What would be a good portable Dac/Amp to use with my HD6xx and Sony Xperia 1 V cell phone?
I am new to this hobby. I purchased a HD6XX and plan to use it with my Sony Xperia 1 V cell phone, that has a 3.5mm jack. I was wondering if I needed a portable dac/amp or just a portable amp and if so what would one recommend? Any assistance one could provide, would be greatly appreciated. Kind regards, Haz
Mar 7, 2024
I was really not impressed at first. I got them the same week as a pair of Hifiman HE-400s, and those just blow these out of the water (they also cost twice as much, are open, and require a decent bit more power to drive, so it's not really a fair comparison - but it's the one I faced). Since then I've warmed up to them a decent bit, but I don't think they're a great value IF you're just looking for sound quality for the buck and don't care whether it's open or closed. If you don't mind open cans instead I'd pick up HD598 instead for roughly the same price.
The highs are fantastic but can be somewhat sparkly. I found the mids to not be very well-defined and kind of mushy. Bass is fairly weak. Isolation is good but not mindblowing. They are extremely comfortable cans. Everything had kind of a tinny/distorted sound at first but have since opened up a bit and sound more accurate, but still not on the level of my other cans. Build quality is excellent - they feel really solidly constructed.
In short: they're ok. I don't think they live up to the hype that followed them based on the success of the 7XX. I still use them for when I want to listen while traveling in public places and don't feel like IEMs.
Hollow, anemic, tinny...they basically make every song sound like a bad mix.
It's a shame, because they're really well built, classy looking, and pretty comfortable. Noise isolation aside, they just sound like old freebie Walkman headphones. I'd be disappointed even at $50.
Tried a long loudish burn in, just in case that mythical process actually affected these. If it helped at all, it didn't help enough. Maybe I just got a bum pair.
I have some ancient 600 ohm AKG 240s that are intended for accurate mixing and presumably represent the classic AKG sound. They are significantly more "engaging and impactful" than the K553s. I've EQed the hell out of the K553s, and they're suitable enough for my tastes now on EQed sources, but they still don't deliver on the promise of an "expansive soundstage", even considering the caveats for all closed cans. Beyerdynamic DT770s put them to shame in that regard too.
Different strokes and all that. I guess I just wanted to make sure people considered the sparse (but consistent) negative reviews on here, so they weren't as surprised as I was if they find the 553s really disappointing. Especially in a no-returns scenario like Massdrop.