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
IMO the Z7 does not sound anything like the Elear. The Elear has a much more neutral tonality and while it's upper registers are not as bright as the T1's or the TH-X00's, the Elear does ot lack treble or mids like the Z7 or Z1R do.
I agree that the Z7 is super comfortable and light. I terms of sound, I am not saying that I don't like it, it just has a very distinct sound signature (dark, bass heavy and far from neutral) and I would not use it for all genres. Rock and acoustic music sound veiled due to recessed treble and mids. On the other hand, e.g. EMD sounds terrific on the Z7's!
I view it as a specialty headphone and there it excels. Not as much like the Z1R, but the signature is similar. The Z1r is more spacious, resolving and the bass goes even deeper. But the overall characteristics are similar. I modded my Z7 with surgical tape (very popular mod, just google Z7 mod and Currawong) and it cleanes up the mid bass nicely. For my purposes it did not make sense to keep the much more expensive Z1R, even if that one is better.
The X00 is V shaped. Elevated bass and elevated treble, whereas the Z7 has mostly elevated bass. The bass quality of the Z7 is better, cleaner and deeper. My biggest complain about the X00 is too much and fuzzy mid bass.
The Elear, T1 and T5p play in a different league than the aforementioned. The T1 is highly resolving, very musical, and the best choice for classic, acoustic and even rock. It has less bass quantity, but the quality is very high.
The T5p is closed, has less brilliant top range, but more bass than the T1, but less than the Z7.
The open Elear is probably the best allrounder, very neutral, but with good bass slam.
„The Z7 is laid back while the X00 is a much more forward and engaging presentation.“ - Yes, with Z7 you can listen to any recording without any fatigue. You can call it laid back sound. But the TH-X00 has somewhere too much treble in comparison. So, even „Graceland“ from Paul Simon can be problem to listen because of “zzsss”.
“I have the Z7, Elear and TH-X00, T1 and T5p“ - That’s cool. Me too.
„IMO the Z7 does not sound anything like the Elear.“ - OK. Every headphone has its own sound. If two headphones sound similar (never 100% identical) other aspects like comfort, finish, design, price etc. will make the difference. Z7 is closed-back whereas Elear is open-back. Even though the Z7 sounds more spacious than the Elear. The Elear is really a perfect Allrounder. I agree. With very forward mids, fantastic voice presentation, especially at higher volumes. The bass is present and very accurate without supressing the trebles. But, my comparison was about the fun listening factor. When one puts on the Z7 he won't think of changing it no matter which music he listens. I also have the impression that Focal copied some of the features from Z7. The impedance and sensivity is nearly the same (Z7/Elear: 70/80 Ohm, 102/104 dB), also the usage of 2 x 3.5 mm mini-phone connectors and the headband mechanic (better on Z7). Z7 has the better cables and input connectors also...
„The Elear has a much more neutral tonality“ - I wouldn’t say much(!) more, because there is also a permanent bass bump over the Elears, but yes it has the tighter bass and present midrange. But, do one needs a neutral sound to have fun? Especially when listening to all kind of music with diferent quality available...
“..while it's upper registers are not as bright as the T1's or the TH-X00's, the Elear does not lack treble or mids like the Z7 or Z1R do.” - A lot of people don’t like beyerdynamic because of the highs. So, e.g. the 1st gen of T1 has the “famous” 8 Hz peak, which is no problem for me. With the TH-X00 it can be problematic even with recordings like Paul Simon’s “Graceland”, whereas the Z7 does a great job in those case. Check also Eva Cassidy "Live At Blues Alley", inaudible with bright sounding headphones. But with Z7 just fanstastic. Listen also to Leonard Cohen’s “You Want It Darker”, you will love the Z7 with its its extremely relaxing sound.
“..Z7 it just has a very distinct sound signature (dark, bass heavy and far from neutral) “ Dark? Did you ever listen to an Audeze LCD-2 (non Fazor) or Sennheiser HD 650? Z7 is far away from dark. Again, if you take T1 (typical beyer) or Fostex or the Grados as baseline, it seems to be darker. For sure. But one could also say the other ones are brighter. Listen to one of my favorite test tracks from Mike Oldfield’s “The Songs of Distant Earth”, Track “Ascension”. At 4:05 min. Turn up the volume as loud as you bear and you will understand why I am not confirming that Z7 is dark. I could post an endles listing about such tracks that are awesome to listen over the Z7...Supertramp "Breakfast in America" - Child Vision, "Brother Where You Bound" - Better Days", "Cannonball",.... Bob Marley "Exodus" - purely fun.
“For someone that owns the fidelio x2, do u think the elear or mrspeaker aeon would be a better choice as an upgrade, i don't mind what ever the sound signature is, just want to get the wow factor, i mean an Upgrade rather than sidegrade.” I do not know Philips Fidelio X2 but own X1. It's a headphone with superb value for the money. But the bass is really flabby. If you can afford go for Focal Elear. It has definitely those Wow effect.
Cheers
P.S.: I use as Headphone Amplifier Violectric V281 (balanced and non-balanced), Lehmann Black Cube Linear Pro, C.E.C. HD53N (fully balanced), beyerdynamic A2, Hifiman EF5