i think you could just keep using your ek10 with a pre-amp before it. that will give you the ability to go to 5 or 6 or 7 or whatever on your ek10
The e10k only has a micro usb in, so I can’t hook up a pre-amp.
if you decide to get a heresy, and its by all accounts a great amp, the e10k can be used as the dac for it. you would not need a pre-amp at that point as the e10k would work as the pre-amp along with dac.
yeah i just saw that, sorry you are right. but it will work as a pre-amp and dac for a heresy.
edit: it has a 3.5mm out on back. they make single 3.5mm to dual 3.5mm cables you can use to connect it to another amp.
haha told you I am no expert, just a hobbyist like yourself. The main thing to consider moving forward is headphones. If you think you are mostly an IEM guy and really do not see yourself getting headphones as a whole, I would go with the dragonquest or something similar. If you think one day headphones may be your thing, then go for the heresy. the dragonquest has a nice dac built into it, but your e10k has a dac as well(though more basic). Do you typically listen to mp3’s or lossless? If you listen to mp3’s mostly, better then entry level dac’s are kinda useless as you wont hear the difference.
So moving forward: what type of format and whether or not you think you might get into headphones one day. the dragonquest rides the strugglebuss powering most headphones that are not designed specifically for portability and efficiency. But all IEM’s are designed for just that.
I actually don’t know. I tried a couple of headphones a while back but they were all uncomfortable. I wear glasses and I have eczema around the ears, so I’m kinda turned off headphones at the moment. I do plan to get some speakers (probably edifier r1700bt) and possibly some harder to drive IEMs at some point (P1s maybe). So I don’t really know where I will go from here.
I listen to Spotify, I tried Qobuz and Tidal and I don’t know if it’s me or the equipment I listen with (probably the first) but I barely hear a difference, nowhere near enough to spend twice as much.
I really hope to get into headphones when I get the magic cure for this f*cking eczema.
right on, i get it. have you tried on ear headphones as apposed to over ear? something like the 1 more triple drivers. Also monoprice reto + brainwaves xxl. The pads are so huge and squishy, they might work well with glasses. My Wife uses my coolermaster m751’s with her glasses and loves them and has no issues. The m751’s are very very very light weight. They win mine and a lot of peoples vote for the most comfortable headphones on the planet. And don’t let the fact that the headphones are “gaming” cans deter you, they are a takstar 82 clone with a mic. takstar 82’s being studio headphones.
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oh and on a side note, tidal wont last much longer. the fins? i think are sueing them and will win. turns out jay-z is a scam artist and was lying about how many plays certain artists were getting in order to pay them more then others. 30000+ artists have already pulled their music since the story broke this month.
Those M751’s I’ve seen recommended before, I was planning to have a look at them in due time. First I want Moondrop Starfield’s, an amp and speakers I think. As on ear headphones I use the Koss PP and KSC75. I tried one or two in the shop, but the pressed my ear into the legs of the glasses.
The reason I’m hesitant to get into headphones atm is that where I live it’s kinda hard to get a lot of stuff, and I need to make sure I can return them if needed. I was looking at the Sivga SV006, which I have to buy from Germany, so I’m not sure how easy it would be returning them if something’s wrong. However Amazon did come to my country finally, and though they don’t have much yet there is some hope, they do sell the Moondrop for instance, something I wouldn’t be able to buy anywhere in the Netherlands previously.
Big yikes. I only tried the free trial, just as I’m doing for Qobuz now. I just don’t hear that much difference…
it depends a lot on the recording as well. 3 kids playing to bad mics in their garage is going to sound like that no matter how much bandwidth you give it. and i have not heard the e10k, but dac quality can also effect the quality of playback. not all dacs will sound much better with better recordings. but typically its your amp and speakers(or headphones/iem’s) that make a bigger difference in my personal experience. mostly the speakers anymore. a lot of dacs and amps in certain price points sound the same or very close to it. especially in the budget realm. you get more diversity from the end of the chain then the beginning parts of the chain in the budget realm IMO.
Back to your original post:
So now I’m wondering: what determines whether there is background noise (hisses and stuff) and what are the properties of the AMP and headphone that determine how far you can turn the volume control before going deaf.
Things that affect or contribute to noise, vol control would be several. Lots of good stuff on the web if you know where to look.
The amp takes in a signal, hopefully a clean signal and amplifies it and sends it out to a “load” or your transducers, in this case headphones.
The amp is designed to work with a certain “load” attached to it…so for maximum power transfer this should be matched well…most amps provide power over a wide variety of loads or impedances.
Some amps are designed to work with either low or high impedance headphones. Some amp are more broadly designed tp work with both hi and low “Z” headphones due to circuitry in the design sometimes refered to as “gain” or “gain settings”…many ways to do this.
The other important thing is how easy or hard is it to actually get your headphone drivers to reproduce sound at a level you can hear…usually this is called “sensitivity”.
So with these in mind…the more sensitve your heardhones are and the higher gain you use the more likely your going to hear some hiss or noise (from the actual circuit comppnents)…
Most amps power output vary as the impedance changes. Usually less power at higher impedances. Hence more of a chance to hear hiss or noise with low impedance stuff IEMS. etc and because many of these devices are sensitive…your stuck at the low end of the volume pot…and in the area of channel imbalance…good or bad…there are ways to attenuate this…
Schitt’s Magni 3, 3+ and Hearsey use a logrithmic pot to get around this vol pot issue and some people think the amp is low on power because they have to turn the pot much further than they are used to.
BH Crack has the same issue and its not a high powered amp…they use attenuation resistors to move the vol pot travel from the low end…
Then there is the actual design specs, SNR etc…
But if you get a good mainstream amp that will work across hi and low Z cans, most modern designs SS do this fairly well you should have a good experience.
Suggest you go here and do some reading as well:
This guy brought the O2 on the scene…good or bad…but much of his stuff / theory still relates to what matters and what doesnt…and the debate will never end!!
Alex
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Fair enough. I guess for now my priorities are:
- Moondrop Starfield
- AMP (probably Heresy)
- DAC or Speakers
- Headphones
- Streaming service
Thanks 
Great detailed answer, thanks!
That’s basically what the Ear Buddy does too right? It really helps against hiss and clicks. Maybe I should’ve gotten the IEMatch, which has an Output Impedance of <1 Ohm in stead of < 2.7 Ohms of the Ear Buddy.
I’m going to give that link a read.
The most important stuff for a good experience IMO
is and has been:
- Your transducer, headphone, speakers etc
- Source material…using well recorded and well mastered material…ripped bit perfect tunes from CD’s etc.
- DAC/AMP…
The Schiit Hersey is a very good low cost amp…great choice IMO. Yes their are many others but this is well made, great design uses some of the best op amps and has plenty of power for lo or hi Z cans or devices.
The streaming services that offer bit perfect material that matches what you can get from a CD in a player is key…some streaming services dont have the high res that IMO is really needed. Many opinions.
I do not use any services, I buy cd’s rip into FLACS so I know I am getting at least what was laser etched into the CD originally…good or bad…no 320mp3/4’s…just dont go there.
Take the some time to learn and understand and you will enjoy the pastime much more than not really understanding these relationships…
All the best
Alex
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Yes I really just love having my own libary for many reasons, one of which is picking out my favorite masters or releases of cd’s, and knowing I got everything off that disk. The downside is having lots of milk crates full of cd’s in the basement lol
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Ha!
I remember when I started the ripping of hundreds and hundreds of CD’s…Lots of fun!
At least those CD’s are in your possession and accessible at any time…
Waiting on a vendor to produce a really good transport and interface that will be “better” than ripping and flacs???
Sitting on the fence here…lets see what happens…
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If you do them overtime that is lol, I guarantee I would not want to do it all in one go lol.
Yes, can’t be removed nor changed, and no drm garbage either
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Unfortunately I do not have a basement, or any spare room whatsoever. My dad, who has a pretty good taste in music, has a box or two full of CDs that I plan to rip at some point. Though now would be the perfect time to do so, I have no idea where I would keep the box in my tiny-ass apartment.
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