Amp/dac for 4xx

Headphones Headphone Discussion / Help
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Hi everyone, I’m new to this audio quality world. I bought the He4xx after looking into all the reviews and recommendations but realized I need a proper amp/dac to get the full potential. Anyone have any suggestions for something around $130? Appreciate any advice for the future as well.

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I think if you wanted an all in one unit, the fiio k5 pro would work really well and be very close to your price range

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Agree with @M0N. The Atom is a fantastic budget amp (actually it’s a fantastic amp period) but you would need a DAC and that’s going to go way over your budget. The K5Pro can be had around 150USD right now and will give you enough power to drive the 4xx and most likely your next headphone.

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Who knows, it might go on sale for Black Friday or cyber Monday as well

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Thanks for the advice. I’ll keep an eye out for deals. Also, what do you guys about the Fiio K3? I saw some praise for it and it fits my price range, but the k5pro seems better. Not sure if it’s worth the savings.

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I think the extra 50 bucks for the k5 pro is a fair bit better. You get a much better quality amp and a bit better quality dac. The K3 is good, but for the 4xx you will definitely notice the benefits of the more power and higher quality amplification of the k5 pro

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I own the e10k which is slightly noticable louder than the k3 just enough power to make my 990 loud and sometime my 4xx can really use up more power than my 990 . I dont have the e10k on hand right now to test it but but I will say they really benefit from power

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Are there any portable dac/amp combos that can properly drive 4xx? This will likely be my main pair of headphones for a while so I would like to have something to use with my phone too.

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I think so, what price range are you looking at? I think something like the xduoo xd05 or xd05 plus would be pretty nice imo. They should be fine off of something like a fiio q1 mk2, but I would suggest getting some cheaper balanced cables if you wanted to take full advantage of the q1 mk2

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Preferably I would like to keep it close to around $100, but if there is a noticeable difference for an extra $20-$40 I wouldn’t mind pushing the budget. The Fiio q1 mk2 and xduoo xdo5seems to match my price range, would you say its worth the extra 50 for the xdo5? Or will better cables make up the difference?

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I think the xd05 would be the better option imo. It should have plenty of power for the 4xx without changing the cables

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Great, thanks for the advice. I’ll keep an out for deals. Hope you guys have a good holiday.

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Hey, hope you’re having a happy holiday. Was hoping to get your opinion, it seems the xdo5 aren’t on sale this holiday, I was wondering if you would recommend opting for the q1 mk2 instead? Also what kind of balancing cables would you recommend of you did?

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You too man :+1:

The q1 mk2 is pretty nice, and when running in balanced it should work just fine for the 4xx

Here is a cheaper cable that would work with the balanced output
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WMPNFS8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_DOs4DbR4EF7HW