Hi all,
I recently bought the Hifiman HE-400SE open back planar magnetic headphones and am trying to decide for a portable amp/dac for them. They are 91db/mW and 25 ohms and I have read recommendation at many places that planars do well with more power.
Currently I have shortlisted Ifi Hip DAC and the Xduoo XD-05 Plus and am a bit confused between them. I listen to pop, jazz, classical, vocals (and not too fond of rock, edm etc) - want bass to be present and good but not overpowering. Will prefer wide/deep soundstage and good imaging.
Ifi Hip DAC :
Pros :
- Almost every review mentions that it sounds good
- Similarly, the XBass is appreciated for them
- Is small and light (though this is not a major consideration for me - I am okay with larger, but portable option too.
- Has balanced 4.4mm headphone out (400mW@16 Ohms) - but nit sure if it truly matters if I get more power on the XD-05 Plus with its single ended output.
Cons :
- Only USB input & headphone output - no Aux in, line out etc and hence cannot act as pure DAC or pure Amp for future upgradation etc.
- Limited power - would it give enough headroom for now and future headphones…?
- Battery life is said to be quite low - between 4.5 to 6 hours
For Xduoo XD-05 Plus:
- 1000mw@32 ohms which I feel will be enough to drive the Hifiman as well as harder to drive headphones for future
- Has all types of inputs (aux, coaxial, optical) as well as line out and hence very versatile! Can even be connected to a bluetooth module (either via aux in, or Xduoo’s own via coaxial)
- Good battery life of about 13h in USB mode, even more in other modes!
- Review mention that it is even good enough to be used as a desktop unit
- Replaceable op-amps - for future upgradation. But to be honest, I will likely listen to the one it comes with for a long while
Cons:
- Had only single ended output though with more power from ifi’s balanced so not sure if it really is a con!
- Definately bigger and bulkier, but as I said, I do not mind that much.
- I have not heard/read too many reviews about its sound so not sure if it is better than Ifi hip or better/worse!
- Some reviews mention it does not have as wide a soundstage but it is not clear what is it compared with - e.g. as compared to the ifi, will it have equal/better soundstage ?
- May not be ideal for very high sensitivity headphones, but I do not use them much and I think one can always get something like IEMatch from Ifi to increase the effective impedance
Any suggestions or inputs are welcome to help me decide between the two! Or if I am missing out any other good portable amp/dac within about USD 220 ?