if you are getting your amp maxed out with the Ananda … there are a few IEMS harder to drive than this lighweight champ
Are you serious?.. according to the specs they should be really easy to drive. It’s even marketed as being sensitive and easy to drive. Should be easier to drive than the Elex by a noticeable degree.
i think it may be the size of the driver. idk. it needed a lot of volume for me. has anyone tried to run argons on these? or a similar hard to run driver?
No, I don’t think so… It’s got a sensitivity of 103db. That’s pretty sensitive, especially at 25 ohms. I would check your chain to see if something funky is going on.
Could be that the Ananda and larger hifiman suffer from noticable driver compression at higher volumes. Also the Ananda is a bit harder to drive than the elex, as it’s a bit more taxing on the amp
ah, i see. okay. According to the specs they have the same sensitivity rating, but Elex has a higher impedance. I would think the Elex is harder to drive.
It’s more that the elex will sound better off of a phone than the Ananda would, they are less amp picky per se
I run my volume on low gain at about 10 o’clock for m1570 and elex. This is what I would say sounds very loud to me.
People are different though. Had a friend try my setup and he was running full volume. I could clearly hear it from across the room…
I am in exact the same boat, also own the fx audio and thats all I know. Like the way you described it
1 Like
Yeah, I guess some people really do blast it… lol
Much like others have noted, there seems to be a lack of increase in volume past the 14-15 o’clock mark on the SP200, at least on low gain. Not sure why. A friend that bought his ahead of mine, from a different seller too, has the same “issue” on his unit.
I’m running my SU-8 at around 25-27 and then I have the SP200 at around 11-12 for my HD700. The LCD-2 Closed-Back almost never go past 11 and that’s the only phones aside from the T60RP that I need to run on high gain. It’s not like I can’t reach the same level of volume on low gain, but the LCD-2 CB become almost shrill sounding and lacks that extra bit of oompfh. So high gain it is, and they sound glorious at that.
Fantastic unit and a great combo with the SU-8. I haven’t done any cross-testing against my Harmony Design DA9, but I can’t stand the clicking relay in that unit now that I’ve swapped to the SU-8. It’s just quiet and delivers audible bliss to my ears.
The SP200 is also the first amp that I have that can drive my IEM’s without any static noise whatsoever. The BL-03 sound amazing on it. It’s kind of silly how much rumble a pair of IEM’s can make you feel. It’s the first time I’ve ever considered EQ’ing something to have less base. Not that I will though, I enjoy the sound tremendously, but on some tracks it really is too much. I’ve never been happier with my LCD-2 CB’s though. True audio nirvana for me. I can’t wait till I get my set of Hart Audio Cables to try out with my different headphones and this amp.
1 Like
Got one of these coming in the mail along with a Topping D10. Been reading and getting mixed opinions regarding the amp’s ability to reveal the shortcomings of cheap-ish DACs. Has anyone tried it out with the D10 and compared it with higher end DACs? Debating on sending the D10 back for something else, if it is necessary.
it does. I had a schiit modi, a grace designs balanced dac and a cheap 30$ dayton audio dac. Modi was ok but too much treble. the grace was too warm and i didnt like the way it sounded on certain songs. and the Dayton was just low fidelity. not very good at all.
But when i got my SU8 it was a big step up from what i had before. sounded great. so i think its very revealing for DACs
I think the d10 is just fine imo. I think that if you are on the edge just stick with that
Ok sweet thanks for the feedback. D10 seems to have a great rep even for its price so I was leaning towards the D10 being fine.
Oluv posted a video comparing Dac/Amps, one thing he mentioned was there being an issue when turning up the volume on the SP200. I think he may be on to something. I can notice the same issue as well when turning up the amp.
Oluv’s Gadgets - Which headphone DAC/Amp ‘sounds’ best?
What he found was that when you turn the volume knob up, you will here a sound imbalance moving from left to right until at some point it does center itself. A bit strange… He though the unit was defective and said he returned the first one but found the same issue on the second one he received.
1 Like
Oluv and amps don’t mix lol, I would be weary about what he has to say regarding headphone amps
1 Like
I wasn’t more speaking to that point his opinion on Dac/Amps, only to the point about what he found with the SP200 amp. Which I was also able to reproduce on my end as well. Just thought I would share in case others may of found the same issue.
I personally don’t have the issue of channel imbalance on mine… but there is likely manufacturing variation with the channel imbalance. I believe ASR did some testing of a retail unit some time later after their review and found some variation with that one area.
On what gain do you run the Sendi’s on the SP200? And more or less at what volume for decent listening volume