**PSA: Sennheiser HD600 for $325 on Amazon right now!**
- Thread starter BrianZ
- Start date
BrianZ
Active Member
yeah, you you know man i just need to forget about it for now. you're right i think. i get so fixated when i get a thing like this in my head. i almost clicked BUY on an E11 on Amazon until i read about amps in this class maybe not being so great for cans over about 150 ohm or so. better to just wait and see. thanks.
So... all this talk about headphone amps got me all excited.
I just received a Fiio Kilimanjaro2 E11K portable headphone amp for lower impedance headphones. Why???
Well, I am about to be spending much more time on planes and sitting in hotel rooms and in a corner office. Since my Shure IEMs do sound much better with the Fiio E5 than the internal headphone output on all of my PCs, tablets and phones, I decided to upgrade a bit for a reasonable price.
Why the Kilimanjaro2? Well... it has a long battery life, is rumored to have VERY low noise, has a 3dB bass boost switch and a High/Low gain switch so I can use it with both my Shure IEMs and my AKG K701s. The bass boost is nice on airplanes where there is a constant rumble from the engines and the gain switch is good for using either my IEMs or large over ear headphones.
I charged it for several hours and gave it a listen, and it is every bit as good as I had hoped. Clean, quiet, plenty loud, and noise free. A definite improvement over the the internal outputs from my PCs. It is also built like a tank - this is why I love Fiio: well made and very consistent performance.
I'll post photos later.
I just received a Fiio Kilimanjaro2 E11K portable headphone amp for lower impedance headphones. Why???
Well, I am about to be spending much more time on planes and sitting in hotel rooms and in a corner office. Since my Shure IEMs do sound much better with the Fiio E5 than the internal headphone output on all of my PCs, tablets and phones, I decided to upgrade a bit for a reasonable price.
Why the Kilimanjaro2? Well... it has a long battery life, is rumored to have VERY low noise, has a 3dB bass boost switch and a High/Low gain switch so I can use it with both my Shure IEMs and my AKG K701s. The bass boost is nice on airplanes where there is a constant rumble from the engines and the gain switch is good for using either my IEMs or large over ear headphones.
I charged it for several hours and gave it a listen, and it is every bit as good as I had hoped. Clean, quiet, plenty loud, and noise free. A definite improvement over the the internal outputs from my PCs. It is also built like a tank - this is why I love Fiio: well made and very consistent performance.
I'll post photos later.
I want to add this...
Apple has ALWAYS taken great care to ensure the headphone outputs on their products are top notch. While an amp like the E11K and E5 are darn near required for a PC and many phones, Apple products are less dependent on an amp to perform well. I tried the Kilimanjaro2 between my MacBook Pro and my various headphones and while I can hear a difference between using it versus not, I am not convinced it is completely necessary all the time. In fact, I wouldn't bother with adding an amp to the MacBook unless I was doing some serious engineering/mastering work - and if I am doing that, I'd be using a professional recording audio interface anyway.
Apple has ALWAYS taken great care to ensure the headphone outputs on their products are top notch. While an amp like the E11K and E5 are darn near required for a PC and many phones, Apple products are less dependent on an amp to perform well. I tried the Kilimanjaro2 between my MacBook Pro and my various headphones and while I can hear a difference between using it versus not, I am not convinced it is completely necessary all the time. In fact, I wouldn't bother with adding an amp to the MacBook unless I was doing some serious engineering/mastering work - and if I am doing that, I'd be using a professional recording audio interface anyway.
PaulyT said:
Brian's question, and your answer above, didn't quite clarify something for me. I too was thinking, "if the headphone output is inferior, feeding it into an external amp would only make that inferiority louder, right?"
I understand using a receiver's "line out", but how/why are headphone amps used with phones, tablets, laptops, Walkmans etc? :think:
PC and Phone outputs are multifunctional and are designed to support both line level connections as well as headphones. In most cases, they perform MUCH better as line level outputs than they do as headphone outputs where the output levels are much higher. So, plugging the output into a line level input of a headphone amp and cranking up the level to max, you tend to get pretty good line level performance due to the very high impedance of the headphone amp input and the lower voltage requirements.
BrianZ
Active Member
ok so i got HD600's 2 days ago and without going into too much detail (being in full honeymoon phase), i am beside myself with glee. the door has been kicked down, the fog has lifted, the blinders cast aside. i am amazed. my whole understanding of listening to music has changed - i will never be the same. i really liked my V-Moda M-80's, but this is something entirely different. i've never been so connected to my music before and now kinda feel like i'm hearing it all for the first time. (Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah literally wet my eyes as my first listening session went late into Saturday night. So did a number of my other favorite sappy tracks.)
one thing is immediately evident: it is a bit of a shame what i am currently feeding these beauties. i have contracted a raging case of full-on upgraditis. PHASE 1: i'm dumping my two Zune 80GB players for a Fiio X3. neither Zune was full so i'll be able to fit nearly the same amount of material in the X3's 8GB + 128GB storage. plus i'll now have the line out to feed my main system, my bedroom system and my Braven portable BT speaker. this will of course lead to PHASE 2: getting a HP amp (currently leaning Fiio E12), but i'm gonna give the X3 a try on its own first.
the only hole in my plan is that my receiver has no easy way to get line out. there's a bridge on the back that connects the preamp out to the power amp input but it would be way too much of a pita to mess with that when going back and forth between HP and main system use. incidentally after considerable swapping, i heard no difference between the Zune and my receiver's HP jack. so i assume that once i get the portable HP units settled my receiver's HP jack won't get much use and most of my HP listening will be done with the portable devices. but no matter: who wants to keep changing CD's anyway, right?
one thing is immediately evident: it is a bit of a shame what i am currently feeding these beauties. i have contracted a raging case of full-on upgraditis. PHASE 1: i'm dumping my two Zune 80GB players for a Fiio X3. neither Zune was full so i'll be able to fit nearly the same amount of material in the X3's 8GB + 128GB storage. plus i'll now have the line out to feed my main system, my bedroom system and my Braven portable BT speaker. this will of course lead to PHASE 2: getting a HP amp (currently leaning Fiio E12), but i'm gonna give the X3 a try on its own first.
the only hole in my plan is that my receiver has no easy way to get line out. there's a bridge on the back that connects the preamp out to the power amp input but it would be way too much of a pita to mess with that when going back and forth between HP and main system use. incidentally after considerable swapping, i heard no difference between the Zune and my receiver's HP jack. so i assume that once i get the portable HP units settled my receiver's HP jack won't get much use and most of my HP listening will be done with the portable devices. but no matter: who wants to keep changing CD's anyway, right?
I'm very happy for you! Truly. Yes, it's amazing sometimes the revelation that a really good gear upgrade can give. (Not that it always happens, unfortunately, but it's cool when it does.) And yeah, upgraditis, once caught, never ends.
BrianZ
Active Member
Hey thanks, Paul.
so the Fiio X3 to arrives today and i just sealed the deal on a used Fiio E12 v1 (off Head-Fi), which is the pre-production version with bass boost focused in the sub bass region (peak at about 20 Hz). this version seems like the better choice to pair with the HD600's. i'm hoping this is all good enough to get an idea of what a decent source and amping can do to improve performance.
and thanks again everyone for the tip on the Head-Fi classifieds. if i deem the E12's contribution to be insignificant then i'm sure i can easily sell it off since the v1 version seems to be in pretty high demand. so virtually no risk in trying it out.
so the Fiio X3 to arrives today and i just sealed the deal on a used Fiio E12 v1 (off Head-Fi), which is the pre-production version with bass boost focused in the sub bass region (peak at about 20 Hz). this version seems like the better choice to pair with the HD600's. i'm hoping this is all good enough to get an idea of what a decent source and amping can do to improve performance.
and thanks again everyone for the tip on the Head-Fi classifieds. if i deem the E12's contribution to be insignificant then i'm sure i can easily sell it off since the v1 version seems to be in pretty high demand. so virtually no risk in trying it out.
BrianZ
Active Member
PaulyT said:
yeah no kidding about the turnover. it's just like the pedal effects classifieds on electric guitar forums (my other world of obsession).
so that gets me thinking: how many of you have other equally obsessive pursuits? for me it's audio, guitar gear and to a much lesser extent tv's (which i guess kinda goes hand in hand with home audio, and it's only on my mind because i just had to replace our tv). i feel lucky i don't really give a rat's ass about computers, cameras, cars or motorcycles. i do like a nice scotch though.
BrianZ said:
Kitchen gear (but I'm pretty much sated at this point)
Farkles for the motorcycle (I'm not driven to have a bunch of bikes, only two since '07, but once I get one I have to get every damn accessory available)
Woodworking tools (was sated, but then Evil Jeff Mackwood pushed me off the wagon)
Musical instruments (I play about a dozen, eight professionally*)
Music CDs and DVDs
*"professionally" does not mean I was any good, it means I got paid to do it :angelic-green:
D
Deleted member 133
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First off I'm glad it had the desired effect.Botch said:
Secondly: you're most welcome!
Jeff
BrianZ
Active Member
Botch said:
oh yes i almost forgot: i'm a bit of a knife guy. but again, like tv's, it was only out of necessity because we needed new ones and so i did a decent amount of research before buying.
and now i think you need to tell me what all instruments you play, and what sorts of venues. i am almost exclusively rock/pop guitar, but have also dabbled lightly in piano and cello. i've been in bands that play small clubs, but since moving to DC in 2012 the only performing i've done is guitar accompaniment to a friend's puppet shows for kids.
In approximate order:BrianZ said:
Recorder - got one in 2nd grade and was Class Hero for six minutes when I could play the "Hawaii 5-0" theme.
Harmonica - Third grade?
Trombone - Fifth Grade. Played it through college jazz band (highest-chaired non-music major!) Also played in a Chicago-style band (I wrote out all the charts) which gave me the bar bug, and my High School band toured Europe for two weeks!
Hawaiian Guitar - inherited from my Dad
Fiddle - inherited from my Great-Grandmother (was Grandpa's). This was the key to my transition to a bar musician. From open-stage nights with my college roomie on guitar, to two shows for the 2002 Winter Olympics, that thing took me places. I still have total strangers stop me occasionally and ask, "Hey, aren't you that fiddle player??" (the wireless system really helped here)
Mandolin - bought the "old" A-style mandolin from our mandolin player in a bluegrass band for one summer. I accidently destroyed it trying to mount a guitar pickup in it, but about fifteen years ago I bought a really nice "F" style, love playing along with the radio on some nights.
Pedal Steel - Joined a country band in 1984, Ohio, on fiddle, mandolin, harmonica and harmony vox. Bought a beginner's pedal steel (already had the picking and sliding kinda down from my hawaiian guitar, just had to learn the footpedals and knee levers). Played that thing until about 1991. I never mastered it, it's a difficult instrument. Fortunately, you can play a really simple figure, and all the guys at the bar just start weeping in their beers. Hah!
Lap Steel - Tuned like a Hawaiian guitar, but a solidbody electric, no pedals or levers; it was a piece of crap and I never did anything much with it.
Keyboards - started learning by ear on our family's piano, never had lessons; my main axe. I never was near as good as Pauly or Zing, but I could afford them and they're rare compared to guitarists/drummers, so, along with my vocal harmony skills, I was always able to find a gig.
Tenor Sax - When I turned 42 I got an unusually large tax refund. To that point I'd always played "sax" solos on stage with a synthesizer, and it never sounded that good (think All She Wants to do is Dance). Sax is my favorite instrument to listen to, so I thought, "Why not?" Got a new, pro-model sax, and told myself I wouldn't use it on stage until I got to the point of sounding better than a "synth sax" solo. That took two years. But the first time I played the Heart of Rock and Roll solo, in front of a club full of familiar fans who'd never seen me play a real sax, was cool as hell!
Soprano Sax - Got this on a closeout sale, fun to play. Its registered the same as a tenor (fingering a "C" is the same on both, just one octave apart; the other common saxes (alto, bari) play a fifth off from the tenor/soprano, and because I have perfect pitch I'm afraid that would really throw me off).
Whew, got a bit winded there again.