(Update below)
For the past 5 days or so, I've been listening to my most recent acquisition (the DT-770) un-amped because I'm far away for home and I was waiting on my new Schiit to arrive. These cans are considered to be easy to drive, but they sounded flat directly trough my PC. The bass had no punch, the soundstage was rather poor and I had the volume maxed-out all the time. They were decent, but I missed my home set-up. The post-man came by this morning with my new Fulla. I plugged that (surprisingly) small dongle in, changed the audio-settings on my PC and started to search for a song to put them to the test.
I bought the DT-770 to listen to hip-hop mainly since its bass had a good reputation, so I wanted to put it to the test with Run the Jewel, by RTJ. I hit play and just five seconds later I had this stupid grin on my face; I knew I spent my money wisely. There was the bass I was looking for, the detailed sound I came to be used to with my home setup and the soundstage I was looking for with good cans. I could finally push the sound to the level I wanted to with this small, smooth and precise knob (I can't go over half power without bleeding from my ears).
I'll make a direct comparaison in a near future, but, from memory, I'd say that this small dongle puts my Matrix Cube to shame as an amp DAC combo; the Matrix cube sounds rather shy as an amp and doesn't have a lot of power even if it is plugged in the wall and had a way bigger footprint. It is hard for me to compare both purely as a DAC because I can't use the Fulla with the same amp; the DAC section of the Fulla seems to be really good tough, the sound is very detailed and instrument separation is great.
The amp section does its job very well IMHO, it drives the DT-770 with authority at any volume level, it gives the bass good impact, pushes the mids a bit (which is great with these cans) and overall it brightens up the sound a bit (which is not always a bad thing, but when there's a lot of treble on a track, it becomes annoying). The sound with the DT-770+Fulla is kind of "in your face" when compared to my HD-650+M-Stage, it's a nice change for me and fares well with most of the music I listen to (most classical music sounds way better on my home setup tough).
So if you are looking for a solid upgrade from your PC sound card without having to cough up 250$+: this is it. If you have a good pair of headphones and never spent money on an amp, I can almost guarantee that this amp will put a stupid grin on your face too.
When I came here about 5 years ago and ended up buying my first set of hi-fi cans (HD-650) I ended up buying a budget amp (PA2V2) for 50$ to drive them before I decided on a decent DAC/Amp (Matrix Cube) and later for a separate amp (Matrix M-Stage). I had to wait for the M-Stage to finally be really happy with the sound my headphones produces. It only took this 80ish$ dongle to make me happy about my most recent purchase. Looking back, I wish the Schiit Fulla was out then, because today buying a Cmoy amp or something alike seems like a really bad decision when you can get the Fulla for that kind of money.
Update: I finally made a side by side comparaison with my home system (HD-650, Matrix Cube + M-Stage v2) and I'm still extremely happy with my purchase (also after more than 100 hours of listening with the Beyer 770); the difference is hard to tell honestly, the Fulla is certainly powerfull enough for the HD-650, it does sound brighter than the matrix setup and pushes the bass a bit (it has less impact at the same volume tough). The sound seems to be just as detailed if not more. The matrix set-up sounds warmer and less "clinical", it is less fatiguing and overall a bit more pleaseant to listen to for classical music and Jazz, it is also more flexible than the Fulla since it can take different sources and adapt another amp; but sound-wise only, the Fulla offers wayyyy more bang for the buck, I think it even delivers a better performance for pop and rap music. In a blind test I'm not sure I could tell the two appart if the tunes don't have a lot of treble...
*This is a first impression review based on only a few hours of listening and only one set of cans was used with this device (DT-770 80ohm), I'll update it when I can try it with my other headphones (Pro 900 and HD-650). Also, I'm no hi-fi connaisseur, I don't have any experience with really high-end DAC or Amps, I'm not so tech-savy either so I don't really understand the hardware behind amps and DACS. This is just a review by someone on a budget who enjoys music a lot. English isn't my first language and this is my first review here, I'm open to constructive criticism.*
For the past 5 days or so, I've been listening to my most recent acquisition (the DT-770) un-amped because I'm far away for home and I was waiting on my new Schiit to arrive. These cans are considered to be easy to drive, but they sounded flat directly trough my PC. The bass had no punch, the soundstage was rather poor and I had the volume maxed-out all the time. They were decent, but I missed my home set-up. The post-man came by this morning with my new Fulla. I plugged that (surprisingly) small dongle in, changed the audio-settings on my PC and started to search for a song to put them to the test.
I bought the DT-770 to listen to hip-hop mainly since its bass had a good reputation, so I wanted to put it to the test with Run the Jewel, by RTJ. I hit play and just five seconds later I had this stupid grin on my face; I knew I spent my money wisely. There was the bass I was looking for, the detailed sound I came to be used to with my home setup and the soundstage I was looking for with good cans. I could finally push the sound to the level I wanted to with this small, smooth and precise knob (I can't go over half power without bleeding from my ears).
I'll make a direct comparaison in a near future, but, from memory, I'd say that this small dongle puts my Matrix Cube to shame as an amp DAC combo; the Matrix cube sounds rather shy as an amp and doesn't have a lot of power even if it is plugged in the wall and had a way bigger footprint. It is hard for me to compare both purely as a DAC because I can't use the Fulla with the same amp; the DAC section of the Fulla seems to be really good tough, the sound is very detailed and instrument separation is great.
The amp section does its job very well IMHO, it drives the DT-770 with authority at any volume level, it gives the bass good impact, pushes the mids a bit (which is great with these cans) and overall it brightens up the sound a bit (which is not always a bad thing, but when there's a lot of treble on a track, it becomes annoying). The sound with the DT-770+Fulla is kind of "in your face" when compared to my HD-650+M-Stage, it's a nice change for me and fares well with most of the music I listen to (most classical music sounds way better on my home setup tough).
So if you are looking for a solid upgrade from your PC sound card without having to cough up 250$+: this is it. If you have a good pair of headphones and never spent money on an amp, I can almost guarantee that this amp will put a stupid grin on your face too.
When I came here about 5 years ago and ended up buying my first set of hi-fi cans (HD-650) I ended up buying a budget amp (PA2V2) for 50$ to drive them before I decided on a decent DAC/Amp (Matrix Cube) and later for a separate amp (Matrix M-Stage). I had to wait for the M-Stage to finally be really happy with the sound my headphones produces. It only took this 80ish$ dongle to make me happy about my most recent purchase. Looking back, I wish the Schiit Fulla was out then, because today buying a Cmoy amp or something alike seems like a really bad decision when you can get the Fulla for that kind of money.
Update: I finally made a side by side comparaison with my home system (HD-650, Matrix Cube + M-Stage v2) and I'm still extremely happy with my purchase (also after more than 100 hours of listening with the Beyer 770); the difference is hard to tell honestly, the Fulla is certainly powerfull enough for the HD-650, it does sound brighter than the matrix setup and pushes the bass a bit (it has less impact at the same volume tough). The sound seems to be just as detailed if not more. The matrix set-up sounds warmer and less "clinical", it is less fatiguing and overall a bit more pleaseant to listen to for classical music and Jazz, it is also more flexible than the Fulla since it can take different sources and adapt another amp; but sound-wise only, the Fulla offers wayyyy more bang for the buck, I think it even delivers a better performance for pop and rap music. In a blind test I'm not sure I could tell the two appart if the tunes don't have a lot of treble...
*This is a first impression review based on only a few hours of listening and only one set of cans was used with this device (DT-770 80ohm), I'll update it when I can try it with my other headphones (Pro 900 and HD-650). Also, I'm no hi-fi connaisseur, I don't have any experience with really high-end DAC or Amps, I'm not so tech-savy either so I don't really understand the hardware behind amps and DACS. This is just a review by someone on a budget who enjoys music a lot. English isn't my first language and this is my first review here, I'm open to constructive criticism.*
