If I were you, probably will save up for a better DAP or DAC cum amp ya.

It's depends on your budget. For newbies probably can consider DAC with headphone out/amp.

Do you have any dac?
What kind of headphones are you using?
Normally what kind of music do you listen to? :-)

There isn't any so called best headphone amp. It's all depends on your preference and also mix and match.

Seems too good to be believed. Even China retail selling price is much higher than that.
For 2013 scam statistic, the site rated no 1. Just be careful.
http://www.br1m3.com/2013/12/03/online-sca...o-hike-in-2014/

Probably a decent portable player might be a better choice? It solves the DAC problem first. Hp and laptop build in sound card quality are not so good. You need a good source first before amping it, otherwise, you are just amping low quality sound signal.
Can consider colorfly c3 actually. Fulfill your needs on clarity. It's a clean sound, but not rich. build in amp not very powerful but for IEM should be alright.

This is a question about portable or desktop, not about sound quality.

main problem is the DAC.
It's because dac is the music source which provide music signal to headphone. It's very important.

A brief idea about DAC and Amp:
Amp will provide power to amplify analog signature (especially for high impedance or low sensitivity headphone) and decorate the timbre. A good amp will let the sound become lively.
DAC means ""digital/analog converter"". It can convert digital signal (010101...) which come from computer or CD into analog signal (sound). A dac with good D/A quality will provide good music details, big sound stage, neutral sound signature...
For some headphone, a powerful amp maybe not necessary, but dac is different. Every headphone needs a good analog signal to improve their sound quality. Otherwise they will just perform a lousy signal that come from computer.


With your budget
Can consider Aune products. Aune T1 tube DAC cum amp, with stock tube may sound a bit sharp and bright. But will sound more natural after tube rolling.
If you can increase your budget a little bit, can consider Aune X1 Pro instead. The new version over MKII support DSD format. The build in amp is with heavier bass and slightly forward sound than X1 MKII.

You can read the review from Headfornia as well.
The review is between Schiit Magni and Modi versus T1. T1 with stock tube (EH6922) is lower range than X1.

http://www.headfonia.com/schitty-magni-and-modi/2/

This post has been edited by liquidgal: Feb 16 2014, 07:26 PM

What's the weak point of your system that you wish to improve?
If you amp and headphone are Graham Solo + PS1000, I think a dac with thicker sound is more suitable for you.

In this price no need to consider Cambridge dac. It is competitive below RM2k. In higher price range, X-Sabre, DA8, m903 and DACmini is much better.
I've tried DA8 before. Neutral, clean, refined and transparent sound, good details, separation and positioning. Slightly cool, not thick and warm enough.
For matrix, I've just tried Quattro Amp and mini-I dac. The sound signature is smoother, warmer and more natural. But the music is not solid enough.

Around 3k, can consider Audiolab M-dac, Rega DAC and Arce Mdac3 too. Try to google them.
Audiolab M-dac won the 5 stars reward of What-Hifi. Good dynamic and sound stage, sightly warm.
Rega dac is thicker and warmer, but dynamic is slower.
Arce is not famous at oversea market, but it receive very good review in China. I was being impressed during the first time auditioning. The sound is smooth, natural and transparent.

Hmm if I were you, I will upgrade the headphones or iem first instead of adding amp. Headphone or iem wise, still have room to upgrade.
Not sure if you know, c3 doesn't have line out. Adding amp is double amping. Though sometimes double amping might also have good effects but I must say you must meet the "coincidence". Double amping is not the usual way to connect equipment. Might cause distortion. If you want to improve your sound system, I still recommend solve it from the source.

If you really like colorfly clean sound signature, next time when you save up can go straight for c4. It's a really beautiful sounding dap. Build in amp quite strong, clean, good punch and crystal clear. I have chance to audition once in China.

Else lower budget, can consider hifiman hm700. It's selling dap alone 16gb version and dap+ iem version. With balance output, the hifiman iem sounds even more open, cleaner with better details. Hifiman unique signature is like a speaker, flexible and comfortable, not very punchy and more on the mids.

Or you can also consider getting portable dac/amp to connect to your handphone but make sure your handphone model is otg supported. I would suggest you to go for e17. E18 is closer to x3 sound signature, warmer. E17 is cleaner sound though details is slightly inferior than e18.

Amp for rock music, I must say Shonyun 306A. Despite of its outlook, might overdrive IEM (need to use impedance adapter), sound stage not so wide but it has a better depth, slightly warm, tight and punchy bass, rich and thick mids, superior instruments and vocal body.

You are welcome

Can try Aune's new product, X1 pro.
It is a dac + headphone + Pre-amp, has usb/ optical/ coaxial input. Support DSD.
The quality of dac is very strong, and the build in amp is also quite good. I've compared it with Fiio E12 diy (with stock opm), driving HD600 and K601. E12 has wider sound stage, sparkling treble and more details, but X1 pro's build in amp has warmer and more musical sound signature.

Another choice is Matrix M-stage hpa-2 usb (2014 version). It is a dac+amp, but more to amp.
If you want to drive DT880, can also try this model. The amp is very powerful, quite suitable for high impedance headphone such as DT880.
http://www.headfonia.com/matrix-m-stage/3/

Beyerdynamic T1 is very very difficult to drive well. I will suggest you to go for a dac with powerful headphone amp.
Can consider Audio-GD products, such as NFB27 and Reference 10.32, their build in amp is very strong:
6000MW / 50 ohm
3500MW / 100 ohm
1200MW / 300 ohm
600 MW / 600 ohm
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/Headphoneamp/N...B27EN_Specs.htm
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/Headphoneamp/R...E10EN_Specs.htm


NFB27 is using E9018 dac chip. Reference 10.32 is using PCM1704UK.
PCM1704UK has already stopped production, but the sound quality is really amazing.

This post has been edited by liquidgal: Apr 23 2014, 06:47 PM

We compare hand to hand, Aune T1 does give a better performance in overall (sound stage, definition, separation, driving power etc) and has the option of changing tube. It's the cheapest Tube DAC. If you would like to learn playing tube and yet get a good quality desktop DAC, this is a very decent choice.
It's very clean sound, with wide sound stage and good details.

Fiio E17 also has its own advantage. It's mean for portable use. If portability is an issue, no doubt it's one of the options that you should consider at this price. It also has coaxial, optical and usb input. Aune T1 only has usb input. So if you want to connect the DAC with other equipment apart from computer, you can also consider E17. Another option for multiple input is Aune X1 pro DSD but at slightly higher price.

Fiio E18 is another option that you can also consider for portable use. Price close to E17. But it doesn't have coaxial and optical input. The sound signature is slightly warmer than E17 and Aune T1, sounds like higher range X3 with better details. Overall performance wise, E18 is still slightly inferior than T1.

Both E18 and T1 demo unit are available for audition, if you want to make a comparison.

Do you have any dac or dap?
If not, should consider a dac with build in amp first.
Dac is a digital to analog converter. It is the music source of whole system which provide a high quality sound signal.
Without a dac, adding an amp is only just amplify a bad sound signal.

Dac with build in amp, can consider:
- Aune T1 (destop)
- Aune X1 pro (destop)
- Fiio E17 (portable)
- Fiio E18 (portable)

Pure amp:
- Bravo Ocean or V2 (destop, maybe too powerful for iem)
- Shonyun 306a (portable)

Audio Engine D1 is a DAC with headphone amp. It has nothing to do with driving a speaker actually. Your aktimate mini + speaker is an active speaker, so it has a build in speaker amp. The speaker amp will drive the speaker.

So now your concern should be whether D1 is good enough as a DAC for your speaker and M50 & whether D1 build in headphone amp is strong and good enough for M50.

I personally haven't tried D1 before so I can't comment.
Around this price range, you can also consider Aune T1 tube dac with headphone amp. It is more to DAC, the amp is more like a complimentary. But it's good enough for M50. It also provides you an option for tube rolling to get a better sound and adjust the sound signature at a very low price.

Fiio E18 is quite decent as a portable unit. If you are alright with desktop unit, you can consider Aune T1 tube dac with headphone amp. Slightly cheaper and overall sound quality is better. E18 is slightly warm. T1 is clean with wide sound stage. So also depends on the sound signature that you prefer.

Actually the weakest point of your headfi system is music soure. No point to get an amp before having a good music source (dac/dap).
I will suggest you to save up the budget and go for a usb otg dac or dap which has buld in amp in the future.

Actually your speaker is an active speaker, which means with build in speaker amp. You don't need to buy another amp to pair with it. It will be double amping. Only passive speaker needs speaker amp.

And the amp we are talking about here is speaker amp. It's different from headphone amp.
Normally any devices with headphone out has headphone amp. Just that it's good or bad. When you are connecting your speaker to macbook headphone out, actually the sound signal go through macbook in build sound card > in build headphone amp > speaker amp >speaker.
So you are actually double amping your speaker in that sense, It is quite normal to have hiss sound.
If you get another headphone amp to connect them, the outcome is, you are triple amping.

Actually what you need right now is a decent DAC. It convert the digital signal (computer language 101010) to analogue sound that we can hear. Macbook build in sound card is not up to audio level and it can't bypass the headphone amp. So getting a dac with line out will solve the problem. And which model to get is depends on your budget.

For desktop unit, price below RM500, you can consider Aune T1 Tube dac with headphone amp. it's clean with wide sound stage and good details. Would help to improve 2.1 the muddy sound of 2.1 computer speaker.


We notice that a lot of people has misconception about buying headphone amp to improve sound quality. Actually DAC should be the first point to solve. It's not an extra bonus kind of thing and only buy it when you have extra budget. Without decent dac, amp is only amplifying low quality sound signal.

Hope this helps.

This post has been edited by liquidgal: May 19 2014, 10:39 AM

Nice headphone you have there
But K501 is not easy to drive well. I would say try it with desktop set up. I have 2 units of K601, one made in Austria, one made in China. Sound signature is somewhat different to me, but both very hard to drive well compare to K701. They are meant for home use and definitely have much much more potential with proper set up, compare to what you can listen now.

But if you still want to use it for portable, first, get a good DAC or DAP like Ibasso dx90. Else, amping from handphone is pointless as the build in dac is not up to audio level. Amp will only amplifying low quality sound signal in that case.

For budget portable amp that can drive it to a healthy stage, can try shonyun 306a. It's being designed using AKG K701 as reference headphone. It's slightly warm, thicker in mid and with good punch and music body, match well with AKG.

Can also have some read up here about the amp portion:
http://www.headfonia.com/akg-k500-k501/

This post has been edited by liquidgal: May 22 2014, 07:06 AM

Already pm you. please kindly check ya

Fiio E10 is already stop production. Tried it before, quite decent, cheap and tiny size. Details wise still a bit rough.
You can consider Aune T1 tube DAC, higher range than E10, clean, huge sound stage and good details.
can replace a better tube for better performance.

It receives good reviews on headfonia and headfi. Can check to out.

Higher range, can also consider Aune X1 pro (DSD). Slightly thicker and warmer sound, more solid sound and punchy bass than t1. Overall SQ is slightly better. It's also the cheapest device I find on the market that natively support DSD decoding and yet good sound.

This post has been edited by liquidgal: May 26 2014, 01:15 AM

You can actually consider Aune T1 mkii tube dac with headphone amp. It's a good start if you want to play with tubes. You can connect your speaker to T1 audio out and headphone to headphone out. But I don't suggest leaving the speaker on when you use the headphone out. This is because the headphone out will become soft and less powerful when audio out is being utilised. You don't have to unplug the cable, just switch it off.

Aune T1 mkii is just being released. The previous version, Aune T1 Mki has very huge sound stage, clean, refined, thin music body and lesser bass. Headphone amp is more like a complimentary. Pairing with big cans like hd600, still listenable, but can be better.

Mkii is a big surprise to us. I would say it's a very successful sound tuning. The sound stage is not as wide as mki, music position slightly forward, but in return a very pleasant tube-ish sound. it's warmer with very good surrounding, bass is so punchy and tight like bravo ocean, details also improve a lot especially as a pure dac. The biggest advantage is the headphone amp. It's much more stronger and able to drive big cans quite well now. suitable for pop songs and more music genre.

T1 only has usb input. If you need more input such as coaxial and optical, you can consider Aune X1 pro instead. It's a solid state device. Overall sound quality is better than t1. It also support DSD decoding. In fact, it's so far the cheapest DAC I found which can support dsd decoding natively.

Both Aune T1 and X1 is more to DAC (DAC part is stronger). So not a problem to use it as a dac for your speaker.
If you were to connect x1 from asus xonar dg optical, it will be affected by the quality of your sound card optical output. I am not sure how strong it is, probably you can audition the combination first.

This really depends on your budget.
Less than 1k, if you need a powerful amp with tight and punchy bass, stronger music body and warmer sound, can consider Shonyun 306a. If you want a cleaner sound with bigger sound stage, can consider Fiio E12 DIY.

I have actually compare O2 with shonyun hand to hand. It's towards the dark side. The bass quantity is more than 306a and go lower but 306a is has a tighter and punchier bass. Both very powerful. For treble part 306a has better expansion and brighter. O2 treble is quite dark lesser expansion, especially when you are listening to strings, it sounds not so natural to me. O2 has a wider sound stage, shonyun has a better depth.

It's not the kind of clean sound like E12, but not too warm or rich. Should work well with dt880 too. Depends on what kind of sound signature do you prefer in this case.

Things that you can take note for considering the pairing for Aune t1. MK2 is actually having warmer and thicker sound than mk1. MK2 does have stronger build in headphone amp as well, the bass part is much more stronger and punchier. But t1 is still more to dac, so big cans like hd600 pairing with t1 is listenable, but for future upgrade, add in another pure amp would be better.

HD600 though is rich, and thick sound headphone, it has good expansion and sparkling treble, thick mid, bass is punchy but lesser than hd650.
If you really like dark and rich sound headphone and prefer dark treble, then you can also consider hd650. Mid of hd650 is slightly empty than hd600. I personally prefer HD600 over hd650 for vocals.

Aune T1 is actually more to dac, build in amp is more like a complimentary and not so strong. If comparing to dac + pure amp like bravo ocean or o2, the amp part is for sure stronger than t1 build in amp, especially for t1 mk1. MK2 has stronger build in amp, but still, ocean is still a step ahead. After upgrading tubes for ocean is even more obvious. So I don't think should compare T1 to any dac + pure amp combo. Besides that, the price range is also different for the set up.


I actually have both large "O" getter halo bugle boy and Globe.
Bugle boy mainly have three version actually. Small "O" getter halo, large "O" getter halo and D getter. All three version sound very different from each other.
The best one is D getter which was produced in 1950's but price is very expensive (probably RM1000 for one or more). Large "O" getter halo was being produced in 1960's and smaller "O" in 1970's. What you can commonly find in the market is usually small "O" getter halo, price also cheaper but sound quality is not as good as the two.

I personally don't think that all bugle boy is half step down. I haven't tested small "O" getter halo, but base on large "O" getter halo, it's definitely much better than globe in terms of SQ (sound stage, separation, dynamic, details, positioning and etc).
Both are having very different sound signature.
Bugle boy is having softer treble, very airy and smooth with lots of details at the vocal end rhythm. Position is more backward. For bass part, it's actually more tight and hit harder than tesla yellow label code 32 and globe, quantity is much more lesser than tesla but more than globe.

Globe to me, is not so suitable on T1 if compare to the two.
It's more to the mid and high but not so much expansion, details is more muddy. Mid is the fattest but sounds slightly blur and flat.

Tesla wise is having better SQ than Globe as well. It has very flexible sound, rich and big piece of bass, very solid vocal body, darker treble but still with good expansion.
For fat, thick mids and punchy bass when I listen to rock or electronic, I always go for tesla, though it is slower than the two.

This post has been edited by liquidgal: Aug 7 2014, 12:32 PM