# Good amp for DT990 Pro 250ohm?



## bjgrenke

I'm looking for an amp for my Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro 250ohms. My budget is about 150, don't mind stretching that a bit. All I have for DAC is the onboard sound from my computer, so it'd be nice to get an amp/dac in one. I've been looking at the Fiio E17 or the E7/E9 combo, but other suggestions are appreciated. I'd like it to be at least semi-portable so I can use it with my phone the odd time.


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## PurpleAngel

Quote: 





bjgrenke said:


> I'm looking for an amp for my Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro 250ohms. My budget is about 150, don't mind stretching that a bit. All I have for DAC is the onboard sound from my computer, so it'd be nice to get an amp/dac in one. I've been looking at the Fiio E17 or the E7/E9 combo, but other suggestions are appreciated. I'd like it to be at least semi-portable so I can use it with my phone the odd time.


 
  Fiio E11 worked fine with my DT990 Pro 250-Ohm.
   
  DAC Destroyer (USB/DAC) $50 on eBay, got mine for $49 as no one bid against me.


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## bjgrenke

Man everyone at other forum sites are telling me that an e17 alone will be just enough to power them. Another thing that came to mind is getting an O2 amp, the road getting an e7 as a dac or the o2 dac when its released. Overkill or no?


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## proton007

Quote: 





bjgrenke said:


> Man everyone at other forum sites are telling me that an e17 alone will be just enough to power them. Another thing that came to mind is getting an O2 amp, the road getting an e7 as a dac or the o2 dac when its released. Overkill or no?


 


  The e17 is among the cheaper amp/dac combo options, so a lot of people recommend it.
  O2 is not a bad amp either, but its ~150 only for the amp, and good value for the price.


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## stv014

Quote: 





bjgrenke said:


> Another thing that came to mind is getting an O2 amp, the road getting an e7 as a dac or the o2 dac when its released.


 

 The E7 is not the best choice as a DAC only, since as a portable it can only be used as an amplifier, and the E10 as a DAC (and also amplifier) is both better and cheaper. In fact, the E10 may even be enough without an external amplifier, since its power output into high impedance headphones is about 80% of that of the E11, which actually translates to a difference of only 1 dB.


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## bjgrenke

Quote: 





stv014 said:


> The E7 is not the best choice as a DAC only, since as a portable it can only be used as an amplifier, and the E10 as a DAC (and also amplifier) is both better and cheaper. In fact, the E10 may even be enough without an external amplifier, since its power output into high impedance headphones is about 80% of that of the E11, which actually translates to a difference of only 1 dB.


 


  Is it worth it to get the e17 over the e10?


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## Deltaechoe

Yes it is, the E17 does sound a bit better IMO than the E10


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## bjgrenke

deltaechoe said:


> Yes it is, the E17 does sound a bit better IMO than the E10




I'll probably just get that then instead of getting a seperate amp and dac. Just to confirm, the e17 will drive my DT990s to the fullest?


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## proton007

Now that the ODAC has been released, you might want to take a look at JDS Labs for an O2/ODAC combo.


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## bjgrenke

Saw that and it made me go with the O2. I'll get the O2 Amp now then the DAC when it's released. Can't wait long enough for there to be a bundle


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## Papander

I'm just guessing but wont that O2/ODAC combo cost quite a bit more than the E17. ODAC seems to cost 99$ + O2 costing 156$ = 255$
   
  And if I understood correctly the ODAC is not in any casing, so few bucks for that too.


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## stv014

Quote: 





papander said:


> I'm just guessing but wont that O2/ODAC combo cost quite a bit more than the E17. ODAC seems to cost 99$ + O2 costing 156$ = 255$
> 
> And if I understood correctly the ODAC is not in any casing, so few bucks for that too.


 
   
  The ODAC is designed to be built into the O2 (at the expense of losing the option of battery powered operation), so a case is not necessary for it, but some DIY work is needed to install it. However, spending more than the price of the headphones may indeed be an overkill.


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## proton007

Quote: 





papander said:


> I'm just guessing but wont that O2/ODAC combo cost quite a bit more than the E17. ODAC seems to cost 99$ + O2 costing 156$ = 255$
> 
> And if I understood correctly the ODAC is not in any casing, so few bucks for that too.


 
   
  Yeah it costs a bit, I built mine, cost me ~$100 in components alone for the O2. Not to mention the cost of soldering equipment. 
  I'm not sure how the E17 can sell at 250 with an amp and dac. Maybe its the production volume.
  And I plan to buy the ODAC in its own enclosure. Easier to use it with a different amp if you want later.


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## stv014

Quote: 





proton007 said:


> I'm not sure how the E17 can sell at 250 with an amp and dac. Maybe its the production volume.


 
   
  The E17 actually costs about $140-$150, for $250 one could also get an E9. But large production volume and Chinese manufacturing do help keeping the prices down. This is also true of commonly used sound cards.


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## bjgrenke

Quote: 





papander said:


> I'm just guessing but wont that O2/ODAC combo cost quite a bit more than the E17. ODAC seems to cost 99$ + O2 costing 156$ = 255$
> 
> And if I understood correctly the ODAC is not in any casing, so few bucks for that too.


 
   
   
   
  Quote: 





proton007 said:


> Yeah it costs a bit, I built mine, cost me ~$100 in components alone for the O2. Not to mention the cost of soldering equipment.
> I'm not sure how the E17 can sell at 250 with an amp and dac. Maybe its the production volume.
> And I plan to buy the ODAC in its own enclosure. Easier to use it with a different amp if you want later.


 
   
   
   
  Quote: 





stv014 said:


> The E17 actually costs about $140-$150, for $250 one could also get an E9. But large production volume and Chinese manufacturing do help keeping the prices down. This is also true of commonly used sound cards.


 
   
  This is all true, just the O2 amp will cost $150 and the dac will cost another $100 tops, where as an E17 will only be $150 and thats the amp/dac. However people are telling me that the E17 wont be able to drive my 990s? I can't imagine it not being able to. If it will be able to I'd much rather have that. More portable and nicer looking. Also transparency isn't all that important to me, I wouldn't mind having a bit of bass boost from the E17.


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## Bill-P

I have a DT990 Pro, and the Fiio E11, the E17's equivalence of an amp. The E11 seriously struggles to keep DT990 distortion-free, and jacking up bass would be a death-flag.
   
  I'm resorting to double-amping E11 -> O2 because the O2 adds enough power to remove the distortion but it doesn't have a bass boost. Other than that, I wouldn't plug the DT990 Pro directly into the E11, nor would I drive the DT990 with just the O2. Something about the O2 feels very lacking.


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## bjgrenke

Quote: 





bill-p said:


> I have a DT990 Pro, and the Fiio E11, the E17's equivalence of an amp. The E11 seriously struggles to keep DT990 distortion-free, and jacking up bass would be a death-flag.
> 
> I'm resorting to double-amping E11 -> O2 because the O2 adds enough power to remove the distortion but it doesn't have a bass boost. Other than that, I wouldn't plug the DT990 Pro directly into the E11, nor would I drive the DT990 with just the O2. Something about the O2 feels very lacking.


 
   
  Wow, didn't know it'd be this hard to drive 250ohm headphones 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 What do you guys recommend then? I find it ridiculous that not even the O2 can drive these.


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## PurpleAngel

Quote: 





bill-p said:


> I have a DT990 Pro, and the Fiio E11, the E17's equivalence of an amp. The E11 seriously struggles to keep DT990 distortion-free, and jacking up bass would be a death-flag.
> I'm resorting to double-amping E11 -> O2 because the O2 adds enough power to remove the distortion but it doesn't have a bass boost. Other than that, I wouldn't plug the DT990 Pro directly into the E11, nor would I drive the DT990 with just the O2. Something about the O2 feels very lacking.


 
  On the Fiio E11, did you remove the battery and switch to the high power setting?


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## PurpleAngel

Quote: 





bjgrenke said:


> Quote:
> 
> 
> bill-p said:
> ...


 
  First I've ever heard of the O2 (Objective 2) headphone amplifier not working well with 250-Ohhm headphone.


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## bjgrenke

Quote: 





purpleangel said:


> On the Fiio E11, did you remove the battery and switch to the high power setting?


 
  Could be something like that, since I've heard from multiple people with the E17 + 990 Pros saying it works great.
   
   
  Quote: 





purpleangel said:


> First I've ever heard of the O2 (Objective 2) headphone amplifier not working well with 250-Ohhm headphone.
> Now I have heard on the O2 that the rechargeable batteries provide slightly less voltage then the regular batteries.
> Not sure if that makes a difference in this case.


 
  I assume you meant never, and neither have I. If I get the O2 I'll be using it mostly on wall power anyways. What I want to know now is, is the O2 Amp on my integrated DAC better than the E17 which is an amp/dac combo? Better as in the ability to drive my DT990 Pro's 250ohm.


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## PurpleAngel

Quote: 





bjgrenke said:


> Quote:
> 
> 
> purpleangel said:
> ...


 
   
  First off never mind what i said about the the rechargeables verses regular batteries,I got the O2 mixed up with the cmoys with twin batteries issues.
  I'm sure the DAC on the E17 is better then the one built into the motherboard.
   
  Amp wise.
  You can get low cost single tube headphone amplifier off eBay, starting at $50.
  Better ones start at around $75, ships from China, takes 10 days
  The Indeed Mk2 (or G2) single tube seems like one of the better ones.


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## bjgrenke

Quote: 





purpleangel said:


> First off never mind what i said about the the rechargeables verses regular batteries,I got the O2 mixed up with the cmoys with twin batteries issues.
> I'm sure the DAC on the E17 is better then the one built into the motherboard.
> 
> Amp wise.
> ...


 
   
  So what are you saying I do then? Get the E17 plus one of those tube amps? Or no


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## PurpleAngel

Quote: 





bjgrenke said:


> Quote:
> 
> 
> purpleangel said:
> ...


 
  Get the tube amplifier $75 and a DD (DAC Destroyer, USB/DAC) $50.
  So for $125 you get a headphone amplifier (with the DD) that can easily power up to 600-Ohm headphones.
  The tube amplifier will output more voltage then the E17 and voltage is what you need for high Ohm headphones.
  You would also need a Digital multi-meter (DT830, $7) to do fine adjustment and balance the right and left voltage channels.
  This setup is for someone who like to tinker a little.
  I'm just talking about one option for you.


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## bjgrenke

Quote: 





purpleangel said:


> Get the tube amplifier $75 and a DD (DAC Destroyer, USB/DAC) $50.
> So for $125 you get a headphone amplifier (with the DD) that can easily power up to 600-Ohm headphones.
> The tube amplifier will output more voltage then the E17 and voltage is what you need for high Ohm headphones.
> You would also need a Digital multi-meter (DT830, $7) to do fine adjustment and balance the right and left voltage channels.
> ...


 
   
  Ehh, as you can probably tell I'm new to this stuff and I don't really want to get into the 'tinkering' type of stuff for my first set up. Would it be a bad idea to get an e17 for now then dock it on an e9 if I find I still need more voltage? Either way I'm going to see what JDS labs will have to offer with an O2 Amp + Dac combo. If the price is right I might snag one of those instead.


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## Bill-P

Quote: 





purpleangel said:


> On the Fiio E11, did you remove the battery and switch to the high power setting?


 
   
  Yes. That didn't help much, if at all.
   
  Quote: 





purpleangel said:


> First I've ever heard of the O2 (Objective 2) headphone amplifier not working well with 250-Ohhm headphone.


 
   
  Well, it does, but for adding bass, it's not the best option.
   

   Quote: 





bjgrenke said:


> Ehh, as you can probably tell I'm new to this stuff and I don't really want to get into the 'tinkering' type of stuff for my first set up. Would it be a bad idea to get an e17 for now then dock it on an e9 if I find I still need more voltage? Either way I'm going to see what JDS labs will have to offer with an O2 Amp + Dac combo. If the price is right I might snag one of those instead.





   

  I think Fiio E17 + E9 is a actually quite a good combo. The E9 is quite capable the last time I tested it.


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## bjgrenke

> Well, it does, but for adding bass, it's not the best option.


 
  I understand that, and after listening to my headphones more extensively I realized that I probably won't need more bass, especially if I have an amp. There's always EQ if I need it.
   
   
   


> I think Fiio E17 + E9 is a actually quite a good combo. The E9 is quite capable the last time I tested it.


 
  That's good. I'll wait and see what JDS Labs has to offer for an O2 Amp/DAC combo.


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## BGRoberts

I've found the E17 to be good with my new D990/250's, which only have maybe 10 hours on them.  I've also hooked them to the O2, and really liked that combo.
  At this moment, I'm running them from laptop>E17 (with line out adapter)>Bravo single tube amp. 
  Diana Krall has only sounded better when I saw her live.


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## stv014

Quote: 





bjgrenke said:


> Ehh, as you can probably tell I'm new to this stuff and I don't really want to get into the 'tinkering' type of stuff for my first set up. Would it be a bad idea to get an e17 for now then dock it on an e9 if I find I still need more voltage? Either way I'm going to see what JDS labs will have to offer with an O2 Amp + Dac combo.


 
   
  The E17 alone could very well be fine. Especially if you do not use any bass boost, which does increase the voltage requirement significantly.


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## Bill-P

Quote: 





bjgrenke said:


> I understand that, and after listening to my headphones more extensively I realized that I probably won't need more bass, especially if I have an amp. There's always EQ if I need it.
> 
> That's good. I'll wait and see what JDS Labs has to offer for an O2 Amp/DAC combo.


 
   
  EQ doesn't give quite the same "kind" of bass boost that amp does. That's why some people still prefer using amps for boosting bass even though there are software EQs galore.


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## stv014

Quote: 





bill-p said:


> EQ doesn't give quite the same "kind" of bass boost that amp does.


 
   
  The bass boost of the E11 is basically also an (analog) EQ. Its frequency response graph is available at the site that is not allowed to be linked here, and it can be reproduced with a software parametric equalizer without major difficulty. Although the hardware boost of course has the advantage of being easy to use, and being applied to everything, rather than just music in a single player. However, it looks like the OP finds the bass quantity of the DT990 Pro (which is not lacking by any means) fine as it is.


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## mikeaj

If you just want to see what the E11 bass boost does, that's something RMAA is okay for.  See here:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/552605/fiio-e11-the-initial-impression-final-thought


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## bjgrenke

Thanks guys. As for bass boost it's not something all that important, but that graph from the e11 looks awesome. I'll probably be getting the E17


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## georgelai57

I just bought the DT880 250 Ohms today. It's my first relatively high impedance headphones and my Fiio E11 and Zo 2.3 are not quite enough since I need to put them at around 80% to have my music on loud. The same with my desktop Audioengine D1. Guess I'll have to go shopping for a more powerful amp.


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## BlueInfinity

_Flip me this is stressing me out im looking for a fairly cheap decent desktop amp so the e17 although not expensive is to much for me i would pay something like 70pounds or less nothing more maybe even 50 or less if possible _
  
_sorry im a nobcake._


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## oUlash

Hello everyone i have a question. Recently brought myself a DT 990 pro so far i am enjoying it but am not sure if i am using it fullest. I have ASUS G750JZ gaming laptop and one of its features is having onboard headphone amp. My question is does ASUS G750JZ's headphone amp any good? Do i need an external headphone amp? As you can already imagine i am prety clueless about this stuff and english is not my native language so sory for any inconvenience.


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## Hollen

Any thoughts on using a 50w@4ohm B&O icepower module with 250ohm headphones?
Sorry if this is OT..


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## Oberom

Hey everyone !

I am wondering: do you think the amp on the Maximus Hero VIII motherboard can drive these headphones ? Asus' website says it can drive 32-600 ohms headsets. Is it true or just marketing ? I'd like to avoid buying an external amp but if I need to to be able to fully enjoy the DT990 pro, then ...

Thanks !


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## RipGroove

Old thread I know, sorry. But, I've just bought some DT990 Pro's 250ohm and a Fiio A3 AMP, but it's still pretty quiet and if I make it any louder the bass just distorts?! I guess the Fiio A3 is not good enough? 

What cheap ish AMP do I need? I just want something simple to drive the headphones.


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## RipGroove

Will this do it? 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/JDSLABS-Objective2-Black-NwAvGuy-Headphone/dp/B00E0DMCO0


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## Oscar-HiFi

RipGroove said:


> Will this do it?
> 
> https://www.amazon.co.uk/JDSLABS-Objective2-Black-NwAvGuy-Headphone/dp/B00E0DMCO0



Yes that will definitely power the DT990 pro easily


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## RipGroove

Well I ordered a Schiit Magni 2, hopefully that'll do it!


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## julien-hifi

Hello guys,

Just my humble contribution, i use an IFI nano, and it performs well with my dt 990 pro 250ohms. 
I sometimes go up to 75% on volume for the most low volume track. Otherwisem around 50%...

Cheers


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## Phishin Phool

I am not certain if this thread still gets any love but I was wondering if anybody had any opinions on the Fiio Q2 or Q3 for use with 250 ohm Dt990 pro .


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## Julius Decimus (Jan 19, 2021)

Phishin Phool said:


> I am not certain if this thread still gets any love but I was wondering if anybody had any opinions on the Fiio Q2 or Q3 for use with 250 ohm Dt990 pro .


If you already have DAC or digital audio player of some kind, meybe better look for separated amplifier only.
Like Fiio A5 if you want from Fiio. If it's available still.
You want the device to have like minimum 400mW per 32 ohms if you listen without equalizer and effects. If with, then min. 550-600mW (that's per 32 ohms again, as manufacturers usually post info for a 32 ohms power output) and above you need for a 250+ohms headphones.
If you find info for output power at 300ohms, look for above 120-150mW. 90-100 might be OK as super minimum.

Any device or amp will work really, its just that sometimes happens so that you buy something and then be like: aha, my phone is almost as loud as this. So for this not to happen and amplifier to be amplifier like it should be (or DAC/Amp you see mostly these days), don't look for underpowered devices is my advice.


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## Phishin Phool (Jan 19, 2021)

Julius Decimus said:


> If you already have DAC or digital audio player of some kind, meybe better look for separated amplifier only.
> Like Fiio A5 if you want from Fiio. If it's available still.
> You want the device to have like minimum 400mW per 32 ohms if you listen without equalizer and effects. If with, then min. 550-600mW (that's per 32 ohms again, as manufacturers usually post info for a 32 ohms power output) and above you need for a 250+ohms headphones.
> If you find info for output power at 300ohms, look for above 120-150mW. 90-100 might be OK as super minimum.
> ...


I have plenty of Desktop Dac's and amps (Woo Audio Fireflies, Garage17 Project Sunrise, Schiit Modi 3, Music Hall 25.3 along with my electrostat set-up) I am looking for a combined DAC/AMP for portable with my phone that is fairly inexpensive. I liked the old  Fiio portable dac amp I used to have (got stolen with my HD600's a while back). I think it was an E17 so I was thinking on getting a Q2 or Q3 as the price is reasonable but wasn't certain how capable the amp was with 250 ohm cans.


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## Julius Decimus (Jan 20, 2021)

Fiio Q3 needs to be used with its balanced output for full power (even so, this is just weak power output, for iems might be good though). Your headphones DT990 Pro are not with detachable cable for you to change it, have to mod them. Dont know if its worth it. At least so i see things.

It has good DAC however, the Q3.

There are xDuoo dac/amps that might do well with 250 ohms, but lately not a very good review appeared for a channel imbalance, so i dont know what to think. You can check them out.

There is Ifi hip dac as well at this price range. But similar to the Fiio needs balanced for these headphones i think. Check their products as well meybe.


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