I own the original TH-X00 version, I've been using them at work and I've been just using it straight off my Google Pixel phone. Was hoping to have a better sound through new dac/amp, but I don't know if I'm crazy or if I'm just not looking at the right dac/amp. I haven't been able to find something that's a direct upgrade.
Let me elaborate, so I've tried almost all the budget dac/amps but I've been just getting "different" sound more or less. Like I'll gain something but also loses something at the same time. Budget dac/amp I've tried include FiiO E10K, Schiit Fulla 1, NuForce UDAC3, SMSL M3, and recently I've acquired iFi Nano iDSD Black Label.
FiiO E10K - Everything's good overall but loses some bass with bass boost off, with bass boost on it's too boomy.
Schiit Fulla 1 - Slightly more V shaped, increase treble and bass but vocal gets further away.
NuForce UDAC3 - Similar to Schiit Fulla 1 where it's a little bit V shaped, boosts treble and bass but vocal gets a bit further away.
SMSL M3 - This improves clarity and layering and instrument separation by quite a bit, vocal is forward though loses bass too. However I almost kept it but ultimately I find the vocal and bass sounded a little bit artificial. Like you boost certain frequencies too much then they start to sound "off" I can't fully explain.
iFi Nano iDSD Black Label - This is the most neutral one out of all of them, also the priciest one yet (about double the cost of the rest). But because it's the most neutral one so it's a more relaxed sounding signature, the treble isn't too much and vocal is forward but loses bass a little. But clarity and layering and sound stage didn't stood out too much for me. Just overall felt a little bit flat despite the raving good reviews.
So at this point I don't know if it's just that TH-X00 is very easy to drive also fairly sensitive headphone so it doesn't really need a new dac/amp, OR maybe things won't start to sound good until I hit the Aune X1, Grace M9XX tier? At this point I even wonder if O2/ODAC or Schiit Magni3/Modi2 will be able to make any real difference (since iFi Nano iDSD Black Label is suppose to be in the comparable tier, unless it's just bad pairing).
Again to clarify, I'm not saying running off Google Pixel is the best thing ever. It just sounded the most natural and correct amount of treble/vocal/bass and maintain the most amount of micro details, trade off is that sound stage is pretty average and instrument separation is decent but not the best. All the above mentioned dac/amps seems to enhance certain frequencies but all the tiny little details seems to get washed out, like all the tiny tiny background sounds. Though I'm not saying any of the above dac/amp are bad, they all sounded good actually, but you get different trade offs, so I feel like if I'm paying extra money to hook up another device I was hoping everything to be better. So at this point I almost feel like it's better off I just run it straight off the phone at work (less things to carry too). As I've mentioned that since I'm running it at work, I don't know if it's worth it to leave an Aune X1 or Grace M9XX at my desk at work. Granted it's a fairly safe work place but it's still open concept so anyone can really just swipe anything off my desk technically.
For now I'm going with the "if it ain't broken then don't fix it" approach and might just leave it for now. What do you guys think? Lol sorry for the super long message, but I start to wonder if it's just me.
Let me elaborate, so I've tried almost all the budget dac/amps but I've been just getting "different" sound more or less. Like I'll gain something but also loses something at the same time. Budget dac/amp I've tried include FiiO E10K, Schiit Fulla 1, NuForce UDAC3, SMSL M3, and recently I've acquired iFi Nano iDSD Black Label.
FiiO E10K - Everything's good overall but loses some bass with bass boost off, with bass boost on it's too boomy. Schiit Fulla 1 - Slightly more V shaped, increase treble and bass but vocal gets further away. NuForce UDAC3 - Similar to Schiit Fulla 1 where it's a little bit V shaped, boosts treble and bass but vocal gets a bit further away. SMSL M3 - This improves clarity and layering and instrument separation by quite a bit, vocal is forward though loses bass too. However I almost kept it but ultimately I find the vocal and bass sounded a little bit artificial. Like you boost certain frequencies too much then they start to sound "off" I can't fully explain. iFi Nano iDSD Black Label - This is the most neutral one out of all of them, also the priciest one yet (about double the cost of the rest). But because it's the most neutral one so it's a more relaxed sounding signature, the treble isn't too much and vocal is forward but loses bass a little. But clarity and layering and sound stage didn't stood out too much for me. Just overall felt a little bit flat despite the raving good reviews.
So at this point I don't know if it's just that TH-X00 is very easy to drive also fairly sensitive headphone so it doesn't really need a new dac/amp, OR maybe things won't start to sound good until I hit the Aune X1, Grace M9XX tier? At this point I even wonder if O2/ODAC or Schiit Magni3/Modi2 will be able to make any real difference (since iFi Nano iDSD Black Label is suppose to be in the comparable tier, unless it's just bad pairing).
Again to clarify, I'm not saying running off Google Pixel is the best thing ever. It just sounded the most natural and correct amount of treble/vocal/bass and maintain the most amount of micro details, trade off is that sound stage is pretty average and instrument separation is decent but not the best. All the above mentioned dac/amps seems to enhance certain frequencies but all the tiny little details seems to get washed out, like all the tiny tiny background sounds. Though I'm not saying any of the above dac/amp are bad, they all sounded good actually, but you get different trade offs, so I feel like if I'm paying extra money to hook up another device I was hoping everything to be better. So at this point I almost feel like it's better off I just run it straight off the phone at work (less things to carry too). As I've mentioned that since I'm running it at work, I don't know if it's worth it to leave an Aune X1 or Grace M9XX at my desk at work. Granted it's a fairly safe work place but it's still open concept so anyone can really just swipe anything off my desk technically.
For now I'm going with the "if it ain't broken then don't fix it" approach and might just leave it for now. What do you guys think? Lol sorry for the super long message, but I start to wonder if it's just me.