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
Dan Clark’s operations are in San Diego. (I imagine it’s gotta be hard to be productive in such a nice place, but Dan has always seemed driven.) We checked in with Dan a couple of times throughout the years about working together and usually he is improving his headphones, developing new models, and keeping up his production. Earlier this year, he said that with enough time to plan he could increase production capability plus he had some ideas for our project. We were a go!
Thrilled to have a couple of prototypes bouncing back and forth (between Dan, ourselves, and a couple of community members) we made some adjustments to the frequency response and subjectively validated the balance of spatial & tonal considerations. Targets are a balanced, open-sounding tonality with a soundstage that has natural sonic size and weight.
Some concepts at work with MrSpeakers: DIY Spirit = Appreciating the people & process of improving headphones with modifications Kaizen = Discipline & Practice of Continuous Improvement Customer Care = Making improvements available to existing customers
Dan comes from the DIY audiophile community, where he originally worked on tuning Fostex T-50RP headphones. Eventually, he set a goal for himself and a new company: offer commercial mods on Fostex T-50RP headphones and save up to launch a whole new headphone line made entirely by MrSpeakers within 3 years.
DIY spirit we give Dan credit for: making upgrades available for existing headphones. When possible, Dan offers new tuning upgrades for purchase and self-installation. When the mod requires more than swapping out easy tuning materials such as foam and felt, he has allowed people to send in their headphones for swapping of updated drivers or baffles at reasonable prices. This speaks to Dan’s ethos of wanting people to have the best sound he can make.
The MrSpeakers line of Fostex T50RP modded headphones: Mad Dog
Closed Back, Open Sound In general, with open-back headphones, pressure doesn’t build up as much in the earcups and reverberations or ringing is minimized. Sound is natural, open, and clear. (Imagine speakers playing in your backyard vs. in your closet.)
However, sound leaks in & out of an open-back headphone. With a closed-back headphone, more care needs to be taken in order to absorb reflections and pressure from a closed system but benefits through isolation from outside noise. If you can pull it off, the ideal for many is the sound of an open-back headphone with the advantages of a closed-back design.
Business is now Open AND Closed No sooner than he successfully launched his Ether Open, I know that Dan started getting requests for a closed version. (I was one of those people.) Luckily he had the chops from all his T50RP modding days and the Ether C (Closed) was created…
Fast-forward another few years and our new Massdrop x MrSpeakers Ether CX contains continued improvement on the original (non-Flow) platform of the Ether C.
Product goals for our flagship closed-back headphone: · Isolating · Accurate · Open-sounding · Resolving · Fast · Clean · Sleek
Personally, I’m stoked about the clean sound these produce, how they feel in the hands/on the head, and I LOVE how they look. Designing and tuning closed back headphones is not for the faint of heart- or people wary of driving towards constant improvement. We’re so happy to be adding these to the exclusive Massdrop Made product line and to have our flagship closed back headphone at last…we hope you enjoy!
However, considering the specification listed here & on Mr. Speaker's website, it appears that it will require a dedicated Amp & that's a BIG Show-Stopper for me. I cannot imagine myself (or anyone for that matter) lugging around with a Dedicated Amp along with a giant headphone & a smartphone while catching a public transportation or on a flight. It's just not practical.
For the record I've tried Mr. Speaker's Aeon Flow Closed, which seemingly has a much forgiving specs for mobile usage, with my iPhone 6S & Oppo BDP-105 headphone jack. I compared them (AFC $800) with Shure SRH1540 ($500), Oppo PM-3 ($400), & Sony MDR-7506 ($100) with several different types of music. To me and my classically trained daughters' surprise (both vocal & flute), the only headphone that sounded 20-30% better than the Sony MDR-7506 was the SRH1540! The others were either similar & not even worth mentioning inspite of price difference & advancement in technology.
That being said, the Ether CX might sound better than the AFC. However due to need for a dedicated Amp at work or while traveling, it is definitely not for me. Though it would be an interesting comparison of Ether CX against AFC & Massdrop Fostex TR-X00 Ebony ($520) !!!
Of course sound preference is ultimately very subjective, and probably why there are so many options out there!
However, I did compare with Oppo BDP-105 which has a reference quality DAC & Headphone Amp. I wasn't impressed either.