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 WES is so poorly designed for example that it can damage headphones, read up about it and see what actual engineers think about the brand. You're also using one of their cheapest amps lol... you can get a superior tube amp for $600 too.
I listened to the Stax SR-009 out of both the WES and HeadAmp Blue Hawaii SE on the same day... man the WES was incoherent and muddy in comparison.
Also I own two headphone amps in this price range: Mjolnir Audio Pure Bipolar ($2,100) and KGSSHV Carbon ($4,600, I prefer this to the BHSE). The difference is people like Birgir, Kevin Gilmore, Nelson Pass, and Pete Millett actually know how to design a great through and through.
As for speaker power or integrated amps, I am considering Mcintosh for myself but the fact that none of their amps are pure class A has me worried that they aren't good enough for me.
I'm currently running a pair of Boulder Monoblocks with 800 D3's or Meridians solo, as I do love a great pair of active speakers, as my primary listening setup. Portable and headphone amps I've never spent much time with, so I like what I like. My interconnects are better quality than your "audio collection", if you could call it that. Amateur newbie at best. And an FYI, you may want a component stand with a bit more, ummm heft than a cross cross wired shelves that have zero isolation from each other. I mean right there tells me your extent of knowledge about audio equipment in general. And I never compared Woo to the likes of the others I mentioned; learn to read. And reading your other posts, your "knowledge" audio wise is very limited, although you try to make it out as you know what you are talking about. And I'm certain you are a member of Head Fi, am I right? 99 percent chance I am, and I'm sure a devotee of Mr. Z reviews himself. So sit back, and leave the real audio discussions to the grown ups. Either you are a Millennial, high probability, and I was buying my first Krell Monoblocks when you were in diapers, or you've just been buying mediocre junk for years. Not sure which yet. In any case, I think it best you actually continue playing in your sandbox and leave the grow ups to do their thing.
And a last note, you only wished you could afford anything McIntosh, again those who can love them, and those who can't do nothing but put a brand down. And I can admit $1499 is extremely cheap for a tube amp, at least for what I'm used to in full size equipment. I listening to crap like the Dark Voice, or Cavalli amps and tbh, all sounded like solid states. Something I didn't want. I preferred the WA7 sound wise by far over the others. So much so I order a WA8 as something more portable. **wish we could block ignorant kids on here**
- You believe in magical thousand dollar interconnects being a real improvement over any well made one which doesn't cost anywhere near that much to make. This makes it perfectly clear that you have absolutely no electrical engineering background... I mean you are trying to show off that you watched a video on different classes of amplifiers, and you think this means you're knowledgeable.
- Both of your posts are just putting forward an "it costs more so it must be better" narrative, evident with your empty Woo Audio defense where you provide no real arguments other than "Har har I can afford it and you probably can't" (except I can) and also with your statement on interconnects.
- Same thing with your Mcintosh statement. My KGSSHV Carbon costs as much as a Mcintosh amp, and I made it very clear (providing a technical reason) as to why I am hesitant to purchase one of their amps. I bet you wish you were able to afford these things at age 24.
- You are so desperate that you try to use age as an argument, which is just going to backfire on you. Despite your older age and more years of experience, it is clear to anyone who reads these posts that even I possess more technical knowledge and wisdom than you, and obviously make more informed purchasing decisions too since I know better than to believe in $5,000 interconnect voodoo, and I know better than to purchase Woo Audio, and I know better than to blindly follow the "more expensive = better" mindset since I instead think technically.
- And despite your older age, you're too immature to have a real argument and all my very real, technical points remain unaddressed since you clearly don't have the knowledge to address them. You are the stereotypical old jaded "audiofool."
So yeah... I'm much younger than you, much more knowledgeable, much more rational and logical in my arguments, and much more successful at this age with a future that is clearly far brighter than yours which triggers your insecurities.
And the irony is that all of this discussion is on a post about you showing off a Woo Audio amp that is flat out inferior for the price, making it clear right off the bat that you don't know what the hell you're doing.
~$5000 is equal or more than most McIntosh Labs amps? And a technical reason, because its not a pure class A? You need to know the difference between the classes before you can make this assumption. Mmmhmmm.
And never stated the more you spend the better. However, as logic dictates and even you pointed out, that Chinese Hifi is crap. That's to a price. Some Chi-Fi are excellent components for sure. And I'd never dismiss them based on being Chinese in origin. You get what you pay for. So I never needed to wish what I can afford, because I will always be able to afford what I want. So keep working hard with your career so that I can be oh so jealous of what you can afford. But great job with your "thesis" so to speak. What 15 years of age older does to a person. Stick with your #metoo movement and FO; douchebag libtards at their finest. Cheers
And an FYI please show me one serious "audiophile" with components on Walmart wire racks? Icing on the cake young one.
That 15 years just took away your ability to make meaningful arguments. All you've said is "look at this video" and keep pointing to a rack, even though again the most basic of engineers know that it makes no actual difference (same for $5,000 interconnects). So you don't even refute your complete lack of engineering knowledge. Pro tip: buying expensive things all the time doesn't make you knowledgeable.
Display technology is another area where my knowledge most likely completely outclasses yours. OLED TVs are easily affordable, under $2,000 for a 55" LG C8 if you know when to buy. Burn-in is still a potential problem for them as it has been proven, but aside from that and maximum brightness levels (for outdoor viewing) it outclasses LCD in every single way. I'm personally waiting for one with HDMI 2.1 so that it can do 4k 120 Hz. MicroLED will likely wipe OLED tech out anyway, since it's going to have the same picture quality and responsiveness but more reliability, be cheaper to make, and have more brightness (not that more brightness is really necessary but it is a selling point).
More irony: it is the millennials that voted against Trump, while the overwhelming majority of Trump supporters come from previous generations. Jaded people such as yourself.
You keep referring to "people who actually know a thing or two" about "audio stuff" yet all you can refer to is class A vs class D. There isn't even an argument here, just you saying "watch this video." So that's really all you have, and it speaks for itself. Have you ever even built a DAC/preamp/amp DIY project in your life?