[piken]

im looking for an inexpensive amp for my denon D5000. my budget is around 100-200$.
thank in advance.

 

[mogs]

I use Headroom Bithead and it pairs well particularly well with Denon 5000 compared to any other phones.

 

[ilikepooters]

FiiO E7/E9 combo gets the thumbs up from me.
 
Could also use hifiman EF2A but it's very high gain, only need to nudge the volume nob a tiny bit to get really loud.

 

[Head Injury]

If you're going to go with Fiio, only get the E7. The E9 isn't good for low impedance headphones. It has a fairly high noise level, extra distortion with lower impedance loads, and a minimum 10 ohm output impedance. It works much better for high impedance headphones.
 
The E7 alone is enough to drive the D5000. It has some of the same problems as the E9, like a somewhat high distortion level, but a great 0.13 ohm output impedance and slightly lower noise.

 

[ilikepooters]

Quote:

If you're going to go with Fiio, only get the E7. The E9 isn't good for low impedance headphones. It has a fairly high noise level, extra distortion with lower impedance loads, and a minimum 10 ohm output impedance. It works much better for high impedance headphones.
 
The E7 alone is enough to drive the D5000. It has some of the same problems as the E9, like a somewhat high distortion level, but a great 0.13 ohm output impedance and slightly lower noise.

i'll agree with the majority of that, but i haven't noticed any distortion myself.
There's the 3.5mm -90db output and also a gain switch for switching between low and high impedence, using with D2000 and D7000 i never had any problems. Personal experience though.

 

[dyl1dyl]

Fiio e7 is great, can use it first and save for a better amp later.

 

[crowley]

When i had my D5000, i paired it with a hifiman ef2a and it worked really well. The soundstage opened up and as mentioned it gets loud with a little nudge on the volume control. you'd have to change the stock tubes though bec to me those tubes are crap.

 

[grokit]

I traded my D5000 away and before I sent it off I plugged it into my x-head and tried to back out of the trade.
 

 
I highly recommended it for the D5000 if you can find one, the wood even matches.

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

i'll agree with the majority of that, but i haven't noticed any distortion myself.
There's the 3.5mm -90db output and also a gain switch for switching between low and high impedence, using with D2000 and D7000 i never had any problems. Personal experience though.

Don't use the 3.5mm jack on the E9 with any headphone under 300 ohms. It has a 43 ohm output impedance, and it's going to color your sound a little. These Denons aren't too affected, but it's still not a good idea. Ironically you'd be using the 1/4" jack for 300 ohm headphones anyway.
 
The distortion on both amps is under audibility for the most part. There's just no need to buy a second amp when you won't need more power and it doesn't measure better.