[psyentistc]

I got a D5000 and E7 mainly for PC. I feel E7 drives D5000 badly, making  D5000 sound worse than my UE900. After some search, I decided to either pair E7 with E9 (~$110), or to pair E2 with O2 (~$160, dunno if this would work), or to get O2+DAC (~$300).
 
Which one is the best option in terms of expense/performance for D5000? I would be happy if my amp/dac could get 80% out of D5000. Is it too high for all my options?
 
Update:
 
After some kind recommendations, now I have the following options:
 
= Magni + Modi
= Asgard + Modi
= Matrix M-Stage + Modi
= Matrix M-Stage + ODAC
 
Any thoughts?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

I got a D5000 and E7 mainly for PC. I feel E7 drives D5000 badly, making  D5000 sound worse than my UE900. After some search, I decided to either pair E7 with E9 (~$110), or to pair E2 with O2 (~$160, dunno if this would work), or to get O2+DAC (~$300).
 
Which one is the best option in terms of expense/performance for D5000? I would be happy if my amp/dac could get 80% out of D5000. Is it too high for all my options?

As the Denon AH-D5000 is only 25-Ohm, I would say to not get the Fiio E9, as is has a headphone output impedance of 10-Ohms.
 
Try asking on this thread for DAC/amps that work well with the D5000.
http://www.head-fi.org/t/350721/denon-d2000-d5000-md2000-md5000-appreciation-thread

 

[psyentistc]

Thanks!

 

[skamp]

I feel E7 drives D5000 badly

I can't think of any objective reason why that would be the case. I can recommend the O2/ODAC combo, it's excellent, but I can't see why it would do any better than the E7 with your Denons. Expectation bias would be much higher though. That always helps

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,
 
The Denons are very easy to drive. I recently had mine balanced and reterminated with mini-xlr earrings that are detachable and terminate in XLR for use with any amp out there (balanced & unbalanced). You can use them on nearly any amp and you'll get what you need provided the output impedance of the amp is low, next to 0, or 0.
 
I like them from the Fiio E10, E11, Asgard, Lyr, etc. I also liked them from the Little Dot I+.
 
The key is to avoid high gain amplifiers and high output impedance amplifiers or sources.
 

 
 

 
Very best,

 

[Taowolf51]

Modi (or ODAC) and M-Stage would get my vote. The M-Stage seems to be a crowd favorite, but it costs a bit more than the other choices (not by much, though).

 

[psyentistc]

Quote:

I can't think of any objective reason why that would be the case. I can recommend the O2/ODAC combo, it's excellent, but I can't see why it would do any better than the E7 with your Denons. Expectation bias would be much higher though. That always helps

 
I do not understand the reason either. I thought D5000 should be easy to drive. I say it drives badly because (1) it does not sound much different from not plugging E7 (2) even with E7, D5000 sounds noticeably worse than UE900, which should not be the case. 
 
This post says E7 does not provide enough current: http://www.head-fi.org/t/619181/list-opinion-amp-recommendations-for-fostex-denon-headphones

 

[psyentistc]

Quote:

Heya,
 
The Denons are very easy to drive. I recently had mine balanced and reterminated with mini-xlr earrings that are detachable and terminate in XLR for use with any amp out there (balanced & unbalanced). You can use them on nearly any amp and you'll get what you need provided the output impedance of the amp is low, next to 0, or 0.
 
I like them from the Fiio E10, E11, Asgard, Lyr, etc. I also liked them from the Little Dot I+.
 
The key is to avoid high gain amplifiers and high output impedance amplifiers or sources.
 

 
 

 
Very best,

 
Nice pics! I will probably go for Magni/Modi. This stack is said to be equally good as O2/ODAC, but $100 cheaper. 

 

[psyentistc]

Quote:

Modi (or ODAC) and M-Stage would get my vote. The M-Stage seems to be a crowd favorite, but it costs a bit more than the other choices (not by much, though).

 
I got a recommendation of Magni/Modi pair. Does M-Stage sound noticeably better than Magni?

 

[Taowolf51]

Quote:

 
I got a recommendation of Magni/Modi pair. Does M-Stage sound noticeably better than Magni?

 
I haven't tried both, but I do know the M-Stage is more recommended than the Asgard for the Denons. Is it worth the difference in price? I can't say.
 
I have the M-Stage and am very happy with it, it does great for my D7000's. I had an E7 first, which really didn't do it for me, and after that, I used a nice speaker amp's headphone port. The speaker amp was a nice bump up from the E7, and the M-Stage was an even nicer bump up from the speaker amp.

 

[Bee inthe Attic]

MalVeauX, I also like the Denon's with the Little Dot 1+, but I haven't heard many other amps to compare.
 
However, David from Little Dot said the LD1+ has an output impedance of ~32 ohms.
Why would this make a good pairing with low impedance cans like the Denon's? (Maybe it's not, but I just haven't heard much else to know better)
Care to comment?
 
http://www.littledot.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=868
Quote:

Heya,
 
The Denons are very easy to drive. I recently had mine balanced and reterminated with mini-xlr earrings that are detachable and terminate in XLR for use with any amp out there (balanced & unbalanced). You can use them on nearly any amp and you'll get what you need provided the output impedance of the amp is low, next to 0, or 0.
 
I like them from the Fiio E10, E11, Asgard, Lyr, etc. I also liked them from the Little Dot I+.
 
The key is to avoid high gain amplifiers and high output impedance amplifiers or sources.
 

 
Very best,

 

[psyentistc]

Quote:

 
I haven't tried both, but I do know the M-Stage is more recommended than the Asgard for the Denons. Is it worth the difference in price? I can't say.
 
I have the M-Stage and am very happy with it, it does great for my D7000's. I had an E7 first, which really didn't do it for me, and after that, I used a nice speaker amp's headphone port. The speaker amp was a nice bump up from the E7, and the M-Stage was an even nicer bump up from the speaker amp.

 
Sounds good. I also saw M-Stage is recommended in this post (http://www.head-fi.org/t/619181/list-opinion-amp-recommendations-for-fostex-denon-headphones). How about DAC then? Should I just go for Modi or look for some better one?

 

[MalVeauX]

Quote:

MalVeauX, I also like the Denon's with the Little Dot 1+, but I haven't heard many other amps to compare.
 
However, David from Little Dot said the LD1+ has an output impedance of ~32 ohms.
Why would this make a good pairing with low impedance cans like the Denon's? (Maybe it's not, but I just haven't heard much else to know better)
Care to comment?
 
http://www.littledot.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=868

 
Heya,
 
What I said was a generalized comment regarding low impedance headphones and how the load works with high output impedance amplifiers. Technically you would want to avoid that pairing. But that's not to say that a combination can't still sound good. I happen to like my Denons out of all the little dots that I have, I+, II (original) and III. I generally don't recommend it to others because of the technical pairing; but I still listen on them because I just enjoy the tube sound on the II, III. The I+ is a hybrid and doesn't really sound tubey.
 
Very best,

 

[MadMolly]

 
Sounds good. I also saw M-Stage is recommended in this post (http://www.head-fi.org/t/619181/list-opinion-amp-recommendations-for-fostex-denon-headphones). How about DAC then? Should I just go for Modi or look for some better one?

The modi should do fine.  Imho any dac that does what it's supposed to do is a good dac.  They don't very much so I don't think your gonna find a better one than the modi unless your really picky about your equipment.
 
I love my denons with my m-stage but like others have said here you would be fine using either of the amps listed here.  The only reason I prefer my m-stage over my asgard with the denons is because I love the warm/colored sound that it gives me, I think it compliments the denons well.

 

[Taowolf51]

Quote:

 
Sounds good. I also saw M-Stage is recommended in this post (http://www.head-fi.org/t/619181/list-opinion-amp-recommendations-for-fostex-denon-headphones). How about DAC then? Should I just go for Modi or look for some better one?

 
I use an ODAC and love it, and the Modi is apparently very similar to the ODAC, so the Modi should do very well.
 
I also agree with MadMolly, all the amps mentioned should do very well with the Denons (and much better than your E7). The M-Stage will give you a warmer and more "fun" sound, where the O2 will be more accurate.