Forgot to add that there’s dimishing returns, specially once you get over 1w or desktop amps: hiss, high output impendance, etc.
Output impendance sometimes matters more than power itself.
Anyway, I’m still a source memer, folks like @igor0203 and @Godria are the experts. I’m just the iem guy 🤷
ty for the input! 
How do you like the MX3? Do IEMs you own benefit from its power? 
This was a surprise when I’ve read it here and there recently. I’m not a believer when it comes down to any of the snake oils usually. I believe some sets need more power, and it’s obvious acoustical science that tips make a big difference to sound. Cables for comfort.
But I definitely thought different chips had different profiles, from experience. Case in point - a very warm IEM (the globe) when I tried on a player with an AK chip was fatiguingly bassy/warm, it exaggerated what I already felt were poor tuning choices. Definitely brighter on an ESS chip. CS43131 had recognizable properties to me in the DACs/DAPs I heard it in too. I don’t know if that’s the chips themselves or that manufacturers have underlying gates/EQs that happen to be consistent?
Oh and lastly - an NW-A45 I had definitely changed the sound even with no EQ on. It’s the main reason I passed it on. I had expected it to be transparent, I wasn’t listening for tuning differences, they were just apparent to me.
I’m open to it all being in my head, but like I said I went in thinking DACs couldn’t flavor sound, it wasn’t an expectation for me to placebo myself into.
End of the day I’m just an Apple dongle man now. I appreciate more power would help certain sets, but $$ and portability hassles. Anything that has to be charged or turned on is already a pain to my on-the-go listening habits. Even daps are inconvenient for having to be charged, woken from sleep, kept in a different pocket to phone, synced for music separately to phone, etc. etc.
There’s something always appealing to me about DAPs though. Largely aesthetic.
Not a fan, especially the green one. The grey one is fine tho
I like it. Interesting configuration of the drivers, let’s see what the sound will be according to the reviews!
I thought for the longest time that DACs make a difference, but currently are conflicted about what to think.
I had the opportunity to test my midfi(?) DAC+AMP combo with 2 different 1000 Euro Headphone amplifier and couldn’t tell them apart… ergo in my mind there is no difference among AMPs (at least starting at the midfi level).
When listening to my DAC+AMP in comparision with some cheap sources (cheap mp3 players of 10 years ago or older smartphones), the difference was very obvious. Even with easy to drive IEMs. So I thought it must be the DAC, that makes a difference, but I hear from more and more people that claim that DACs make the least impact. I am not sure however about this… I also A/B-ed a Schiit stack vs some Motu interface and they did sound different tonally.
So in my experience there are definitely difference in source, but it’s not clear to me what has the most impact. My experience makes me believe that AMPs have less impact than DACs, which goes against the dominating opinions.
That being said, I think the biggest impact besides the headphones/IEMs is the recording itself. That was also a reason many years ago when I was financially less fortunate than today to not spent a lot of money on hifi, since the improvents were only worth it with 10% of my library, I felt.
Iems and tips, with any source that can power them = all you need.
I get you on the grab and go thing, that’s why I bought W2 as dongle
DAPs for me are convinient, so that why I use them. I still think they are over priced and any source will perform as good or better for the same price.
To me, IEM + tips + flac quality does 98% of the job. I’ll 1% to source memes (amps) and 1% to placebo effect.
Like I said, my ears cant pick up any difference between 2 well implemented dacs, it’s all the same. Only amps make a difference to me, and not enough for turning anything I don’t like into anything im ok with.
I just make sure power is good and OI isnt affecting it, then its just as good as it gets.
Maybe the emphasis is on well implemented. I swear there is a difference between low end (badly implemented) and mid tier dac performance, but I never got to A/B isolated DAC performance, I believe.
Since you brought it up: I did the blind tests and I personally cannot differentiate between flac (16 bit/44 khz or more) and 320kbps mp3.
Good call. I only did it once and got most right, but that might have bedn pure luck tbh. Tbh, it’s almost the same, so don’t worry about it much. Anyone claiming to me they hear differences above flacs, I call it BS.
Edit: Oh and I basicly only worry about it if im critical listening. During work I also use tidal hifi because who cares 
Same with the Quarks. $12 bullet style that need power wtf
HirezMemes…
I usually hear on volume 1 to 2 on xduuo (low gain). On tanya I’ve been on 4-5 -. -
Both Quarks and Tanya have non-detachable cables right? I wonder if it’s the resistance of cheapish cables or the DD…the VR3000 also take a lot of juice, and that’s a single DD + non-detachable cable.
I don’t know, but makes zero sense 🤦
The highest resistances I have seen on a cable is somewhere between 1.0 and 1.5 ohm. That doesnt have THAT big of an effect when it comes to power efficency.
Lets mmcx mod VR3000.
You heard it here first.
Thanks for the info! How much power do you normally use when you’re reviewing IEMs? Or maybe a better question: do most DD IEMs benefit from high power?
I drive them all from the Asgard 3. So 3.5 watts @32ohm. 
I have noticed a difference with most DDs.
not so much with BA iems, with BA iems its more about keeping the OI low.
