UGH! This is a nightmare for those of us who don’t understand the inner-workings of the electrical components of an amp. I don’t understand what is good for this or bad for that. We have to just take the recommendations of those who do.
The E1DA 9038S Gen 3 seems like really good dongle.
I prefer a DAP over dongles though and especially since they have the 4,4mm balanced port.
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If you’re going for a DAP…
QP1R or 2R go around $300-$600 used, and there’s a bunch on the market after the QPM launch.
QP1R literally opened up portable stuff for me. I now have to really choose between my desktop setup and my portable, since the Final B3s + QP1R sound so damn nice together.
However, I think the QP1R tends for a more natural sound. Idk how that’d effect the speed of an iem if at all.
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That is damn expensive!
Again if your iems are cheaper than your other components you arent spending your money that wisely.
I also really like my qp2r for something very organic sounding, although a tad slower at times, and the noise floor with sensitive iems is something you want to pick up an ie match with, but other than that a really great player for something simple that sounds excellent if you wanted something more slightly warmer and smoother toned
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:/// I’d disagree a bit.
I’d rather have starfields and a qp1r than b3s and a shanling q1… (I own all of the above)
you get much more improvement in SQ if you spend the majority of your money on the iem.
I don’t think that’s a universal rule. Maybe at extremes, but there are DAPs that make a huge difference and iems that are phenomenal. Pairing is everything imo.
I would recommend something like the Hiby R5, Ibasso DX160 or the Fiio M11.
They also have android so you have access to neutron player which has a great PEQ.
As you already know, I listen to both headphones and IEMs. I’m a design director for a big design firm. I’m also a musician and have been interested in and writing recording/mixing & mastering music since I was a teenager. So enjoying music while I’m working all day is really important to me.
I’m not someone listening to music on the go. I’m at my desk for hours on end everyday. So I really don’t need a DAP since all of my sources are in FLAC on my computer. I don’t stream music.
So if there’s something great that would work with hard to drive headphones and IEMs, that would be ideal.
My main concern is if I should be using something different than my THX AAA 789 because of the impedance issues you spoke about? I run IEMs at low gain on the 789, but if I shouldn’t be running IEMs off the 789 at all, I’d like to know what I should be using instead.
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So a lot of the higher end DAPs double as usb dacs. I use my QP1R as a usb dac for my work laptop with my elegias. So much more convenient with the work laptop than a static desk setup. Sounds pretty amazing as well, even in comparison to the monsters I have on my shelf.
The QP2R should be able to drive stuff up to 300 ohms pretty well. I don’t have anything over that so I can’t comment.
There are definitely more powerful DAPs out there as well that have more features. Though they might cost you a pretty penny.
Generally I would agree until you get into the higher end, when you are dealing with more totl iems I might argue that just pick a totl you like and then really go ham on your source gear and be rewarded, but for the most part if you are in the sub 1k range for iems I might suggest trying something higher end iem wise before going to the 1k range for source gear
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Exactly. Spending that much money on any other component and then a 0-200 range iem is just plain stupidity.
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Yea. At the extremes. In the sub $500 category I would say $100-200 iems + $300 DAP is better than $100-200 DAP and $300 iems, but I think that might be personal preference. I also don’t have super wide experience.
I wouldn’t dream of spending more than a 1000 on source gear and less than a thousand on the iem lol. That I can get behind (as I have my Graces on the way. HERE BY TUESDAY HYPEEEE).
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I mean if you really are after a do it all and wanted something warmer sounding with a shit ton of features, the ifi pro ican is a great pick if you don’t mind trading a tad of sound quality and refinement for excellent features and functionality, works well with both iems and headphones imo
If you were to go for something that can do both headphones and iems and wanted a more clean neutral and resolving sound the hugo 2 is an easy rec imo (and is “technically” portable if you want it to be)
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So with the thx you really don’t have to worry about impedance issues, but personally I can’t say the thx amps are really something I would consider sounding good for their price. I don’t think you shouldn’t be running iems off the thx, it’s actually pretty solid for that, but I do think there is much more to be had with a higher end amp (if you have the iems to justify it, I do think you have the headphones to justify it)
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I actually had my eye on this a while ago. Thanks for the rec M0N!
It’s pretty great as a dac and amp, honestly pretty nice if you aren’t after something super colored or warmer
lol! Got it. I wasn’t in the market to replace my main desktop stuff at the moment, and it’s good to know I’m not hurting my IEMs with the 789. You’ve given me something to think about though. It’s always nice to have that next step in place to move up to when ready. 
Thanks!
Regarding amps again, if I want something really really speedy and also something really neutral and accurate I really like the eddie current studio tribute and with the right dac it can have so much control with some iems on there. The only iems I didn’t like on it was the spearphone sb7 and the rai penta. In terms of a slower amp that really shifted everything slower but still sounded good would most likely be the fostex hpv8, so thick and juicy that just mellowed everything out and helped with organicness. Going back to the realm of portables, something like the hugo 2 was very quick and had lots of control compared to the slower and slightly thicker ifi micro black label that was a bit smoothed over as well (in a nice way), but all of these pretty much preformed pretty excellent with iems. But all of them besides the hugo and ifi are not reasonable for iems lol. A dap I have really liked recently was the cayin n6ii for the sound and flexibility, you can swap out the dac and the amp using little motherboard cards, it’s really cool and sounds pretty awesome for the price tbh, I like the e02 for neutral, clean, yet sweet and the t01 for warmer and smoother sound
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