[miceblue]

A MacBook Pro at near maximum volume? Goodness...
I run my MacBook Pro on average with this much volume:

 

[SomeGuyDude]

A MacBook Pro at near maximum volume? Goodness...
I run my MacBook Pro on average with this much volume:

 
Good lord. What are you listening to? I can barely hear anything at that volume.

 

[MCImes]

On my Dell 4700 laptop I never go above 30 out of 100 on the volume... anything more = hearing damage in my case... maybe you have a weak laptop amp?

The M100's are efficient headphones. Almost any source I put them on, im at 25-50% volume, rarely more unless its really quiet music like some classical recordings

 

[SomeGuyDude]

On my Dell 4700 laptop I never go above 30 out of 100 on the volume... anything more = hearing damage in my case... maybe you have a weak laptop amp?

The M100's are efficient headphones. Almost any source I put them on, im at 25-50% volume, rarely more unless its really quiet music like some classical recordings

 Late 2013 Macbook Pro. I would be REALLY surprised if this thing has a weak sound output.
 
EDIT: Installed an app called Boom. I wonder if the later rMBP's limit volume output, because there isn't even a HINT of distortion happening here even though I have the volume bumped up nicely.

 

[Solrighal]

I've only ever been after better sound, not more sound. Which is why I'm looking for a portable DAC that will improve the sound of my Galaxy Note 3

 

[suzook]

I've only ever been after better sound, not more sound. Which is why I'm looking for a portable DAC that will improve the sound of my Galaxy Note 3

That wolfson dac is pretty damn good.

 

[Solrighal]

I have a European GN3 which has the Snapdragon processor but forgoes the Wolfson DAC. Or so I'm led to believe.

 

[ratinox]

I've only ever been after better sound, not more sound. Which is why I'm looking for a portable DAC that will improve the sound of my Galaxy Note 3

I'm of the strongly held opinion that throwing expensive equipment at a music player you don't like is a waste of money. Buy a music player that you like instead.

 

[Solrighal]

That's a valid point but the Note 3 allows me to do so much more and I always have it with me. I was thinking about the upcoming X5 but who knows when it'll be available and how much is it going to cost? Anything less expensive is out of the question as it needs to play flac natively and Sony et Al don't do that. I doubt I'd go for another Cowon after the D2.

 

[ratinox]

That's a valid point but the Note 3 allows me to do so much more and I always have it with me. I was thinking about the upcoming X5 but who knows when it'll be available and how much is it going to cost? Anything less expensive is out of the question as it needs to play flac natively and Sony et Al don't do that. I doubt I'd go for another Cowon after the D2.

Of course, the trade-off for the Note doing so much is that it doesn't do anything exceptionally well. No smartphone can. Too many compromises go into their designs.

Fiio X5 will retail at around $350.

iBasso DX50 is $240 and DX90 will be around $500. Both will use the same software which is mostly good at this point (it's missing some features that I want). The difference is that DX50 has a single core SoC and Wolfson DAC, DX90 will have a dual-core SoC for better UI performance and twin Sabre DACs.

That little $35 Clip Zip I keep mentioning? Native FLAC out of the box. No kidding.

 

[Solrighal]

As does my D2 but for the life of me I can't get it to sound as good as this phone does.

 

[miceblue]

A MacBook Pro at near maximum volume? Goodness...

I run my MacBook Pro on average with this much volume:

Good lord. What are you listening to? I can barely hear anything at that volume.

Everything but the quiet parts in classical music? I listen even quieter for pop music unless I'm in a really loud environment.

I'm 22 years old and trying to preserve my hearing in the long run, so I tend to listen pretty quietly. The M-100 is really efficient though, so having more than 30% maximum volume for music other than classical seems really strange to me.

Actually, I just did a test on the public bus just now.
Dr. Chesky's "Phrases" song from his "Dr. Chesky's Sensational, Fantastic, and Simply Amazing Binaural Sound Show (Binaural Plus)" album (DR21, which is probably one of the most dynamic songs I have in my library, and one of the quietest).




Versus Taylor Swift's "Sparks Fly" song (DR6). Even at this volume level in the bus, it is quiet loud for me, probably too loud. Hm, I miss singing along to this song. XD



So yeah, it seems very unusual to me that someone has to listen to their music at near maximum volume using a MacBook Pro with the M-100. :/

 

[drm870]

Interesting...the consensus I've always heard here is that Android smartphones are generally near the bottom in term of sound quality. (Not that that stops me from using the American version of the Galaxy S3 as my main portable player -- it's simply too convenient to bother using my dedicated player most of the time.

)
 
EDIT: I don't have a Mac, but for what it's worth, my Lenovo Y580 laptop's volume typically is kept at or around 40%. (With the M-100 in particular, though, it's usually around 30%.)

 

[Solrighal]

And I've heard likewise but I can't argue with I'm hearing right now. Which happens to be Ommadawn by Mike Oldfield better than I've ever heard it through headphones before.

 

[SKilleT]

I bought these headphones because I was looking for one a while back. I ended up returning them the next day. The Beyerdynamic is just simple so much better than these for half the price. I don't understand why these headphones got such high rating......