# Need Help ... Should I get a headphone Amp with V-moda m-100



## Caesar7

I preordered V-moda m-100 .. I want to get the most out of it ... do I need a headphone amp or the m-100 will perform perfectly on a stand-alone basis ... If there is a need ... What kind of amps will fit me ... Am considering Fiio (E6-E7-E11-E17) but I don't have any clue what are the differences between them ... The E17 is too expensive but if it makes a noticeable difference and there is a gab in terms of performance i'll put it on the list ... I will be using the headphones mainly with the iPhone 5 - iPad - Macbook (I Used the iPhone and the iPad most of the time) .. I really appreciate your help and concern ... sorry for being noob but its the first time to think of an amp  .


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## Jerryberry

i have the e5 and e11 and i suggest you get the fiio e11. I dont have the m100 yet but i like the amplification and the bass boost that the e11 has. Much more than the e6 which is the newer version of the e5 ... Btw the e17 has a dac which i believe is more for laptops so if you are just using it mainly as a portable solution then the e11 is the better one to get. For a more detailed discussion you can follow this link
   
  http://www.head-fi.org/t/616536/e7-vs-e11-vs-e17-which-is-the-best-purchase


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## Caesar7

Quote: 





jerryberry said:


> i have the e5 and e11 and i suggest you get the fiio e11. I dont have the m100 yet but i like the amplification and the bass boost that the e11 has. Much more than the e6 which is the newer version of the e5 ... Btw the e17 has a dac which i believe is more for laptops so if you are just using it mainly as a portable solution then the e11 is the better one to get. For a more detailed discussion you can follow this link
> 
> http://www.head-fi.org/t/616536/e7-vs-e11-vs-e17-which-is-the-best-purchase


 
   
  Thanks Jerry that helped me a lot ... I don't thin i'll be using it as a DAC because I believe my macbook has a nice sound card ( Am assuming so) .. you think is it worth it to get these kind of amps with these kind of expensive headphones ... appreciate your help


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## Jerryberry

Quote: 





caesar7 said:


> Thanks Jerry that helped me a lot ... I don't thin i'll be using it as a DAC because I believe my macbook has a nice sound card ( Am assuming so) .. you think is it worth it to get these kind of amps with these kind of expensive headphones ... appreciate your help


 

 Well, it all depends really. My advise is listen to the headphones without an amp and see or rather 'hear' if you are satisfied with what you get unamped. Different amps work to different degrees with different headphones and since i do not have the m100s i do not know its effectiveness. But on the other hand the fiio amps are inexpensive relative to the headphones ard i believe are great value for what it is at that price. I mostly use my amps to get that that extra bass and soundstage and ya know 'oomph' that i cant get otherwise .  Straight out of my mobile phone unamped, its not fantastic for me. I use a sansa clip+ as a source and so adding an amp to it doesnt really make it all that bulky but i guess you have to consider  when adding it to a mobile if thats ur source since its less discrete than just having a phone if ya get what i mean.. Hope that helps in the end you have nothing to loose really given the pricing of the amps ur considering.
   
  Tell me hw it goes if ya do choose to buy it n how it sounds with the m100s ))


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## Caesar7

Quote: 





jerryberry said:


> Well, it all depends really. My advise is listen to the headphones without an amp and see or rather 'hear' if you are satisfied with what you get unamped. Different amps work to different degrees with different headphones and since i do not have the m100s i do not know its effectiveness. But on the other hand the fiio amps are inexpensive relative to the headphones ard i believe are great value for what it is at that price. I mostly use my amps to get that that extra bass and soundstage and ya know 'oomph' that i cant get otherwise .  Straight out of my mobile phone unamped, its not fantastic for me. I use a sansa clip+ as a source and so adding an amp to it doesnt really make it all that bulky but i guess you have to consider  when adding it to a mobile if thats ur source since its less discrete than just having a phone if ya get what i mean.. Hope that helps in the end you have nothing to loose really given the pricing of the amps ur considering.
> 
> Tell me hw it goes if ya do choose to buy it n how it sounds with the m100s ))


 
  thats definitely added up ... you are so true about their prices and I'll give it a try .. do you think an iPod or any mp3 player is going to perform better than the iPhone since its the main thing I use for listening to music ?! ...  i'll get the M-100 in 5 weeks which is too long for me to hold but there is nothing I can do about it ( I hate waiting its my rival actually ) and be sure you are going to be the first one who gets my feed back bro   ... tons of thanks


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## saurabhsood

@Caesar7...how was your experience with M100? Does it sound fantastic with iPhone?


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## DeeToti

Yes it does, out of my iPod 5th generation


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## hahahigh

For what it's worth, the M-100 will sound fine without an amp, but I use the Sony PHA-1 DAC/Amp in conjunction with my M-100 and it sounds noticeably better than from the headphone jack of my iPhone 5, so it definitely does scale with improving equipment!


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## SpiderNhan

You don't NEED an amp. The M-100 performs just fine without it. An amp will add a little more (power? oomph? pizzazz? jazz fingers?) to your music, but it's not a night and day difference. Head-fiers tend to exaggerate the abilities of hardware performance, which may be due how ineffective words can be at describing nuances. Yes, there is a difference, but it's very small. Think of it as watching a movie on a 42-inch, 720p HDTV compared to watching a movie on a 46-inch, 1080p TV.


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## DrSheep

Quote: 





hahahigh said:


> For what it's worth, the M-100 will sound fine without an amp, but I use the Sony PHA-1 DAC/Amp in conjunction with my M-100 and it sounds noticeably better than from the headphone jack of my iPhone 5, so it definitely does scale with improving equipment!


 
  Very true.
  Quote: 





spidernhan said:


> You don't NEED an amp. The M-100 performs just fine without it. An amp will add a little more (power? oomph? pizzazz? jazz fingers?) to your music, but it's not a night and day difference. Head-fiers tend to exaggerate the abilities of hardware performance, which may be due how ineffective words can be at describing nuances. Yes, there is a difference, but it's very small. Think of it as watching a movie on a 42-inch, 720p HDTV compared to watching a movie on a 46-inch, 1080p TV.


 
  This is true too but it a little amping never hurts.  And output impedance of an amp can change the frequency respond of a headphone and make it sound different.


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## MarkVLK

Hey guys,
  
 Kind of reviving this older thread... Sorry if that's frowned upon (I'm a noob here).
  
 Anyway, I think I'm going to finally upgrade from my old JVC HARX700s and order the V-MODA Crossfade M-100 headphones sometime this week or next with the XL memory cushions since I heard those were recommended as well. After reading the posts here, while I understand it isn't necessary, I'd like to do whatever I can to get the best sound quality so I plan on also purchasing an amp.
  
 Two questions:
  
 1. I was looking at the FiiO E11 and the Objective2. Seeing as how the Objective2 costs a bit over double the E11, would any of you that are familiar with both say it's worth the price difference or should I just go with the E11? Portability/mobility isn't important to me, for the record.
  
 2. Right now I have 3.5mm audio running from my desktop's front headphone jack -> Razer gaming keyboard input and then have my headphones plugged into the Razer gaming keyboard output. Once I get the new headphones and amp, would it be better to plug the amp directly into the headphone jack in my motherboard and then plug the headphones straight to the amp, or would it matter if I did desktop front headphone jack -> amp -> keyboard -> headphones OR front headphone jack -> keyboard -> amp -> headphones?


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## SpiderNhan

If you're using an on-board soundcard with your M-100, then I think a DAC/amp, such as an E17, would benefit you more. My old laptop had horrible on-board audio and running that crappy sound into an amp doesn't help it any. All it does is take bad sound and make it louder.

You should give your M-100 a listen through your computer, DAP, phone, etc. and determine if your soundcard is even worth amping.


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## MarkVLK

I'm not exactly clear on what benefit the DAC provides, could you explain? I read a bit about it on Wikipedia and I understand it does digital to analog conversion but does this somehow improve the signal coming out of my mobo's on-board sound card making it sound better on my headphones? If this is the case, would it be better for me to just get a solid sound card for my desktop, or would these two options provide different results?


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## SpiderNhan

Every electronic device that plays audio has a DAC of some sort, which is why I suggested that you listen with your headphones through several different devices to see if you can hear the differences. The DACs that computers use, especially for on-board audio, usually aren't that great and may suffer from noise and distortion generated while the CPU is being accessed. The DACs that are built into Macs and most modern day ultrabooks are decent, and even my Realtek HD on-board audio on my 4 year old desktop PC sounds decent. However, I get more textured bass and impact, clearer treble and a wider sound stage when using my dedicated DACs(E17, Vamp Verza, Aune T1) as well as loads more power, though that extra power isn't necessary with the M-100. 

Basically a DAC operates as an external soundcard. It pulls the information from your music files and decodes them without any input or interference from your PC. I suggest you do some research on them and find the DAC that will best suit your needs. Some brands to look at are Geek Out, Audioquest, Meridian, FiiO, and HRT.


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## MarkVLK

Thanks for the info!
  
 I did some searching and reading about DACs & amps in general and then looked at various products offered by the different manufacturers you mentioned. I'm thinking about going with the FiiO D3 since it seems cheap despite the ability to produce very high quality sound. I looked around and looks like my onboard sound card has a SPDIF out which I believe is what the optical Toslink digital audio cable included with the D3 connects to if I did my reading correctly. So seems like I could do SPDIF out --digital audio cable-> optical in.
  
My question then is what I need between the FiiO D3 and my headphones. The D3 only has two forms of output, RCA and line out. From the reading I did, it seems as though line out ports are unamplified and usually for high-impedance devices which the V-MODA headphones are not. I read that if you plug a headphone cord (e.g. the cord from the M-100 headphones) into a line out jack it may be very quiet or even short circuit something. This makes me think I need an amp between the D3 line out and the headphones themselves, but maybe I'm over thinking this and I can just plug in the headphones directly to the D3 line out.
  
 Can anyone reassure me or point me in the right direction here?
  
 Pending feedback from you more knowledgeable folks, I will decide whether to go with the D3 or not. If I don't choose the D3, I'll probably just get the FiiO E17 and call it a day since that has SPDIF input and 3.5 mm stereo headphone output.


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## SpiderNhan

The D3 is just a DAC and it lacks its own headphone amp. It's actually meant to be paired with powered speakers, so you would have to buy a headphone amp to pair with it. The D3 is not what you're looking for. I think the E17 is your best option if you want to use SPDIF. You'll also have the option of using your E17 as a portable amp so you'll have all bases covered.


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## MarkVLK

So I randomly ended up going with the Objective2 with ODAC combo (combined into one small box)...
  
 It's pricier than what I was expecting to pay (around $240), but after watching multiple video reviews on YouTube and searching through many buyer comments on Amazon and various forums, the O2's seem to provide very hard to match sound quality, and it's nice that they're not solely battery powered (i.e. can be used while plugged in) and all in one small package which means less wires to deal with and less clutter in general.
  
 Seeing as how the FiiO D3 (DAC) is only $25 on Amazon right now and I could have just gotten the O2 amp for around $120-$130, I definitely could've saved some money by purchasing both of those, but it seems like most people's sentiments are that the O2's quality are better than FiiO, and like I said about the whole less clutter thing.
  
 I found a pair of new M-100's on eBay for $210 and grabbed the XL cushions on Amazon for $20 so paid less for the headphones than expected.
  
 Will be sure to update you guys here once I get everything which should hopefully be by end of next week! Thanks again for your help SpiderNhan! I definitely know a lot more now than I did a few days ago.


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## SpiderNhan

I'm glad I could help. Looking forward to your impressions of the O2/ODAC.


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## MarkVLK

Finally got everything in today... This setup sounds absolutely incredible. All parts of the spectrum, just spot on. Incredibly easy to set up as well.
  
 Plug in power to Objective2 ODAC, plug ODAC into USB, plug headphones into ODAC and done. I did however follow the steps here to ensure the ODAC was set to ideal settings in Windows 7 as it was defaulted to the lowest settings.
  
 I primarily listen to EDM and this setup is definitely doing the trick but I'll have to crack open my classic rock collection and see how that sounds and then maybe check out some rap/hip hop and classical music as well just to hear.
  
 Glad I registered on this forum, got some good tips and leads!


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