oleg87
Senior Member
Keep in mind that while two devices may measure differently, for all practical audio-enjoyment purposes it makes no difference whether a distortion product is down -100db or -120db from the signal - you just not going to hear it, so while the Zen Dac's line out is nothing state of the art in measured performance, it's fine. Going purely off measurements (no idea about user experience/features/reliability/etc), the Topping L30 II is the most powerful and performant amp for your Hifimans out of what you listed, but any of them will work OK, really (if my math is right, you need about 300mW into ~16ohms to reach ~115dB SPL, which is a healthy amount of amp headroom for most purposes).Hi! Wanted ask some advice on amp/DAC for XS.
Two weeks ago an idea came to me that I should get some proper headphones for enjoying the music. No previous experience with HiFi. Went into local HiFi shop and listened for bunch of phones in 300-500 euro range. Finally tried the XS-s. They seemed so big and ugly that I almost decided not to try them. They were so different from the rest. All the others sounded like headphones. But with XS I had a feeling that there are two living rooms hanging by my ears. I was astonished and after long testing session bought them. Wonderful phones, so happy about them.
I also bought the DAC that I used to test the phones - Zen Dac v2. Now, after reading this thread and bunch of others I'm not sure why the shop sold it to me. My understanding is that this amp/DAC is not suitable for XS at all.
My plan is to get new amp and/or DAC. So many options, so I would like to get some advice. I paid 175 euros for Zen, I hope to sell it at small loss and get something better instead. I'm in Europe and would like buy locally for guarantee - this limits the selection little bit. Right now, I'm looking at Fiio K7, Topping L30 II+E30 II and SMSL C200. There is also Topping DX3 Pro+ that is highly regarded, but apparently it has some issues with low impedance headphones. I also thought about getting just an amp for Zen Dac but decided not to go this route. I don't think that it's something special as DAC, it's design will not match the amp and I will end up paying more. I found a page where it was measured, but I'm unable to assess it's qualities as DAC: https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/report/dac/ifi-zen-dac-v2-single.php#gsc.tab=0
Topping L30 II+E30 II and SMSL C200 are reviewed here and got very high marks. Fiio K7 is new, but I did find a page with it's measurements: https://www.l7audiolab.com/f/fiio-k7/ I just learn reading those graphs and understand what values are good. Fiio K7 seems good, but not excellent to me. Seems to be below the others. It's available locally and I can test it - that's why I'm considering it. Visually I like SMSL C200 most. Built-in power supply is also nice.
So, what is your recommendation to me?
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