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
Tubes can make a big difference in sound, my two favorites are Mullard M8161 and Voskhod 6ZH1P-EV: first ones has a bit more bright & better soundstage (more "audiophile"), while the latter has a more balanced sound with better mids (more "realistic"). Also, the Mullards required less burn-in and sounded better initially, while the Voskhod don't sound good until a few weeks of burn-in (yes, weeks, 6-8h daily). Sound on both has definitely changed over time, because I didn't liked the Voskhod initially and now I'm starting to prefer them over the Mullard for some genres. Mullards has less background noise & hiss, if that's a big matter for you, but it's not a big deal unless you use very sensitive low-impedance cans.
I'm also considering the opamp rolling, be careful to use an opamp that supports an input voltage of +/- 15V minimum, like the stock one. If you're interested, the stock opamp is a MC33078N, I heard it's crappy and worth replacing. I also read that replacing the caps for better ones (with tighter tolerance, maybe?) can make a huge difference, IDK I'm a bit skeptical but caps are usually cheap & easy to find so maybe it's worth (after warranty expires, obviously). Finally, I can tell the volume pot is crappy (it makes noise if you change volume while playing music loud), and while it's not easy to replace some ppl says that using a better one also improves the sound, somehow. If you wanna go easy, do like me: just put some tubes and you're good to go.
Today I received a 2nd hand Massdrop x Fostex T-X0 planars, and maaan they're a great match with the LD I+. They definitely need some good power, but the LD manages it very well without issues. It's a really cool and easy to mod entry level planar headphone, look for the original Fostex T50RP mkIII if you're interested. Also, the Little Dot II drop came out today, if you're looking for an OTL amp for high-impedance cans (not good for low impedance, for sure).
Speaking of planar headphones, I've been switching back and forth between planars & dynamics this week (Fostex T-X0 & Senn HD6XX) and I can tell planars are like the "next level" in terms of speed & decay, even entry level planars make some instruments sound sooo much better than dynamics twice the price. But my low-cost Fostex can't beat the flagship HD650 in terms of clarity, and the stock tuning is weird, they definitely need some modding and/or EQ to sound "good". I'm attaching a quick EQ I made for the T-X0, they correct some flaws in the tuning and make them sound MUCH MUCH better, It's night and day when you put some equalization on this cans.
I've been thinking about buying some Grados, could you give me a bit of a comparison between your sr80 and sr325? Thanks in advance!
When looking for a replacement pot for the volume knob, look for stereo (2 channel) 100k potentiometers, as small as possible and with 2x3 pin layout. A well-known high quality pot is the ALPS blue velvet, kinda expensive but highly acclaimed as one of the best pots (it might require some tinkering, since it's a bit larger than the stock one, but nothing you can't fix around). Plus, you can always move the pot to another amp, and you can even buy a different knob for improved aesthetics (maybe anodized aluminium? maybe brass? so many options!).
eBay link for the ALPS blue velvet: https://www.ebay.es/itm/Japan-imported-ALPS-RK27-blue-shell-double-volume-potentiometer-10K-50K-100K/132109813004 eBay link for another pot, idk how better it is compared to stock: http://www.ebay.es/itm/DACT-Type-21-Stepped-Attenuator-Potentiometer-100K-for-Amp-Preamp-2A3-300B/191955416256
You can look for other options, there's many people around that has replaced the pot. Also share some impressions when you replace the caps, I'm kinda skeptic about what a difference better caps can make. Good luck!