Upgraded form a e10k to a liquid spark and realized we need to stop reccomending the e10k for the dt 990

rice guru · February 20, 2019

Background:

When buying tech I’m usually on a tight budget. I’m also not a audiophile. I’ve always been into audio as everyone in this subreddit is probably into listening to music. My first audio upgrade was from a cheap phillips headphone to a k240 then to a dt990 pro along with a fiio e10k to pair it with as suggested by every forum I looked. And while it’s an improvement I felt unsatisfied by the sound coming from the headphones. Suspecting the amp I plugged it into my pc speaker headphone output and liked the sound coming from it better for some reason it sounded more colored but the bass sounded tighter but it didn’t get loud enough. After a month of debating and a week of on and off research I found the liquid spark I live in Canada so I would have to import it’s competitors that being the magni and the atom. I decided on this amp because it seemed like a nice middle ground between the sound quality of the atom and the build quality of the magni, and mainly the fact that it’s $30-$40 CAD cheaper because I can get it through amazon and not have to pay shipping.

Impressions:

I put it though my usual rotation of music when testing any audio thing I buy

Hunnybee by unknown immortal orchestra

Luv sic part’s 1-6 by nujabes ( I listen to all of them because It’s just that good)

Son ya chest by injury reserve

Samson by Regina spektor

1999 wildfire by Brockhampton (new entry to my rotation but its one of my new favorites)

This is a set of music that represents my current rotation pretty well

The only other amp I can really compare this to is the e10k as this is the only other amp I’m really closely familiar with as I’ve been using it for a good 5 months now while playing games, watching movies and listening to music.

Build

What can I say … it’s a metal box. It has nice unique shape so it’s not totally a box, It has a nice sandblasted finish, the button’s feel ok, he knob is nice and among some of the better knobs I have felt on cheaper audio products. And It has very tasteful branding.

Sound

This headphone amp really brought my headphone to life compared to the e10k this is more fun has more color. First off the bass seems enhanced it sounds tighter and has more bass extension I can finally tell when people talk about the dt 990’s bass. so all in all it's more punchy and overall more fun to listen to. Now where this amp really shines are the mids and highs. I can’t really say much aside from the sound nicer and less harsh to listen to it sounds smoother in a way. Acoustic guitars and pianos sound like they have more substance or texture to them. voices are clearer. I’m not saying all these improvements are because the amp changed the sound signature because this is an amp it’s just that. It drives my headphones. If anything, to me this is how the dt 990 pro is supposed to sound.

Conclusion

Coming from a e10k to this is such a huge improvement I kind of regret getting the e10k, comparatively the e10k sounds dull and feel like we should probably stop recommending it.The liquid spark is pleasant amp it made the dt 990’s brighter but also tightened the bass and made it more punchy. Overall I’m really happy as I now feel like the the dt 990 pro can now reach it’s full potential. I am also very happy by the amount of headroom I now have to drive more headroom for harder to drive headphones. It think we need to start ditching the e10k and reccomend something like a dac x6, or smsl or even fiio k3 the e10kès replacement.