What would be a good portable Dac/Amp to use with my HD6xx and Sony Xperia 1 V cell phone?
I am new to this hobby. I purchased a HD6XX and plan to use it with my Sony Xperia 1 V cell phone, that has a 3.5mm jack. I was wondering if I needed a portable dac/amp or just a portable amp and if so what would one recommend? Any assistance one could provide, would be greatly appreciated. Kind regards, Haz
Mar 7, 2024
A while back before I jump in the buy I was reading this guy's review: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/4kbf70/woodies_emu_wood_series_teak_rosewood_ebony_and/
While it was great but one part confused me, he liked Rosewood's signature the best but prefer Teak overall. I was like if you like the signature the best shouldn't you like this headphone the best? After playing around with both cups today I finally understood what he meant.
And I agree with him, I like Rosewood's signature the best except I'm not sure which one I like better yet. Here I'll explain:
LOWS: Rosewood somehow have "cleaner" bass, the sub bass hits deeper and there is less mid bass. So the Rosewood cup is less "noisy" and hits clean and hard. Kick drums and toms just hits hard and clean. Switching back to the Teak you do notice the difference. Rosewood definitely wins out here. In rock songs you can feel all the kick drums / toms in Rosewood but not as much in Teak.
MIDS: This is the tricky part, the thing that bugged me the most about Teak is that it has slightly recessed female vocal. I listen to a lot of female fronted rock band so recessed female vocal bugs me. Rosewood have more forward vocal (same as TH-X00 based from memory, tried it but don't own it), but Teak has better mid range detail. What I meant is that the vocal sounds more real, more textured. String instruments you hear the vibration and the decay a lot better, in contrast the Rosewood feel a bit flat in that regard. So it's a trade off here, it's like would you rather have more forward presentation or further but more detailed presentation. It's a draw on this regard. Funny enough you'd think more mids = more vocal but apparently not.
HIGHS: To be honest, highs is a double edged sword. Some people love it and some people hate it, so it really depend on your preference. I like the Grado house sound so I do like the more in your face highs that feels more lively and energetic. If you like more tamed highs go for Teak, if you want more treble and like treble then go for Rosewood. My friend who owns a HD650 he finds the Teak is boarderline sibilant for him, and Rosewood is probably like 5% more treble.
SOUNDSTAGE: Ok I find most review just skim through this area quickly. Teak has more soundstage, Rosewood has less soundstage, done. NO IT'S NOT THAT SIMPLE (all caps because very important). This is probably the biggest difference that separates Teak with all the other Fostex/E-Mu cups. Here I have a picture with Teak sitting next to Rosewood cup.
Left is Teak, right is Rosewood.
Notice that the Teak actually has more interior volume because it's milled thinner, while all the other variants (Mahogany, Purpleheart, Ebony, and Rosewood) uses the right side model. Which is why Teak sound different than everything else.
Teak actually have noticeably more soundstage, a pretty huge margin actually. While everything else just sounds flat/2D compare to Teak's soundstage (again, HD650 is still better because it's open). So Teak give it a more airy / layered presentation also offering more "details" (though this might be due to the mid presentation). Which is why a lot of people find E-Mu Teak more "musical" compare to the rest of the variants.
CONCLUSION: That being said. Which do I like more? As I mentioned I like Rosewood's sound signature better (in fact it's pretty similar to Mahogany, so I wonder if I could've just got TH-X00 and save myself some money). The bass hits low and deep and hard, less midbass "noise", more cleaner sounding. Vocal is more forward. High is also more present. Overall I find Rosewood just more exciting and fun to listen to while still have very nice, present vocals.
Teak wins out in soundstage, the lush mid range details. Better instrument separations. And all those extra details you hear from string vibration, the sound decay in the room, all those extra details that seems to be missing in Rosewood (I guess trade off for having a cleaner, punchier sound). Teak is warmer in that regard.
At this point I'm still not sure what I like, I listen to a lot of female singing rock, acoustic, and pop. For rock I'd recommend Rosewood (or Mahogany, haven't tried Ebony) for that punchy and exciting sound, also more forward female vocal, for rock Teak almost felt slightly....... boring for lack of better word. Acoustic performance Teak definitely wins out. You can hear so much more details from guitar strumming and the vocal is just a lot more life like (as oppose to more flat/2D like in Rosewood). Pop is a toss up because pop cover a wide range, some songs works better in Rosewood, some songs in Teak. For more dance/EDM/electronic type of pop songs I'd recommend Rosewood. I don't listen to classical but I'd imagine Teak would win out.
If only they can give Rosewood soundstage then I'd just pick that.
Hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions.
UPDATE: I've been using the Rosewood for a week now while I quite enjoy the sound signature but there are still some minor complaints, the treble is slightly lower for my taste for clarity, voice while is closer than Teak but still a little bit far, the bass kicked hard but for long session it's a bit too much, and overall this cup just really lacking soundstage/imaging compare to the Teak.
Then I remember I bought a Dekoni Premium Ear Pad for TH-X00 a while back for my Denon D2000 and it just make it sound worse so I never end up using it. And I remember people were saying without attenuation ring it reduces the bass. So I decide to give it a try today and OMG to my surprise it fixes all the above issues. Generally I don't like using 3rd party ear pad because most of the time it makes it sound worse, surprisingly it worked out for the better this time.
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/dekoni-premium-earpads-for-fostex-th-x00
It pushed the treble a bit more so clarity is better, vocal is more forward and present, bass is reduced to normal levels (still hits really hard to be honest, just more in line with other frequencies), and voila soundstage/imaging got better (no clue how, but it stop feeling congested/flat). I'd say might be *slightly* bright for some people depending on your taste. But for my taste I think it worked out well, your mileage might vary. Though treble is now boarderline sibilant so if you're treble sensitive this might not work well for you. I also only tried it with Rosewood and it paired pretty well, haven't try it with the Teak cup yet.
So this is another option for those who likes Rosewood's sound but just want a little bit clarity and a more balanced sound.
But good to hear you enjoyed the sound so far, it's also a bonus that Rosewood looked great! :)
:P
Later when I have time maybe I'll try it with the Teak cup and/or the attenuation ring just to see. :P