Hello, Just wanted to give you all an update. I had to import the Heresy/Modi stack from the US to my home country (Brazil) and it took around a month for them to arrive. I'm now in the process of comparing the Fiio K5 and my Modi/Heresy set-up.
Headphones tested:
-Focal Clear
-Sundara
-DT 1990
-Audio Technica R70x (recently purchased)
My first impression was that the Magni was "wider" and the bass was more punchy.
Then, I asked my son's help so I could do a "blind test". Guess what, I did not pass the blind test.
My objective conclusion so far is that I CAN HEAR NO DIFFERENCE between these two amps when I'm able to do volume matching properly. I must say Raistlin65 warned me of this, and he was correct. Maybe, just maybe, I could say the bass is more "punchy" on the Magni (I did get this right a couple of times during the blid tests) but that could be just in my head. I need to highlight that I listen mostly to prog metal and bluegrass, so it's possible that the differences could be more obvious in other music genres.
The Magni is more powerfull of course, but the Fiio has more than enough power to drive any of my headphones at a high volume, even the 480 ohms R70x
Just out of curiosity, I asked my son, which is 14 years old, to do the blind test too. My son is not an audiophile by any means, but he has "perfect" hearing due to young age, he can hear up to 20,000 hz. He also couldn't tell the difference between the amps.
Hence, my conclusion for any beginner is: Spend your money on getting the best headphones you can afford based on your sound signature preferences. Then get a decent enough budget dac/amp.
I will continue with the comparisons in the next days and If I discover any significant differences, I will post here.
If anyone has any other input or thoughts about it, I'd be happy to hear
.
Thanks!