I have a question, I have the hifiman he400se and the sensitivity is 91dB and the impedance is 25 ohms and I have heard that they are very difficult to have a very high volume due to their low sensitivity of 91dB.
I want a dac/amp or audio interface that will give me a lot of volume, more than 100%, as I love to listen to some songs with very, very loud volume and excellent sound quality.
Which of these options do you recommend? for my hifiman he400se and it can give me a very high volume with excellent sound quality:
the HiBy FD3 with balanced cable? the iFi Hip-dac2 with balanced cable? the RODE AI-1 usb-c audio interface? the Audient EVO 4 audio interface?, and the Monolith Liquid Spark amp, but just the amp and no dac, and could I use an RCA to 3.5mm cable to connect it to my computer with the Monolith Liquid Spark?
From the options you listed I would recommend to go with the Liquid spark, it is the most powerful of these. Yes, you could use the 3.5mm output of your PC for the moment, later at some point you could get a proper DAC for it.
The xBass of the hip dac could be nice for the 400se but the hip dac is less powerful and weird to use as a desktop device with itās 2 USB input. Using a PC you could EQ anyway, here the higher power of the spark helps too (headroom).
Maybe you can say where are you from and whats your budget so we can give some alternatives like a more powerful schiit magni or a DAC/AMP combo. Perhaps the Topping DX3pro plus (DAC and AMP) is in your budget? Itās like 200 and the hiby you posted is like 175!?.
Overall I wouldnāt worry too much, had the 400se. Didnāt think it was that hard to drive.
Just another to considerā¦I do not have the se but have the Sundara. Big improvement when I went from the Atom to the Asgard 3. More power brought them to life, and smoothed the ocassional sharp top edge down just enough, without any loss of clarity.
It also drives my newer DT 880/600 just fine, even though it is considered a
minimum for that headphone. (note the Asgard 3 price has gone up a bit to $250 without the built in dac, but imo is still a great amp if within oneās budget.
that xDuoo MT-602 amplifier looks quite powerful and very cheap for 99 dollars on Amazon, instead of 3.5mm to RCA I could combine it with a DAC, which dac do you recommend for this amplifier? with a budget of 100 dollars and that is available on Amazon to send to Colombia.
my problem with the Atom JDS Labs is that it is not available on amazon.com, and unfortunately I can only buy from amazon because I live in Latin America, I need one that is available on amazon and can be sent to Colombia and with a budget of 200 dollars maximum.
my problem with the Atom and the Asgard 3 is that they are not available on amazon.com, and unfortunately I can only buy on amazon because I live in Latin America, I need one that is available on amazon and can be sent to Colombia and with a budget of 200 maximum dollars.
I know they are not difficult to handle because I already used them with a fiio k5 pro and they gave a decent volume but as I said in the post I want more power in terms of volume, and my problem with the schiit magni is that they are not available on amazon. com, and unfortunately I can only buy on Amazon because I live in Latin America, I need one that is available on Amazon and can be sent to Colombia and with a maximum budget of 200 dollars.
The Monolith Liquid Spark that you mention if I can buy it because it is available on Amazon for Colombia and its price is 150 dollars, but if I buy it I would only keep 60 dollars maximum to pair a dac with the Liquid Spark, there are some good dac in that $60 budget on Amazon to pair the Liquid Spark?
That means you have the K5 right now or just heard it somewhere?
After ASR measurements the K5 already delivers 1W into 33 Ohm.
So neither the spark nor the MT-602 is going to give you more power. A magni is around 2.4W, so around double. You may know that double the power is 3db more volume and 3 dB volume is not much. Depending on the software you use you maybe can adjust a preamp and see how much 3 dB are.
10db would be double the loudness/volume but +10dB more means 10x the power.
Maybe you can get a smsl SP200 or topping L50. At least that has 3W output. Actually if you want that much more power you have to save up for like an (used?) topping a30pro with 5.5W.
But overall I think you might expect too much of a change in terms of sound by a little bit more power.
If you just find the 400se to sound a little too neutral or bright changing to the MT-602 could help. Itās class A (like the asgard somebody suggested) with tubes for even more warmth. Or you just use EQ.
By the way. If you have the K5 you can use that one as your DAC but I guess you want to sell it to get another amp.
I would second this. Iāve run a MT-602 on my work rig since it came out with mostly planars (HE-5xx and M560) and Iām very happy. Fairly easy to roll tubes, I put old NOS Sylvania 6AK5 in mine. Never have had a problem and used it plenty as a preamp as well.
well there are several things that I want to clarify, when you say the magni, are you talking about the schiit magni heresy or the normal schiit magni 3? because I canāt find the schiit magni 3+ on ebay and neither on amazon. only the magni 3 normal and the heresy magni.
Now before I had the k5 pro ESS and I tried them with my hifiman 400se and they gave good volume but not as loud as I want for some songs and I returned it to amazon, I am not looking for a gigantic volume that hurts my ears, but a volume higher than the k5 pro and they told me that the TOPPING DX3 Pro LDAC gives 13% more volume than the k5 pro but I donāt know if itās true.
So which one would give more volume? DX3 Pro LDAC or the shiit magni?
Now the software I use for my songs is foobar2000 and movies with vcl player but I also see movies on the internet on some pages and videos on youtube,
and also at the moment I donāt have any amplifier or dac, I can increase my budget to 50 dollars more and have a maximum of 250 dollars for what I need, because I donāt want to spend so much money on an amplifier like the Topping A30 Pro that has a price of 349 dollars and then I would have to buy a Dac to combine it, for me it is a lot of money for the sound of the headphones, because I live in Colombia and the dollar has a very expensive price in my country, 349 dollars in my country would be for you like more than 1000 dollars.
now the magni is greater than 3db for me it would not be bad but it is not available on amazon but I can buy the magni on ebay with a virtual locker it would cost me approximately 140 dollars with the shipment to my country.
Well thatās what it would cost me if it were the normal magni 3 or the heresy, but the magni 3+ is not on ebay and amazon, only the magni 3.
And if we suppose that I make the purchase I have 110 dollars left over to buy a dac and combine it, which dac do you recommend that has excellent audio quality to combine it with Magni in that budget of 110 dollars?
I also saw that the āAudient iD4 MKII USB-Cā has a built-in DAC and it works only if you connect it to the desktop with usb-c connected and it gives 1.5A @ 5V and the computer recognizes it as a dac and as the main sound of the headphones and in the specifications of the headphones it has 120dB, and it costs 199 dollars, wouldnāt it work for what I need? and would it even give me more volume?
or do you have any other idea what i can do with 250 dollars? to buy on amazon for shipping to colombia or available on ebay.
I am not talking about a specific Magni model, just whatever Magni you can get.
My problem is just that I donāt know if that is the solution for your problem. The K5 outputs 1W, lets do a quick and roughly calculation.
HE400SE 91dB@1mw
101dB@10mw
111db@100mw
121db@1W (K5 max)
124db@2W (around what the Magni will do)
120dB from the K5 is already kind of deafening levels. Are you sure you donāt have the volume reduced digital somewhere on the PC or foobar?
About the iD4 interface. You mean you want to use it as a DAC/AMP? With those interfaces you have to pay for things you donāt need. As expected the headphone output of the iD4 is very weak, not even 2V output (223mW) at 30 Ohm.
I already understood the calculations.
Well I was looking and looking and the TOPPING DX3 Pro plus is not available on amazon, on amazon there is only the TOPPING DX3 Pro LDAC version.
TOPPING DX3 Pro plus
It is only on ebay but it is brought from China with free international shipping, I am not sure if it is original because it is brought from China or how long the shipment takes.
The Schiit Magni 3 is also not available on amazon, only the Schiit Magni 3 (SCH 07-3) is on ebay and I can bring it and buy it easier because it is located in the United States.
Well, Topping is a chinese company so it will be original. Seller seems to be good too, many and positive ratings. Delivery time should be mentioned on ebay. For me it says between march 17 and april 25. Be aware of import taxes / VAT, donāt know the rules for that in Columbia.
Seems to be non plus version with 2W instead 2.4W, should be okay though.
Understood you could get the heresy and/or Magni 3 on amazon. if you can get the heresy on ebay I would take that one, 2.4W and newer + nicer color.
That is the right one, mini is only in the description because it is quite small.
Or the tempotec to save some bucks and have a portable DAC/AMP for on the go too.
I was wrong āshiit magni heresyā itās only up for auction and only 1 available and itās used and I canāt find a magni heresy to buy right away. I found another Schiit Magni 3 but this one is the magni 3+ or more but itās not new itās used and I canāt find the new magni 3+.
So I donāt know if itās worth buying that product used.
Regarding the Topping, if it is true, it is seen that the seller is sure, but looking at the comments there are several complaints for a return if the product arrives in poor condition and you are right, it does not specify the value of the taxes.
I donāt understand how I could combine the Dac TempoTec Sonata HD PRO with a preamp. I donāt see any RCA output.
My head is going to explode, I donāt know what decision to make or what would be the best option, because I want something with more volume than the fiio k5 pro, at least 3 or 4 dB more.
