[swbf2cheater]

would it make a difference with a sansa fuze at all and some pk1s

 

[shigzeo]

The PK1 will be louder, and depending on how you feed the T3/T4, maybe a wider stereo image (which can help with 'sparkle'). The Fuze has a great frequency response with any headphone, but it has a pretty narrow stereo image which is .... annoying sometimes. The T3 at least, is a great iem amp, but it is nuetral - don't expect it to add anything to the signal. I love it - maybe the best value on the market.

 

[wkamil]

Hey, Shigzeo. When will you post your (in depth) T3D review?

 

[swbf2cheater]

well, I decided to sell my Pk1s and focus on the sennheiser MX980 for this setup, so if the T3 wont drive the PK1s that well, it wont drive the 980s because they require more power

 

[shigzeo]

Quote:

Hey, Shigzeo. When will you post your (in depth) T3D review?

I am very close now - next week or the week after. Giveaway to follow!
 
Power: I am not sure what you mean by 'power', but in terms of raw volume, the T3 has it. In terms of overall balance, resolution, and 'pow', the T3 has it. I'd imagine that no portable earphone of any sensitivity will present problems to the T3. I use it well with my DT880 600Ω, though I prefer a few other amps.

 

[swbf2cheater]

A cmoy is a volume booster, not an amp.  so it only raises the volume but still sounds weak...its just very loud
 
A D3 for example will properly amp something, but the thing is with my sansa fuze, the D3 python didn't do an amazing job of amping it.  What I am concerned about is a T3/T4 + sansa fuze will not sufficiently drive an MX980 or Pk1. 
 
Its because the sansa fuze is already too powerful and I know for a fact the T3 isnt nearly as powerful as the D3 python.  My python doesnt do much an amazing job powering anything via the fuze.  So I fear the T3 will do a much worse job.

 

[ClieOS]

Quote:

A cmoy is a volume booster, not an amp.  so it only raises the volume but still sounds weak...its just very loud

Are you saying this as a fact or a personal opinion? Cause a volume booster is still technically an amp, though it might not be a really good one. My concern is that some whom reading your post might start to imagine amp is some mystical cure to the common bad audio quality, well it is not. Cmoy can drive plenty of headphone just fine with adequate power and control. While I have not heard MX980 myself and can understand why PK1 is harder to drive to perfection, I can't understand the reason of why MX980 (120dB, 16 Ω) will not be sufficiently powered by Fuze.

 

[shigzeo]

Indeed - ClieOS hammers the point well. That earphone should be well powered by the Fuze. The only thing the Fuze doesn't do well is channel separation and a LOD to an am will help that a bit, but will you really notice it? who knows... To 'hear' the difference, you need either an accent-voiced amp (bass boost, valves, etc.), unmatched volume testing, a really bad player, or a really hard to drive earphone and that Sennheiser sounds like a perfect earphone for the Fuze to play with. Even the PK1 should be very good from a Fuze unless you hit a wall where its output at the top (cannot imagine you need to go there) is different from the output in the middle.

 

[kunalraiker]

Quote:

Indeed - ClieOS hammers the point well. That earphone should be well powered by the Fuze. The only thing the Fuze doesn't do well is channel separation and a LOD to an am will help that a bit, but will you really notice it? who knows... To 'hear' the difference, you need either an accent-voiced amp (bass boost, valves, etc.), unmatched volume testing, a really bad player, or a really hard to drive earphone and that Sennheiser sounds like a perfect earphone for the Fuze to play with. Even the PK1 should be very good from a Fuze unless you hit a wall where its output at the top (cannot imagine you need to go there) is different from the output in the middle.

 
I don't enjoy my RE0's from the fuze witheout D4 and the LOD ,it makes huge diffference in the sound.
 

 

[ClieOS]

RE0 is a little different. It does like power but it is not hugely power hunger (100dB, 64 Ω). If you give it enough volume the difference is less obvious, but it does tend to sound much less dynamic and sloppy at lower, safe long hour listening volume, which is where LOD and amp come to play.

 

[swbf2cheater]

 
Quote:

Are you saying this as a fact or a personal opinion? Cause a volume booster is still technically an amp, though it might not be a really good one. My concern is that some whom reading your post might start to imagine amp is some mystical cure to the common bad audio quality, well it is not. Cmoy can drive plenty of headphone just fine with adequate power and control. While I have not heard MX980 myself and can understand why PK1 is harder to drive to perfection, I can't understand the reason of why MX980 (120dB, 16 Ω) will not be sufficiently powered by Fuze.

Well, the cheap 30-60$ caffiene cmoys are not amps in the sense most audiophiles would like.  I see a wide array of people call them volume boosters, and not amps.  Cmoy do not bring out clarity and sparkle especially so on the fuze.  My penguin cmoy drives my gear TERRIBLY through the fuze.  It just got louder, and things are still flat sounding.  Something like an Ibasso D3 would bring out the sparkle as well as raise the volume, separation occurs and such, and the cmoy wouldnt and do not do that. 
 
The sennheiser MX980s are almost required to have a great amp to achieve sparkle and a good kick.  The Yuin Pk1s dont require that much, and a sans fuze drives them terribly.   It's flat and lacking the luster and shine as with a good amp, or direct connect to good speakers.  So, if the fuze doesnt drive the Pk1 well, it surely would not drive the much more needy MX980s
 
I did a review on the Pk1 and the MX980 recently amped and unamped.  Those techincal specs mean nothing sadly.  The mx980s sounded very lacking and more so lacking than the pk1s unamped.  WIth a D3, the difference was immense.  The sansa fuze can drive Shure 840s and larger headphones well, but not as good as an amp would obviously, which is why i was inquiring if the T3 would sufficiently drive something via a sansa fuze.  It doesnt look very big or powerful to achieve it and I feared it to me like a cmoy, and nothing like its big brothers in the Ibasso lineup.
 
 
 
:\

 

[ClieOS]

Quote:

Well, the cheap 30-60$ caffiene cmoys are not amps in the sense most audiophiles would like.  I see a wide array of people call them volume boosters, and not amps.  Cmoy do not bring out clarity and sparkle especially so on the fuze.  My penguin cmoy drives my gear TERRIBLY through the fuze.  It just got louder, and things are still flat sounding.  Something like an Ibasso D3 would bring out the sparkle as well as raise the volume, separation occurs and such, and the cmoy wouldnt and do not do that. 

I have owned and heard quite a few cmoy myself. Though they are all based on the same simple design, they are fairly large difference in SQ, from mediocre to actually pretty good. I guess the point is, not all cmoy are created equally.
 
I don't know which group of audiophiles you are referring to, but plenty of audiophiles in our forum have spent great time with a cmoy, A Sansa Fuze is a pretty decent sounding DAP by today standard, but it would have been a technical miracle in 2001 when this forum first started. Certainly a cmoy is very primitive when compared to the SoC inside Fuze. In that sense, even the first generation iPod looks and sounds like a brick. But then just because we have higher standard now doesn't demolish the value of the pass. A few years from now a Fuze will probably look and sound like a brick itself in comparison to whatever is coming, but I can assure you it is not because Fuze is a terrible DAP by design. It is just how time change our view on things.

 

[swbf2cheater]

well, the bottom line is a caffiene cmoy and a sansa fuze do not mix.