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
The real reason why I would buy this is because my HIFIMan HE400S has such shitty build quality. The drivers rotate and pivot so easily because there is no tension. They also came with a skull crushing clamping force which I fixed by bending the spring steel headbands. The 400S's sound great! Love the mids and the openess but wish there was a little more fullness.
After reading through most of this discussion though I have talked myself out of joining because I am not convinced these will be built much better. Sonically, they are very similar to and will not stand out when compared to what I already own, including the akg k7xx, the senn hd6xx, the hifiman 400s, beyer dt990 250 ohm ver, and less prominent cans like the emu purpleheart and akg 533. Enough already.
What we do here is discuss what all the differences are. We try to quantify and to assign value to the subtle nuances. How "this" has more "x" and "that" is better because of "y". The overall qualifier for me is value for my money. Unless the headphones will perform in a manner that truly sets it apart from what I already have - I'll hang onto my money for now.
Of course, your reasons and values are uniquely your's therefore you may not agree with me. That's ok too.
My thanks to all who contributed to my arriving at this sensible conclusion.
Choose wisely.
As you so correctly diagnosed, I am so far down that mid-fi rabbit hole. I should clean house and make one large quality buy.
Problem is nothing I currently own truly sucks. They are like kids. They are good at math but terrible at sports.
I'm hoping when they finally arrive, the 6xx will finally be what I need (for now anyway)
EQ isn't something I like to apply. It is my feeling that any component should be up to the task at hand and shouldn't need "fixing". Applying Eq to something as the default action goes against the grain of the unspoken audiophile code.
That being said, please don't take offense. My kids like to drown everything with balsamic vinaigrette regardless of what it is or how it is seasoned. To each their own, right?
I decided my mid fi end games are going to be 6xx (wait till december to get them) and M1060 (later purchase).
I drive my headphones either direct from my grave m9xx (usually in higher power mode). Sometimes I'll use my dark voice amp to take the edge off my beyer dt990 pros.
the darkvoice does not like the hifiman impedance and will distort.
the k7xx is very comfortable but does not really stand out except that it has more bass extension than hifiman . Needless to say, does not live up to the marketing hype. They are fine and properly priced at $200 but did not rock my world.
the beyers used to be my favorite but are extremely unforgiving of less than perfect content. They are very bright and needed the darkvoice to drive them. Although the grace m9xx has plenty of juice to drive them too. Hifiman has wider and more defined soundstage though so I don't listen to these much anymore. But these have a very nice and extended bottom octave once I upgraded dekoni velours. The Dekoni pleathers killed the openness essentially making them sound like closed backs.
the akg 533 is a welll built entry level headphone that has decent tonal balance with adequate bottom end but are uncomfortable because of shallow earcups.
the emu Purple Hearts were bought on a whim and the promise of value at $80 but are essentially over hyped $80 headphones that have a nasty treble spike that accentuates the sibilant "essss" of lyrics.