Nango
Major Contributor
Mine is on its way ....
High gain always has worse noise performance whether it is due to mains hum or other sources.Is it possible that the worse measured performance on high gain is due to the 60hz grounding issue being amplified?
I guess that makes sense. The other thing I was wondering about was why you didn't test the low gain mode power past 100mW. It should be able to accept more voltage input and the 789 amp used as reference is in fact tested all the way into clipping at all gains.. Unrealistic scenario for portable use I guess?High gain always has worse noise performance whether it is due to mains hum or other sources.
It is unrealistic in any use since it is unlikely that you have an external DAC that outputs more than 2 volts unbalanced. As it is, most phones will likely struggle to get to 1 volt.The other thing I was wondering about was why you didn't test the low gain mode power past 100mW. It should be able to accept more voltage input and the 789 amp used as reference is in fact tested this way. Unrealistic scenario for portable use I guess?
I actually used it with my Geekout 1000's 4V output on several occasions but I get your point. I'm assuming it will flatten out until clipping like the high gain graph doesIt is unrealistic in any use since it is unlikely that you have an external DAC that outputs more than 2 volts unbalanced. As it is, most phones will likely struggle to get to 1 volt.
YesIst the A5 powerful enough for properly driving a Sundara Hifiman with only 35 R ??
It's still technically Fiio's flagship portable amp, but oddly enough it appears to be unavailable on their aliexpress page as well.. Can still find it on US Amazon tho. Perhaps they're getting ready to release a new one soon?
The launch event will be held on Saturday, December 28 in Guangzhou, China, starting from 15:00 Beijing time. This time, we will release "4" new products in total, ...
Ooh, exciting.
High gain always has worse noise performance whether it is due to mains hum or other sources.
You can reach 120db with 400mw with the sundara and the A5 can achieve 600mw. It should be plenty loud. Check your source input.@amirm: You mentioned here you heard at maximum levels severe bass distortion in high Gain mode ...... Was it with all the music you listened to or just with selective tracks? Can you remember this??
The source I am checking my A5 with delivers in SE mode only 1,5V so I need to crank up the volume on A5 to the maximum with the source's output at 90% volume. A5 here drives the Sundara (37R, 94 db/W) only to levels I would call "moderate loud", so not really loud and no way to listen extra loud. But I noticed only one time, maybe two, clear bass distortion while listening to my 10-11 reference tracks, so to me it is dependent from the recordings.
Very decent amp by the way, in real it is much much smaller than I thought. My A5 was offered as "refurbished item" but it seems to me brand new, even the label where you can scratch a code to register the item was intact. They probably sell the last ones before they present a new amp in their upcoming meeting (see above).
This was only with my super inefficient Ether CX headphones. But yes, it was with the bass heavy tracks I use for every headphone test.@amirm: You mentioned here you heard at maximum levels severe bass distortion in high Gain mode ...... Was it with all the music you listened to or just with selective tracks? Can you remember this??