[em61234]

Hi everyone! I'm new to the audio community. I just purchased a pair of audio technica ath-m50s and I am very impressed with the sound quality. I was reading reviews for the headphones and people said they performed at its best with an amp. Is this true? I was thinking about getting a portable amp, but im not sure which one will be best with the m50s. Will the m50s improve at all with a portable amp?

P.s I am currently listening to the headphones with my iPhone 5. I also have a iPod touch 4th generation. I mainly listen to top 40 songs, pop, rock, hip-hop, rap, r&b, and alternative.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Not really sure how much an external amp will improve audio quality over iPhone 5's headphone amp.
Guess you could try a Fiio E11 ($60) portable headphone amplifier.
Also the Fiio E07K ($90)or Fiio E17 ($140) come with a DAC (and amp) that you could connect your iPhone 5's lighting port to.
 
Or return the ATH-M50s and buy headphones that are a step up from the ATH-M50s.
(Audio Technica ATH-A900X)

 

[munchzilla]

the DAC in the FiiO products does not work with the lightning connector as it needs too much power from the iPhone.
 
to be honest I don't think the amplifier will improve all that much,  but it will add a lot of bulk. small improvement and really killing a lot of portability.

 

[Frosty3258]

I had the m50 and have the fiio e11, i noticed very very minor change in sound and it was probably placebo at that. I was running from an ipod 4. However if you are doing a lot of at home listening a cheap dac ( under 100) will give very pleasing results. Fiio makes good budget amps but there are better dacs out there. I plugged into a thx certified creative labs dac and even though it is not a good dac it really improved the m50 very noticeably. I don't know the model it sells for 59 on amazon though.i bet you could find a better dac fairly easily around that price.

 

[lin0003]

Quote:

Not really sure how much an external amp will improve audio quality over iPhone 5's headphone amp.
Guess you could try a Fiio E11 ($60) portable headphone amplifier.
Also the Fiio E07K ($90)or Fiio E17 ($140) come with a DAC (and amp) that you could connect your iPhone 5's lighting port to.
 
Or return the ATH-M50s and buy headphones that are a setup from the ATH-M50s.

I agree with returning the ATH-M50s if you have that extra cash. The ATH-AD900 does a lot of things better than the ATH-M50 IMO but it is open and does not isolate sound. 

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

the DAC in the FiiO products does not work with the lightning connector as it needs too much power from the iPhone.
 
to be honest I don't think the amplifier will improve all that much,  but it will add a lot of bulk. small improvement and really killing a lot of portability.

The Fiio E10 draws power from the USB connection, I believe the Fiio E07K and E17 power there own USB port.