I am new to the game and need some help.
I want to get the DT770 Pro 250ohm.
And yes i want to use them on the go for my commutes.
I know most people won’t but I don’t mind the looks or long cable. I like the quality of music they produce.
But what I need is a portable Bluetooth amp/dac that I can connect to my phone and drive the cans with.
I had my eyes on the Earstudio ES100. But I am not sure if they can manage to drive the 250ohm version of the DT770s.
Could you let me know if you think the Earstudios ES100 will be fine or if you would suggest another one.
The earstudio might be able to pull it off, but I’m not sure they could fully power the 250 ohms.
Other options will have a price jump though, like the fiio q5 or q5s, ifi xCAN
Something you could consider that wouldn’t be that big of a price jump is a fiio m6. You can use it as a Bluetooth amp/dac and if puts out more power then the es100 unbalanced
There’s some people out there who mod cables btw, can’t remember who but some youtuber has his beyerdynamics modded to have a replacable cable. I would look into someone to do that so that you could get the sound quality of the 250 ohms but witha reasonable to go cable.
So I did a little testing for you and… the ES100 can power the 770 250ohm… but it doesn’t do it very well. You have to have it nearly full tilt and it becomes quite distorted that high. The M6 powered my pair a ton better but I still had to nearly max out volume to get it loud enough (for me) the differences are it didn’t sound nearly as distorted and was a much better listening experience
some things to take into account are I’m running my 770 with alpha pads not stock and they do take more power to get loud over the stock pads since my ear is sitting a lot further from the diver with these, so you could be better off than me. regardless I would go with the M6 over the es100 if you can swing the extra money, not only will you get a more powerful and better dac/amp but also the advantages of a DAP.
If you want to save for a potential endgame portable setup, I would recommend the Fiio Q5s. you would have no trouble driving most things you throw at it and it’s one of the cleanest sounding units I’ve ever used. Bluetooth implementation is especially good.
ES 100 drives my DT 1990s, 770 80 Ohm and 660s with no probs + the 770 250 Ohm should be ok - I listen at lower volumes most of the time
the ES 100 is not the cleanest on (nearly)full tilt,
so if you need something with way over 95db blasting output … look elswhere
the ifi xCAN(analog amp + BT) has plenty of power - but don´t know your budget
love my ifi xDSD but it is even more money
the Fiio Q5s could be interesting for you or maybe get a used Q5
the THX portable DAC/Amp has some juice but no BT
the same for ifi Nano BL
Chord Mojo comes at around 300 used - again no BT
If you are ok with size the xDuoo xd-05 (original or plus model) with the Bluetooth adapter are great. Zeos claims the plus can drive argons portable and I can say from personal experience that the original drives the dt770 easy. It’s is big though and I think the Bluetooth adapter disappeared from Amazon for some reason.
Edit: the xDuoo xd-05 original is in DROP right now for $155