Beginning the Headphone Hi-fi Eutopia

Equipment / Electronics / Gear / Accessories Headphone Amps
21

Fiio Q5 with the THX AAA module is also an option, if you really want the AAA technology.

2 Likes
22

The Q5s is the newer q5 and has some upgrades, but idk what the differences are

23

TBH at that budget and portable also the ifi micro bl comes to mind.

24

Pretty overkill for a 58x, but is a good amp for very power hungry headphones

25

I agree. But when the budget is there there is no harm in getting a great setup that can last for the next couple of Cans.

26

Fiio Q5s now has LDAC BT Codec and
the 4.4mm out is new
The DAC is less warmish with the new Chip
Line out mode is still unbalanced
So I would prefer my ifi xDSD with the THX 789 for example.
But the ifi nano BL is a good alternative:

  • mobile
  • mqa support
  • iematch build in
  • 3.5TRRS balanced hf out
  • ifi support
2 Likes
27

Well I would feel at the price of the q5s the ifi equivalent would be the xdsd. But I would say if you want a cleaner and more balanced sound + a bit more power, the fiio is the better choice

28

Hey Brian_Coffelt you wanna buy my Topping D10 and Aune x7s sell it $200.00 + shipping? Got all original packaging. That let purchase another set of cans like the phantoms. and be able to use balanced headphone cable. I’m about to put it on ebay soon so figure I’d ask.

29

with which amp module?

if I would have to decide now, I maybe would also go for the Q5s because of LDAC and the propriatary 3,5 TRRS on the xDSD - the cost for adapters and third party custom cables … fiddling around
but on the other hand - I don´t want to miss mqa support

30

interesting comparison

31

I’m pretty sure that stock q5 was more powerful then the xdsd when I was still looking around

1 Like
32

possible - the question is always what hf one would drive on the go with such a unit

the xCAN is another (cheaper at around 300)nice solution with beeing a simple analog (single ended and balanced) amp + BT module with way more power, if needed.

another point for the Q5/s is the integrated buttons for play/pause/next song - this makes so mutch more sense using it instead of a DAP. The ifi products can mute sound - that is all

33

The Q5 also has built in eq and filter changing with the fiio app that then applies to the unit, so you don’t need the app to be running and you can have your eq always set

34

another good point - I know this Fiio app from our Fiio BTR3 - but prefer our ES 100 - so my wife has the BTR3. Have to check out the Fiio App! - thank you

35

I personally don’t eq so this doesn’t really interest me, but I do think it’s a neat feature

36

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am still on the fence about what to get for a desktop setup. However I did get myself a iFi Nano BL. So this definitely covers my “portable” requirement. still waiting for my headphones to be delivered. now i am trying to make Spotify work over usb audio out with the iFi Nano BL…

37

Well that’s great, hope you get it working with no problems :+1:

1 Like