[deonild]

I got my first non-bottom-shelf headhones a year ago. Started wanting better audio quality when noticing the difference between my Samsung S6 and Macbook Pro-
(mid 2012 version). Spent some time here at head-fi and learned to improve my S6 by answering yes to everything in it's "Adapt Sound" equilizing. Sound on Samsung S6 improved closer to the Macbook.

I've improved my audio quality further by upgrading my cans to Soundmagic HP150 this week. Have spent about 10 hours with them the last few days. Much improved instrument searation and some soundstage, I love it! I listen to rock mostly and electronic. The guitar with and without guitar distortion sounds better than I've ever heard before. Voices sound great.

I'm wondering if a portable amp, amp+dac, or music player for $75-$99 would make a big difference vs the Samsung S6. Maybe Fiio Q1(with Hiby player on my S6) or maybe Fiio X1. Or would only a much more expensive dac+amp make a noticeable difference, like Oppo ha-2 I've heard can add a lot of quality but $200 is out of my price range.

Any amp/dac recommendation would need to be portable but size/battery life is not a concern as my commute is only 30 mins with backpack then would plug in at desk. Please let me know if S6 should be fine in comparison, and maybe Fiio Q1/X1 price range products may not make noticable difference for instrument separation/detail/soundstage. I'm listening to flac file format from bandcamp.

Any advice about next headphone exprience upgrade for me is welcome.

 

[deonild]

Bump (first post took time for approval).
 
Basically - do you think I can improve headphone experience much with less then $100 portable dac/amp?  Or would it be more the range of $200 or more for noticeable difference over Samsung S6?
 
Thanks!

 

[HUM24H]

From my personal experience, buying a sub $100 portable dac/amp has generally made the listening experience better. The only exception in my opinion is when you have phones like the LG V10 which comes with an ESS 9018K2M DAC which is the same found in the OPPO HA-2. 
 
Now in the real world only you can really decide if it makes a difference, so really I always recommend either; Demo the dac/amp if you can or purchase the dac/amp from Amazon and then if you don't like it then return it.
 
Alternatively I would also suggest saving up for the HA-2, it is well worth saving up for and will be a great portable dac/amp that will last.

 

[deonild]

That sounds like good advice.  I may save up for something better in the future instead of getting the cheaper range for dac/amp.
 
Thanks

 

[PurpleAngel]

  That sounds like good advice.  I may save up for something better in the future instead of getting the cheaper range for dac/amp.

 
My two cents is to get the FiiO X1 and leave your phone in your pocket (less of a drain on it's battery).
Or save up for the FiiO X3 Gen II
 
The FiiO's can also be used as a line-output device, so you can connect them to other stuff, like a nice desktop hybrid (tube + solid state) headphone amplifier.