[T.R.A.N.C.E.]

What to do, basically want the most powerful one that has a smoother, bassy, spacious, warm sound. But its hard to compare them as the manufactures all put up incomplete specifications
Having an extremely hard time picking between these:
 
HifiMan HM-603 Slim
Xeulin IHIFI960
Hifi E.T. MA8
iBasso DX50
 
Colorfly C4 Pro   (Willing to stretch budget if worth it)
Astel & Kern AK100   (Willing to stretch budget if worth it)
 
FiiO X3    (Thinking to rule these out, don't seem powerful enough)
Hisoundaudio Studio 3 Anni Ed.  (Thinking to rule these out, don't seem powerful enough)

 

[lin0003]

I have and love the DX50. It really does sound great, even next to my HDP-R10. 

 

[CosmicHolyGhost]

X3 is powerful

 

[T.R.A.N.C.E.]

HifiMan HM-603 Slim is my gut feeling Although the iBasso DX50 is also very tempting. I might just wait for the Hifiman 700 series, hope it wont be too long.

 

[kova4a]

Yeah, you might waight dew more days for the new hifiman DAPs announcement and possibly specs or just wait and see if dx50's reported issues will be rectified. Also I find it interesting what made you think X3 is not powerful enough when it's probably one of the most powerful from the ones you listed?

 

[Law336]

get an X3 it looks smexy lol coming from a guy with an AK120. From the reviews the X3 not that bad at all I'm planning on getting one as well

 

[musicday]

Tera Player if you can afford one.
You will be extremely pleased.

 

[s0lar]

X3 is probably the most powerful of all availale DAPs.

 

[lin0003]

  X3 is probably the most powerful of all availale DAPs.

 
Uh no. 

 

[T.R.A.N.C.E.]

Hifiman HM-603 has an unconventional power supply system, in that its peak output power of 190mW is not significantly reduced when using high impedance phones like 300 ohm. , out of the portables listed it is the best at driving high impedance cans by a long shot. For example the Fiio X3 is actually very powerful, has 220mW at 32 ohm, but for 300 ohm it only has 50mW, so not so good for high impedance. 

 

[bellor]

  Hifiman HM-603 has an unconventional power supply system, in that its peak output power of 190mW is not significantly reduced when using high impedance phones like 300 ohm. , out of the portables listed it is the best at driving high impedance cans by a long shot. For example the Fiio X3 is actually very powerful, has 220mW at 32 ohm, but for 300 ohm it only has 50mW, so not so good for high impedance. 

I am thinking only high impedance and low sensitivity headphones might have problems with the X3. The HD800, for example is rated as 102db (I suspect at 1mW). I think that having 49 more milliWatts allows for enough headroom as to get to a plenty loud level. Theoretically, I think it's 120db. Which is plenty loud.

 

[itsmejulieeye]

After owning a Colorfly C4 Pro 32Gb Version, I can say that it's powered all Headphones I've thrown at it & been Loud enough to spare even though I listen to my music very very loud

My current Shure SE 535Ltd's I can listen to very loudly while the C4's Volume Slider's not even half way up...
So I'm pretty sure the C4 can drive anything you can try with it...
But above everything this thing just sounds so so good, so if you can afford decent Can's = Buy the Best Player (IMHO) that player's the really underestimated C4 as it's heads & tales over the so called competition


My 2 cents on your choices.
Cheers J.

 

[T.R.A.N.C.E.]

Powering headphones is not just about volume levels, a high impedance phone or low sensitivity phone will sound a lot better with adequate power, even my mobile phone can power 600 ohm cans to earsplitting volume, but it sounds ****,flat and lifeless. The Colorfly C4 has the most powerful conventional powersupply among all these portables, same as the Fiio X3 it is not suited to driving high impedance as well as the hifiman hm-603 or the hm-801.
 
I ended up buying the iBasso DX50, as I decided that I wouldn't bother with high impedance phones and just wanted good sound with good build quality and interface

 

[lin0003]

  Powering headphones is not just about volume levels, a high impedance phone or low sensitivity phone will sound a lot better with adequate power. The Colorfly C4 has the most powerful conventional powersupply among all these portables, same as the Fiio X3 it is not suited to driving high impedance as well as the hifiman hm-603 or the hm-801.
 
I ended up buying the iBasso DX50, as I decided that I wouldn't bother with high impedance phones and just wanted good sound with good build quality and interface

 
Great choice! I feel like the DX50 is the most practical player on the market right now. 

 

[bellor]

Powering headphones is not just about volume levels, a high impedance phone or low sensitivity phone will sound a lot better with adequate power, even my mobile phone can power 600 ohm cans to earsplitting volume, but it sounds ****,flat and lifeless. The Colorfly C4 has the most powerful conventional powersupply among all these portables, same as the Fiio X3 it is not suited to driving high impedance as well as the hifiman hm-603 or the hm-801.
 
I ended up buying the iBasso DX50, as I decided that I wouldn't bother with high impedance phones and just wanted good sound with good build quality and interface

You are not completely inaccurate. Sound in headphones is about the mW, the impedance matching and the rms voltage the amp can produce. If the amp can provide the can with enough driving power (mW) to get it to 115 dB, has a low enough output impedance (preferably 0) and reaches more than 1Vrms for the load your headphone provides,then it is sufficient and adequate. I do not have any experience with other players except the X3, but this one is pretty good. And since I found some measurements made by a Korean site with the dScope analyzer, I am supremely pleased with its objective performance stats.
Adequate power actually means getting the voltage to where it needs to be with enough current so as the voltage does not get clipped.
Oh, I just observed that the spec got the X3 says 30 mW in 300 ohms. That goes to 112 dB for the HD 800.

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