Hello, I just joined, primarily for the audiophile products. Looking at purchasing the NHT C3 speakers for our new living room. Space is about 15 feet wide by 33 long and they will fire long ways. Space is just for general listening, music room with all equipment is downstairs, so hoping they will fill it with sound nicely. Cheers.
Mar 18, 2024
Got a pair of Fostex T50RP MK3 and the Slim on high gain can blow out anyone's ears. Same with my HD 6XX. I can't even max out the Slim on low gain - it's quite a bit above my listening level.
An amp needs more power to reproduce the high end adequately. The amp on the DACPort slim may well not be powerful enough to properly drive the MK3 well enough for discerning ears and honestly I wouldn't be surprised by this. I'm finding it far too weak to properly drive my HD6XXs and am going back to a better but much less convenient amp I built to drive them and they're reported to be far easier to drive than the MK3. For my 32Ω AKGs, though, it's fabulous.
My fullsize headphones currently consists of the HD 6XX, T50RP MK3, AKG K553, and SHP9500s. K553 and SHP9500s are efficient and they sound great on pretty much anything. I've listened to HD600s and HD650s at a local meet and did some quick a/b comparisons with other much fancier equipment. Aside from tube sound, I couldn't discern enough of a difference to easily determine what was powering what. So maybe it's just my ears. But I'm in my early 20s and I listen to music at volumes quieter than a lot of my friends to avoid hearing issues or tinnitus down the road.
This is how i test whether there the amp is driving a headphone well: 1) Is is loud enough? (often amps that can't play loud don't have much current) 2) Does the bass slam hard and tight? 3) Is there good dynamics? (difference between the softest and loudest sounds)
One important factor to note is that if the amp is not transparent enough, even if it might be driving a headphone well, it can be hard to tell because lack of detail and slowness in pace. For example, i once had Fiio E9+HE400i. While E9 has enough power but there is small improvement in the bass slam and dynamics because it's simply not transparent.
Also, remember that even if the amp is driving a headphone well, if the headphone SQ can scale up much higher when pair with better source, then the amp is not transparent enough for the headphone. For example, HD800 with Schitt Asgard2 is not a good idea because while the Asgard have more than sufficient power, the detail level that is portrayed is probably 50% of what HD800 can provide. So i completely understand when people recommend an uber expensive amp. There is really a difference.
When Heefty mention that Dacport Slim is too weak for HD6XX, i think what he is saying that dacport can power it loud and probably good dynamics, but he feel(and most likely heard) HD6XX could do much better. This brings the question of whether a newcomer in Headfi should save up and buy something high end straight or buy low end and upgrade later. As you can see, the cheaper way for discerning ears is to actually buy something expensive first if not they'll spend more buying cheap and upgrade later. But i think the long painful way is a frustrating but rewarding learning experience.
Fortunately, Dacport Slim is a good dac/amp regardless of price. I have listened to some of its competitors and it is literally few classes above it. I see it's main competitor in SQ would be Dragonfly Red. Can't think of anything below $200 that is better than this. Maybe the Fulla2 could be but i have my doubts since i have not been impressed with any of Schiit lower price offerings under $500.
For a different set of cans that is easier to drive though it is a fantastic unit for the price and I highly recommend it. Just not for every set of headphones.
That being said, this is extreme cases where people think a Fiio E10 or a O2 will power everything. If you have a mid tier amp and you want to pair it with a high end headphone, i would say go for it. Just don't expect a low end amp to make a high end headphone sound decent.