[Jaxz416]

Inspired by this thread I went and bought the Andromeda 2020 - was initially weirded out by the far from neutral presentation but they eventually won me over. They survived a recent IEM cull that saw me sell Monarch MK2 and U12t, which says a lot.
Spotted an Ara for sale at a good price the other day and went for it - looking forward to the shootout between these two IEMs.

Question - these are notoriously sensitive IEMs, what in people's opinion / experience is the best portable DAC/amp to drive them with the lowest noise floor (no DAPs as I use my phone as a source)?

Not the biggest source guy but the Apple dongle is honestly really solid sonically. Drawbacks are that it isn't durable and it only supports audio up to 24/48. I personally use the ALO Pilot. And/Or you could always get something like the iEMatch and that opens up your source possibilities.

 

[NebelHexen]

Inspired by this thread I went and bought the Andromeda 2020 - was initially weirded out by the far from neutral presentation but they eventually won me over. They survived a recent IEM cull that saw me sell Monarch MK2 and U12t, which says a lot.
Spotted an Ara for sale at a good price the other day and went for it - looking forward to the shootout between these two IEMs.

Question - these are notoriously sensitive IEMs, what in people's opinion / experience is the best portable DAC/amp to drive them with the lowest noise floor (no DAPs as I use my phone as a source)?

I have not tried the Ando 2020, I have alot of hours on my Ara.
Un eq'ed
Initially it was ok /slightly fatiguing. Highs were a bit to shrill.

It broke in to a very effective studio monitor. It is pretty level as far as i can tell. Everyhthing is broken down and technical but in a musical way.

Male vocals are in-arguably altered and sound more tenor, but not unbearable.
Bass is really technical Its there, as much as any BA physical and it very much gives you the beats your hearing.

Weird note- Ara KILLS for cello. Check out some Nicholas Yee and Rushad Eggleston.

working on a small write up my self. I prefer titanium on my skin to aluminum - there is some link to alshiemers and aluminum. Even if that is not the case, I prefer the cold spaciness of Titanium.

I am testing Symbio Foam eartips with it tonight at work, will report back. They ship fast. I tend to prefer foams but let me know what you like.

Source I run mine off the Dethonray Prelude 1+. Unfortunately only 3.5mm - you can run the ara as high as you want, and will not hear hiss. It is a very technical smooth monitor set up. Not sure you can get closer to analogue than the 1+, but I am going to test the Xeulin clear soon. I am very excited.
I dont really care for cell phones.

 

[OhmsClaw]

Not the biggest source guy but the Apple dongle is honestly really solid sonically. Drawbacks are that it isn't durable and it only supports audio up to 24/48. I personally use the ALO Pilot. And/Or you could always get something like the iEMatch and that opens up your source possibilities.

qudelix 5k for 3.5mm. Fiio BTR7 is really great for 4.4 and 3.5m. Both can be USBC tethered for USB DAC modes. BTR7 provides 1.0 UAC driverless and USB 2.0 with drivers.

I use the Mojo 2 when I can't be bothered to fire up my desktop system or on flights and in bed. The above I use for Discord/Gaming (party chat)/Gym

Edit: Sorry Jax! I meant to reply to @Derivative I will add, I'm not a fan of IEMatch. presenting a ~10Ohm OI to a sub 5Ohm unit

 

[NebelHexen]

I would say that the Ara's greatest strength and weakness is that it does everything extremely well. If everything is happening, frequency wise, at the same time nothing will stand out. Listening to a beat with bass and tweeters or an orchestra, the Ara just scientifically and very matter of factually states " the bass did this while the treble did this and here was the mid range freq, boss". That is, the song went "beep boop bop bing beep."

now when you listen to instrument solo, the Ara takes you on a wild ride through the bands of balanced armature. You will begin to feel the shift from each interval into the next. It really is quite beautiful. It will take a cello in one instance and a violin the next, it will do both at the same time, but if you start to fill in between - add an octave mandolin, and a trumpet, and a flute, it goes back to processing with the brain power it has, or you have actually.

 

[MgMGM]

Inspired by this thread I went and bought the Andromeda 2020 - was initially weirded out by the far from neutral presentation but they eventually won me over. They survived a recent IEM cull that saw me sell Monarch MK2 and U12t, which says a lot.
Spotted an Ara for sale at a good price the other day and went for it - looking forward to the shootout between these two IEMs.

Question - these are notoriously sensitive IEMs, what in people's opinion / experience is the best portable DAC/amp to drive them with the lowest noise floor (no DAPs as I use my phone as a source)?

My 2pence worth..............Chord Mojo2. Hands down. Outrages bargain at £400 in UK.

 

[MgMGM]

My 2pence worth..............Chord Mojo2. Hands down. Bargain at £400 in UK.

Sorry mate, jumped the gun there. I see you have one already!!!!!