scale of things? 

 

[nmatheis]

Just got the CD a couple days ago. Listened to some other albums first and just got to this one today. The only disappointment was when it ended. NO! More, please!!!

Bought it on CD, eh? I don't doubt it sounds better than streaming samples from Amazon, but will it really sound better than AAC or MP3 files with low to mid-tier gear?

 

[TrollDragon]

So if i leave the e12 plugged it keeps on using the battery even if the latter is charged? That isn't good, considering it doesn't seem the battery is easily replaceable.

Ho, one of the reasons i'm considering a Bravo is that i have a Gold Lion 12AU7 tube laying around. The unit is so cheap that as long as it sounds good, does it matter that it is a bit on the ghetto scale of things? 

There is circuitry to stop charging the battery when it is full. I don't know if they have the amplifiers power supply connected to the USB side of things, so it might just be taking power from the battery and then the charge circuit kicking in every few seconds trying to keep the battery topped up. Which wouldn't be good for the battery or the electronics. A quick email to FiiO would clarify if it can be plugged in all the time to USB while in use.


Excellent that you already have a better tube, the Bravo 2 might just work for what you want it to do. Also cheap enough that if you don't like it you can sell it or possibly send it back.

 

[MicroEuphoneum]

Bought it on CD, eh? I don't doubt it sounds better than streaming samples from Amazon, but will it really sound better than AAC or MP3 files with low to mid-tier gear?

 

[Pituky]

I was testing some audio samples with my new srh840 using my macbook pro, while I'm waiting for the x3.
Listened 24/96 and 16/44 tracks, no improvement on quality was detected by me. The mac was verified set as 24/96.
I have all my FLAC collection in 16/44, I was starting to think to get hi fi files with higher res encodings. 
But to my surprise, if the recording has good quality, it seems I'm going to be fine, please read this article.
http://xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html
Do you agree?

 

[nmatheis]

Say what, Willis?

 

[Saoshyant]

That almost looks like someone's mind ascending to a higher consciousness