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
There are both very good and enjoyable. Depending on your preferences and use case you may like one more than the other. The Swans seem to have a wider sound. I get more of a feeling of being surrounded by the music. I enjoy this about the Swans. The vocals seems to be coming from a but further back than the JBLs, as if the singer is further away from you. So the center images isn't as precise as the JBLs.
The JBLs by contrast are a narrower close in sound. Vocals are in front of you in a precise spot. If you held out you arms and made a fist in front of you neck/chin line that about there you get your center image. With the Swans it would be further back(at least 2x+ arms lengths), slightly higher (closer to nose level) and you have to hold two hands out is if holding a basketball or small beach ball... and that your center image. The Swans vocals sound less defined and more hazy in comparison.
With the JBLs background singers sound as if they are just behind and just left and right of the lead singer. With the Swans the background vocals are more to your left and right and less in the center, almost as if there was a small choir a bit to the left and right.
I recently heard someone say the wider the stage the less precise the imaging tends to be. Don't know if that always true, but it makes some sense, the more you "stretch" out the sound the more "stretch" and imprecise it's image. I find that to be true with these two speakers. It really hit home last night when I played some games switching between speakers. Playing aginst the bots in solo missions the JBL gave me a much better sense of where the enemy sounds where coming from. The JBLs where much more pin point (roughly 11 o'clock) where as the Swans gave a more general location (roughly between 2 and 5 o'clock).
I would say if you like a more intimate sound or you like detailed present mids (vocals, guitars) you may perfer the LBSs. If you like an wider encompassing stage you may prefer the Swans. There are some other differences due to the the way they present sounds that are harder to describe, but the main difference I find as I described.
That's not to say that the Swans don't image, they just don't image as well or that the JBLs are super narrow they just not as wide and a more in front of you sound. I can see why someone would prefer one over the other depending on their personal preferences.
For music I prefer the Swans because of their encompassing sound. But if I'm playing games I'm definitely using the JBLs as they image very well. Hummm, I wonder what would happen if a ran them both simultaneously? 😉
Any way that's my take so far.
Now I'm going to have to try some passive speakers that are a step up from my Pioneer BS41 and FS51 towers. It never ends does it? lol!
I just wanna setup these with my other powered speakers to make some sort of HT. You know, make do with what you have (and can get)
But a decent receiver and some decent speakers will get the job done to start out. You can do it with out breaking the bank with a little patience and searching.
You you can also start by getting a receiver some nice left and right speakers and adding the rest of the system over time so you end up with a nice setup that you don't need to upgrade again for a long while, if ever.