[torquethunder93]

More specifically, why are portable amps like the Aune B1s priced at $100.00+ when there are portable amps like these for $25.00 ?

They both can run very high impedance headphones and the cheaper one seems to have a longer lasting battery.

What am I missing?

 

[bifcake]

Price is not necessarily an indicator of quality. Ideally, an amplifier should boost the signal without adding anything of its own. It should have no perceivable noise, and it should be able to drive the headohones very loudly without distortion or clipping. So, whereas both amps may be rated for certain power, one amplifier may be cleaner in delivering that power than another.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

More specifically, why are portable amps like the Aune B1s priced at $100.00+ when there are portable amps like these for $25.00 ?

They both can run very high impedance headphones and the cheaper one seems to have a longer lasting battery.

What am I missing?

OK...what made you say that they both perform the same way?

If you have them both either you're not pushing them to the point where one amp presumably (ie price is not always a guarantee of performance) would start sounding worse than the other, and if you're getting more battery life out of one, this seems most likely.

Think of it like having two 5-series bodies, asking what the deal is with the M5 over the 520i, and you only drive it around downtown. You're basically comparing the M5 doing what the German airport cab variant is for, and is arguably better ie when you idle at the airport or at traffic lights you're pumping less fuel in the tiny engine. You have to the M5 and 520i to Hochenheim to feel why BMW put a V10 and a new suspension and rolling stock on the M5.

That said pricing is never a guarantee of performance by itself. I had a CMOY with two 9V batteries back in 2008 and it sounded better than some desktop amps at the time on low impedance headphones, though it did suck with the HD600. So in some cases you're paying extra for a slimmer chassis that doesn't look like something that airport security will find suspicious.

 

[torquethunder93]

I don't have either. I'm asking more for learning purposes.
Love the car comparison.
What I'm most curious about is any sort of specs or qualities to be reading up on for research that would tell me if they're good.(besides what ohms they can drive and the battery life)

Also, someone on another forum told me that if I'm upgrading to a 6xx or a dt 770 250 ohm, I shouldn't get an amplifier at all because they're more efficient.(sensitivity)

 

[silent-circuit]

Main thing to remember is just cause they say they'll handle high impedance loads, doesn't mean they'll handle them well.

 

[CTR640]

I don't have either. I'm asking more for learning purposes.
Love the car comparison.
What I'm most curious about is any sort of specs or qualities to be reading up on for research that would tell me if they're good.(besides what ohms they can drive and the battery life)

Also, someone on another forum told me that if I'm upgrading to a 6xx or a dt 770 250 ohm, I shouldn't get an amplifier at all because they're more efficient.(sensitivity)

The DT770 250ohm is very less efficient and you'll need a dac/amp otherwise the sound volume will be very quiet.
I own one myself. But it also depends on which source. For example, my Huawei P Smart Z has a very powerfull built-in dac to make the DT770 volume dangerous for ears while the sound quality is pure crap. My other phone which is the Huawei Mate 20X has a great dac but it can't provide enough of juice which makes the volume quiet.

 

[JDFlood]

Portable headphone amps like most audio hardware vary in design objectives, electrical design, quality of components, cost of manufacture. Most inexpensive headphone amps, in the categories you are looking, are made by contract manufactures to electrical designs intended to use the most inexpensive parts but to achieve good sound. From my experience I got the biggest bang for the buck by choosing headphones designed to be easily driven by low powered sources instead of using high impedance headphone with inexpensive auxiliary amps and DACs. I did not start hearing really striking differences until using amps and the like for over $500. In general, when you get into the $500 and above (headphones included)... then someone has actual put electrical engineering effort into their creation, as opposed to taking a contract manufacturer’s (think China most likely) parts list and design and only adding a logo and choosing colors. This is a broad generalization, but If you get further up the quality level the sound quality improves in proportion to the cost... assuming you put together complementary components... high impedance headphones are hard to drive and there are some $500 amps that will not do a good job of it (and are not intended to). Less expensive stuff will sound thin, like tin, not fleshed out, fatiguing, noisy, without slam and bass. Opposite with good quality. Play times may not be longer with Good sounding amps since high current from the amp will make things sound better. At some point it is worth getting a DAP because the streamer, DAC, and amp are designed to work together so there is less guess work on your part as th how to mix components to get a cost effective solution. This whole thing can be really rewarding or frustrating depending on your first few steps. The first few steps are tha hardest as you have the least knowledge and experience upon which to base your decisions. I will just say my first sub-$200 portable purchases did nothing for me. I must have done five or six. It wasn’t until I took the approach of getting headphones designed to be powered by a phone or othe low end source (putting as much money as I could into that before moving on) and then adding substantial upgrades to the source. This eventually put me in A&K’s flagship DAP. But the sound is spectacular and all the steps leading up to it were enjoyable (as in not disappointing).

 

[torquethunder93]

Awesome. So would you choose say the AKG K371 over the 6xx adam upgrade?

 

[JDFlood]

You know, I bet that is a good choice. I had a set of AKG headphones in that price range that I was really happy with for a number of years. I think I powered with an Ipod.

 

[PurpleAngel]

More specifically, why are portable amps like the Aune B1s priced at $100.00+ when there are portable amps like these for $25.00 ?
They both can run very high impedance headphones and the cheaper one seems to have a longer lasting battery.
What am I missing?

I've noticed the cheaper stuff does not usually work for very long.

 

[PurpleAngel]

I don't have either. I'm asking more for learning purposes. Love the car comparison.
What I'm most curious about is any sort of specs or qualities to be reading up on for research that would tell me if they're good.(besides what ohms they can drive and the battery life)
Also, someone on another forum told me that if I'm upgrading to a 6xx or a DT 770 250 ohm, I shouldn't get an amplifier at all because they're more efficient.(sensitivity)

I suggest skipping on the DT770, there are better headphones.
The 300-Ohm HD600/HD650/HD6XX are considered to do their best when connected to a $500 Bottlehead crack tube headphone amplifier.
Not sure why anyone would tell you that you have no need to get a headphone amplifier for them.
A $100 JDS Atom or Schiit Magni head amp would be the minimum I would spend for driving the HD6XX.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

What I'm most curious about is any sort of specs or qualities to be reading up on for research that would tell me if they're good.(besides what ohms they can drive and the battery life)

.
Specs alone can't do that even if you have reliable specs for both.

Think of that like how you can have so may Cuda Cores and VRAM and it can hit 2100mhz but that doesn't mean having 50% more Cuda Cores and 100% more VRAM will mean you can now get 100% more frames per second vs what you currently have.

You'd have to be comparing specs that are very, very, very different - like one amp with 150ohm output impedance and 75mW into 32ohms, 0.5% THD+N or 350mW into 300ohms, 0.01% THD+N vs another amp with 2ohms output impedance and 1000mW into 32ohms, 0.01% THD+N or 300mW into 300ohms, 0.001% THD+N - for specs alone to basically say, "hey you might want to avoid this one given some variables and use this other one instead."

Those specs would at least tell you if they have issues with a given impedance and the sensitivity of that impedance. If all they say is "can drive 16ohm to 300ohm," that's sketchy. You can drive that taxi version 5-series car around town and it works fine, but take it to the highway and that small 4cyl engine can definitely feel anemic in that chassis (if not already feel anemic just trying to get past other cars on streets, ie you really have to mash the throttle a bit more), and good luck with it not just turning in but being able to throttle-steer in the twisties.

Also, someone on another forum told me that if I'm upgrading to a 6xx or a dt 770 250 ohm, I shouldn't get an amplifier at all because they're more efficient.(sensitivity)

To continue with the prior examples, that's like saying you could run the latest Call of Duty on a GTX 760, so why bother with an RTX 3060Ti. Or why buy the M5 when airport cab services are fine with the entry level BMW 518.

The only difference is it's a lot easier to measure 1% low FPS or acceleration times+G's to know if it will be a smooth running game or if the car can be fast enough in a straight line or at the track vs "these drum hits on this track sounds deeper or overdone in one amp vs another."

 

[JDFlood]

One of the reasons you get such apparently contradictory information from people trying to help is that “it depends” is almost always the answer. There are thousands of different headphones, streamers, DACs (many embedded with an amp), amps. Each persons experiences are different and usually confined to only a small number of components. Hence, someone might conclude that an amp is not required. However, one thing you can be sure of is that the best sound will be achieved by upgrading your headphones, streamer, DAC, and amp. Personal taste will influence the final ”best choices“.

As far as learning and specs. I recommend reading Stereophile and The Absolute Sound. Don’t dismiss reading about the flagship models. Not because you are going to buy them, but a company that can make a world class piece of equipment is going to use the same designs and techniques and materials to produce their inexpensive ones. Also, companies have a ”house sound”... really dynamic, or natural, detailed... etc. You will learn the vocabulary to describe the differences in sound and figure out what you want. I started out desirous of bass slam... along the way got it... but lost detail, balance and midrange. Highly detailed can really easily end up really fatiguing... high frequence noice... you better have really good upstream equipment.

I am lucky enough to have equipment that brings out the best in about any headphones. My Sennheiser HD 800s made their biggest improvement when I put the muscle of my high current ($4,000+ amp) behind it... but without the expremely high end Streamer and DAC that change would not have been so profound. The smallest incremental difference when I added my current amp was to my very efficient Focal Utopia.The Focal Utopia and Sennheiser HD800s now sound very very similar. I found that high impedance headphones are the hardest to get the most out of. Not that they may not sound good, but they require lots of power to be their best. But power without finesse can lead to noice... or a cheap streamer / DAC can lead to noice. So getting the required power can be expensive in terms of the streamer and DAC choice.

The fact that high end headphones will sound very similar when supplied an extremely good input signal should not be surprising. All these companies are working on reproducing music perfectly... so in the high-end they converge on sounding like the original source. If you are on the path to get there and cannot afford to plunk down $15K then you want to manage the incremental movements in that direction as efficiently as possible. So my recommendation is to consider the entire system and use relatively efficient headphone choices to get there. But my experience is finite as well. hopefull you will find a great path and enjoy the journey.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I have a B1S and it's a really nice amp. I use it for air travel (i.e. not much lately) with some Shures. It does get hot though.

It's class A and sounds extremely musical. I think the power output is not enough for most fullsize headphones but for IEMs it's a great little amp and it glows in the dark so it's kinda cool.

 

[torquethunder93]

One of the reasons you get such apparently contradictory information from people trying to help is that “it depends” is almost always the answer. There are thousands of different headphones, streamers, DACs (many embedded with an amp), amps. Each persons experiences are different and usually confined to only a small number of components. Hence, someone might conclude that an amp is not required. However, one thing you can be sure of is that the best sound will be achieved by upgrading your headphones, streamer, DAC, and headphones. Personal taste will influence the final ”best choices“.

As far as learning and specs. I recommend reading Stereophile and The Absolute Sound. don’t dismiss reading about the flagship models. Not because you are going to buy them, but a company that can make a world class piece of equipment is going to use the same designs and techniques and materials to produce their inexpensive ones. Also, companies have ”house sounds”... really dynamic, or natural, detailed... etc. You will learn the vocabulary to describe the differences in sound and figure out what you want. I started out desirous of bass slam... along the way got it... but lost detail, balance and midrange. Highly detailed can really easily end up really fatiguing... high frequence noice... you better have really good upstream equipment.

i am lucky enough to have equipment that brings out the best in about any headphones. My Sennheiser HD 800s made their biggest improvement when I put the muscle of my high current ($4,000+ amp) behind it... but without the expremely high end Streamer and DAC that change would not have been so profound. The smallest incremental difference when I added my current amp was was my very efficient Focal Utopia.The Focal Utopia and Sennheiser HD800s now sound very very similar. I found that high impedance headphones are the hardest to get the most out of. Not that they may not sound good, but they require lots of power to be their best. But power without Finesse can lead to noice... or a cheap streamer / DAC can lead to noice.

I think I'm after the same bass impact.

I listen to a lot of classic rock and heavy metal (Pantera, Lamb of God, Devil Driver, System of a Down, Twelve Foot Ninja...)

I've found that the Hifiman HE4XX give really good detail, clarity to vocals, and reduced sharpness/harshness. But I feel like vocals for classic rock are missing that strong intimacy I'm looking for (midnight rider/In the light), and metal screams are lacking guttural impact.
Is there a closed headphone that can give me what I feel Hifiman is lacking in?

Budget at
$200ish for headphones