Humble Noob seeks advice about impedance mismatch (Aune X1S)

Hi everyone, I'm new here....and pretty new to the world of Hi Fi too (as my username suggests). You might wonder what a Humble Noob like me is doing here, sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the sound scientists and techies. Well, I signed up to Head Fi not long ago, and I seem to have received some bad and costly advice there (it's my own fault really- I was there for about 10 seconds before getting aboard the hype train and shouting "choo choo" as loudly as anyone else). Anyway, I'm hoping to get some better advice here and to be slowly educated out of my utter ignorance, so please do bear with me!

One of my first questions on Head Fi was which DAC / amp I should buy for my current headphones (a Philips A5 Pro and M-Audio HDH50, and I'm also signed up to the Massdrop TH-X00 purpleheart drop). I had a pretty tight budget (about £200) and when someone suggested the Aune X1S, it sounded like exactly what I was after. Anyway, I bought it and was impressed with the clarity, but then started to find that the treble and mids sounded 'glarey' and distorted.

I had no idea what the issue was and I wasn't convinced by advice like "buy a £200 USB cable". So I did some reading and came across the '1/8th rule' (that the output impedance of your amp should be no more than one eighth of the impedance of your headphones). Seeing as the Aune X1S has an output impedance of 10 ohms and both of my current headphones have nominal impedances of 16 ohms, it would seem that I have an impedance mismatch.

How much of a problem is this? Some people claim that it will cause severe distortion and can irreversibly damage your headphones, while others don't think that it's much of an issue: https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/2l0y0x/high_output_impedance_vs_low_output_impedance/. Should I sell the Aune X1s and get another DAC / amp? And is it likely that the impedance mismatch has done any lasting damage to my headphones?

Thanks for your help everyone - I'm happy to be on board and I hope that with your help, I can get this problem sorted without having to spend loads more money!

 

Thanks for your helpful reply Purrin. I think that I'm just starting to realise that I jumped into these things far too quickly and bought a load of stuff without doing any research other than reading people's subjective impressions. I'm now starting to think about selling off a load of it and starting again, after reading up on things as much as possible!

Thankfully, the amp wasn't clipping so with any luck, my headphones will be fine. I'll probably end up selling them though, as I only bought them because they seemed like bargains at the time. Now that I'm starting to figure out what I like and what I don't, I think that the Fostex TH-X00 and an open backed headphone like the He-400i or HD600 should give me the best of both worlds without breaking the bank. The Chord Mojo sounds ideal for my purposes because of its very low output impedance, but it's a bit more than I can afford at the moment. Maybe the CMOY could tide me over for a while - do you know what its output impedance is? (it doesn't say on the Askew Labs site). How does it compare to the Fiio E12 (which I already have, but which strikes me as a bit too powerful for my sensitive headphones). Ideally, it would be great to have a fairly affordable (£200ish) laptop DAC / amp that will suit the low impedance of the TH-X00 but that can also drive more power hungry headphones, so that I don't have to upgrade it if I end up buying an He-400i or HD600.

Thanks again for your help.

 

leckerton audio uha-6s mk.ii, is a portable amp/ Dac, but can drive full size phones. For your budget I really can't recommend a desktop amp. The leckerton can be found used in the 200ish area. Or 300.00 roughly on the website. Fantastic amplifier

 

Thanks Ray - I'll definitely consider it. I like the fact that you can change op-amps to suit different headphones (not that I'd have a clue how to go about doing that! ). How would you compare it to the Mojo? (apart from being a fair bit cheaper!)

 

Schiit stack non U maybe? Shipped to UK with import is about £200. Impressions are everywhere

 

haven't heard the mojo. That's more around your budget. For the price of the mojo you could start shopping a decent desktop.

 

Seconded. Get the Modi 2 / Magni 2. Magni 2 is less than 1 ohm output Z, and has lots of power. Then you can upgrade amp and dac separately down the road.

 

Thanks again for the advice everyone. I've decided to go for the Leckerton uha-6s mk.ii for semi-portable use (I've had a good offer for a used one), and then sell my X1S and get the Schiit stack as a desktop solution. They should keep me going for a while (hopefully for a long time - I'm definitely a music lover but not a 'serious' audiophile, so mid-fi gear will hopefully be enough to suit my tastes and budget! )

 

Thanks purrin. I now have a Leckerton on its way and I'll be looking into getting a Schiit stack when I've sold off my Aune X1S. A slightly leaner sound might not be a bad thing, as I'll mostly be using it with a Fostex TH-X00 purpleheart (when it arrives), which is supposed to be pretty warm. I'm also going to keep an eye on the classifieds and on ebay, in case I can pick up an even better DAC / amp at a good price.

 

If I already have an X1S driving my 400i and want to upgrade, is it more practical to buy a standalone amp and use the DAC in the X1S? I believe the specs are better than the Modi 2. Any opinions? Thanks.

 

Sabre death glare digititus sounds

That perfectly describes it, in my experience. At first I thought I loved it because it sounded so clear, but then I realised that it's clear in the same way that light is clear when you're staring directly at the sun! Maybe I'm being unfair and it just works better with high impedance cans, but with my headphones, synths ended up sounding like chainsaws and breaking glass. And that's a bit of a problem for someone who mainly listens to electronic music!

 

No experience with the X1S here, but I had the M2 and B1 on loan for a while. I must say they did a remarkable job solving the digititus glare by slathering it in a layer of mud. Truly a masterful solution.

 

Great. I will start to look at some replacements, appreciate the help!