Audio About Amps and Budget IEMs

V

vortex_mak

Disciple
Hi,

Noobie question - What are amps used for ?
I see a lot of you guys have discrete amps. I guess you guys dont use them for increasing the volume as the max volume on mp3 players is already quite loud.
In most of the reviews, iPod/iPhones are said to have the best music quality, however many of you are using Sansa, etc. Are the idevices music quality really that great or just marketing ?
Any comments ?

For IEMs I have the Creative EP630 and am not an audiophile, so I cant go above 1k.
My friend has the Image S4i which were good but not 4k good.
I like the bass and thump of the EP630, but since one can only compare when one hears something better, can you guys suggest some good IEMs below 1k ?
The only one I know of is Fischer Audio Tough Stuff 9001 from amarbir

Thanks
 
some IEMs and most full sized headphone require a lot of power to drive, this power is supplied by amplifiers( aka amps). otherwise these wont be playable at a good volume.

the difference between a good amplifier and a bad one is :

1. LESS noise

2. similarity to the theoretical amplified signal.

3. Power supplied to the device

THe main difference is made bu the DAC in question ( Digital to analog converter , which is responsible for the signal fed to the amp.

the "most reviews" take the allround performance, in which IPOD/ iphones are unbeatable. Apple 's UI is the best among PMPs leave music players, these have great battery life ( ipod touch lasts 37 Hrs for music!!), are as large as the screen itself!!,mammoth storage space, solid support, offer multitouch, games( some of the best among portables ...yeah comparable to PSP and DS) and loads of applications, internet, email, youtube, are lightning fast and even a child can use them, throw them ( no problem ...sometimes). what more could a common man ask for.these are objects of desire. (um, why did i sell my ipod, again? )

the problem lies in the sound quality, though ipod have ample power for basic headphones, their quality is at most equal to the OK-ish players in the market, i found my Blackberry better in Midrange and Highs compared to IPod touch 3g. this is where sansa shines its not very good bt its certainly good not lacking in any area + the battery life of good players, good build and good storage(expansion slot). and these are dirt cheap.

ones craving for better quality go for players such as s:flo2(cheap alternative for good music) and sony X( not available in india ..ipod quality + Sound quality)

A good player contains a good DAC( mandatory) + a good amp ( sometimes) ...as i said the dac is what counts a line out form the dac can be fed to an external amp.

< read now that you were asking fora 1K IEM .....damn you made me write soo much.!! EHY ask about a 15K stuff (ipod/iphone) and go for 1K IEM??!!??>



ep630 has a lot of bloated bass and bad highs but is good for the ones who like bass at cheap price. fischer audio is a new in the market and has a lot of products in their lineup ( and to worsen things a lot of IEMs in same price range), the only famous IEMs from them are eterna and DBA-02 ( sba might be good but not many reviews)....so only the owners can tell.

for sub 1K, well, i will suggest you stick with ep630 and when you have 2K get RE2 + e5 amp.
 
Ha ha.. No, its good you explained pretty well. Thanks :)

So, I suppose the quality of any music player can be pretty much compared by comparing the DACs right?

The amp question was a general query not related to the IEMs

I have a Galaxy S as my music player so Ill be using the IEMs with it.
 
No no, for a good Player both are important. DAC and Amp. ( a bad amp destroyes the output by the DAC ....suppose the input is a square wave(given by DAC)....and the output wave is a sign wave( from the Amp.) )
get my point.
FOr IEMs DAC matters more as there is not much amplification required. as IEMs dont require much juice. but still one can never ignore the amp because the amp plays part in signal processing.
But for Headphones : DAC and Amp matters equally.
 
For post#2:

Dont worry dude, you have not explained much, he needs it. Else he wouldn't mix an ipod with 1k iem & wont be using ep630 instead of SM...

for the OP,

you can use an amp with any source but the difference wouldn't be noticed unless it has lack of power (in the player's amp).

If the decoding is of problem, then a good amp can't solve it..
 
In plain simple english, lose the galaxy s as your source for music. Get a good dedicated music player like sansa clip+, sansa fuze, sflo2, ipod(mentioned in ascending order by price).

Best Value for money would be Sansa fuze + a good iem. You do not need amplication for iems to keep it simple. 1 out of 50iems will improve with amplication.

Like strategy pointed out, the dac is wat matters so unless your gonna open up say an ipod and change the opamps, lets just say in your case it is the source that matters.

So use a phone as a phone, and a fuze as your music player. You'll get better sound quality and battery life considering smartphones are very bad at battery life.
 
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