Its entry level for portable dac/amps lol.
(FIY; it is the amp that is making the difference not the DAC.)
Yeah, I haven’t really looked into it yet and you can tell how very little I know about the dac/amps side of it hahaha.
I see I see. So DAC are like DAPs but stationary yeah? AMPs are for power outputs?
DAC is the Digital-to-analog part. It just translates the digital (0/1) into an analog signal.
The Amp is the hardware that feeds your iems the power it needs to function.
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Ah got it! I used to think they’re one of the same or something like that.
In a dongle or a portable dac/amp. They are both included in it. But desktop stuff can also have them separated. Like the Topping E10 (DAC) and the Topping L30 (AMP).
Oh I think I get it now. So for example, the Sony A55 can’t handle a power driven Headphones, I’ll get an AMP for it for more juice.
That is right. You can get an AMP only in which case you need a lineout cable (so you use the dac in the A55 and the amp in the separate amp). OR you can get a portable dac/amp (like your Q3) and connect it with usb so your A55 is only a battery and music file source.
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Yup I did! I even put it on ‘Plus’ mode! I installed it ever since he released FEv2!
Oh ok good, because before that all only the battery life was good and the rest was really shit. Not worthy of a Sony player imo.
Speaking on AMP/DACs, Fiio just announced a new one - The E10K - Type C
It has no battery, RIP.
but yea once you go into the rabbit hole you end up broke, doesnt matter Iem/Dap/Amp/Headphones
Doesnt seem to be anything special in todays market tbh…
(left = E10K, right = E10K-TC)
Even the E1DA stuff are more powerful than this desktop amp/dac…
Yeah, doesn’t seem good at all… not sure what Fiio is doing btw
That’s interesting. I didn’t expect to learn something tonight. Thank you so much for taking the time to explain this to me. Really appreciate it.
As a strictly IEM user, I don’t think it’s necessary for me to get any of those more expensive dac/amp yeah? Unless it is obviously a clear upgrade path like how I went from the A55 to the Q3.
that thing output is worse than my budget TOPPING amp from 4 years ago 
I still managed to keep myself together! Only current goal is the Variations!
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Depends on what iem you are using. But I would definitely not get an amp in the same price as your iems.
The Q3 has a decent output power.
But the OI is ridiculously high…Fortunately with a single DD like the FD5, that shouldnt affect it much. But hybrids or multi-BA and you will see FR changes due to that.
Example on that would be this.
Only a difference of 0.31 ohm and you can still see a change in the treble.
Ideally, you want something as close to 0 as possible, desktop amps are usually around 0.1 ohm. portable stuff at worst are usually at 2 (very rare) and most are usually closer to 0.5-1.0 ohm.
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That sure does tend to take things into considerations. I remembered with my A55, I had to increase the volume a tad more on my late Starfield (72/120) compared to the FH3 and FD5 which sits around (60-63). Was that due to OI of these iems and how they need the power to drive?
I remembered some folks at headfi telling me hybrids are easier to drive compared to single DD and obviously multi-BA.
Weird, because specs wise the starfield should be clearly less-power-hungry than the FD5.
The OI has basically nothing to do with the volume itself though. High OI means that it will likely hiss more on sensitive stuff and also have FR changes.
You cant really generalize it like that…
Yes, if we are comparing a DD+BA hybrid vs single DD, then usually the hybrid will be less power hungry. But hybrids can have so many different driver combinations that it is just not right to generalize it like that. (like say, a DD + Planar hybrid, will definitely a ton more power hungry than a single DD.)
BA/multi-BA iems are the ones that are the most sensitive (Aka, the least power hungry and the ones that will have FR changes with different resistances and also possible hiss risk at high resistances (total resistance = cable resistance + amp (ouput impedance) resistance). So what you heard here is completely wrong.
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