Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro 250 Ohm and the FiiO E10K Olympus 2 Amplifier

[David.A]

I just ordered a Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro 250 Ohm  Headset and the FiiO E10K Olympus 2 Amplifier. The Amplifier was suggested to me on Amazon because it was often bought with the DT 990 Pro. I am just a but concerned because it says the Amp goes up to 150 Ohm but the Headset has 250 Ohm. Will that still be okay? Also will I still need an external Sound Card like the Sabrent USB external Soundcard or do I just plug the cable from the AMP directly into the mainboard?

Many thanks in advance

[rice guru]

Personally I don't think it's enough o went with this reccomendation as well myself when I started off. Try your motherboard first if that's not enough and you need more power try the fx audio dac x6

[CTR640]

Nah, don't worry about it. The E10K provides enough of juice to power the DT990. My DT880 and 770 which are 250ohm gets really loud using the E10K. There is also a switch for Low and High gain if it's not loud enough for you. If you indeed already ordered it, then you can just keep using it. Plug the E10K using the included USB cable and enjoy!

[JhonBlan02]

On 17/3/2020 at 4:48, CTR640 said:

No, no te preocupes por eso. El E10K proporciona suficiente energía para alimentar el DT990. Mis DT880 y 770, que son de 250 ohmios, hacen mucho ruido con el E10K. También hay un interruptor para ganancia baja y alta si no es lo suficientemente alto para ti. Si ya lo has pedido, puedes seguir usándolo. ¡Conecte el E10K usando el cable USB incluido y disfrute!

Today in 2024 is that combination still good or do I recommend a K5 PRO?

[Cocococo]

3 hours ago, JhonBlan02 said:

Today in 2024 is that combination still good or do I recommend a K5 PRO?

It was never a good combo to begin with, you can get USB-C DAC's that do just as good a job for a lot less money. Plus for sub-$300 you're always better off getting better headphones

[saintlouisbagels]

9 hours ago, JhonBlan02 said:

Today in 2024 is that combination still good or do I recommend a K5 PRO?

DT 990 250 Ohm does not need anything fancy.

You can run it off a $9 Apple USB-C to 3.5mm dongle if you're in the US. Control the volume on the OS-side.

 

If you want something with a knob, it's hard to beat a Schiit for value and an inoffensive box, and Line Out outputs for controlling powered speakers.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BLJ2ZGZG/

https://www.schiit.com/products/magni-plus

 

I would personally use the FiiO K11 if you want a nice box with a DAC functionality too.

https://www.amazon.com/FiiO-K11-Headphone-Amplifier-Balanced/dp/B0CJFG3DC7/

 

Otherwise, the K5 Pro is not a bad choice and it's a smaller footprint than the K11. I don't like that it still uses a full-sized USB-B cable. That just tells me that it's a really old product in the line-up. Old isn't bad, but I prefer the better connection-feeling of USB-C compared to wobbly USB-B.

[Psittac]

I have a different opinion to most people here, I always choose to overpower rather than underpower.  I never understood amp requirements so I always overshot, only problem with that is I have a difficult time recommending the right fit for a pair of headphones.  But a couple years ago I did a budget dac and amp roundup and other than finding out which ones sucked in general, I also found out that max volume only comes into play in extreme cases.  Sound quality can take anywhere from a small to a massive hit when underpowered.  In one case I made a cheapo dac/amp start to put off an electrical smell when trying to power my dt880-600ohm, I think that was the only time I didn't get all of the volume I wanted.  Also I freakin hate the apple dongle dac for anything but easy to drive IEM's and at that not for music, I just use them for ASMR while I'm falling asleep.  The sound quality of the apple dongle dac is lacking quite a bit for my taste.

 

@David.A What I found for the golden child in the "budget" category was the schiit fulla but I also found that onboard, depending on your motherboard, was relatively competent.  All I ever compared directly was the bass response but I did get to hear everything, I just didn't type it all out because I thought I was going to get back to it.  Another thing I found was that the sybasonic sd-dac made a great showing esp for the price.  It's marginally better than a quality onboard solution.

 

I'll see if I can find the little test I ran, unfortunately I put everything away before finishing and some of it I have given away.

 

Aha, here it is

[rice guru]

48 minutes ago, Psittac said:

I have a different opinion to most people here, I always choose to overpower rather than underpower.  I never understood amp requirements so I always overshot, only problem with that is I have a difficult time recommending the right fit for a pair of headphones.  But a couple years ago I did a budget dac and amp roundup and other than finding out which ones sucked in general, I also found out that max volume only comes into play in extreme cases.  Sound quality can take anywhere from a small to a massive hit when underpowered.  In one case I made a cheapo dac/amp start to put off an electrical smell when trying to power my dt880-600ohm, I think that was the only time I didn't get all of the volume I wanted.  Also I freakin hate the apple dongle dac for anything but easy to drive IEM's and at that not for music, I just use them for ASMR while I'm falling asleep.  The sound quality of the apple dongle dac is lacking quite a bit for my taste.

 

@David.A What I found for the golden child in the "budget" category was the schiit fulla but I also found that onboard, depending on your motherboard, was relatively competent.  All I ever compared directly was the bass response but I did get to hear everything, I just didn't type it all out because I thought I was going to get back to it.  Another thing I found was that the sybasonic sd-dac made a great showing esp for the price.  It's marginally better than a quality onboard solution.

 

I'll see if I can find the little test I ran, unfortunately I put everything away before finishing and some of it I have given away.

 

Aha, here it is

Gonna back you up here. So many people Co plain about the 990 sounding loose sibilant and uncontrolled. By nature it is a loose sounding headphone and is sharp these characteristics are ever amplified by bad amplification especially when you listen to something extremely bass heavy of badly produced. Power helps mitigate bad performance by keeping the drivers as controlled as possible. I think the current meta at the moment imo should be a apple dongle DAC plugged into a shit magni 3+ cause that seems to be really cheap at the moment unclear if price drop or on sale but $59 for the amp ins incredible. Just make sure to not pair the magni heretic with a Beyer 

[Psittac]

On 4/28/2024 at 7:11 PM, rice guru said:

Gonna back you up here. So many people Co plain about the 990 sounding loose sibilant and uncontrolled. By nature it is a loose sounding headphone and is sharp these characteristics are ever amplified by bad amplification especially when you listen to something extremely bass heavy of badly produced. Power helps mitigate bad performance by keeping the drivers as controlled as possible. I think the current meta at the moment imo should be a apple dongle DAC plugged into a shit magni 3+ cause that seems to be really cheap at the moment unclear if price drop or on sale but $59 for the amp ins incredible. Just make sure to not pair the magni heretic with a Beyer 

I tried the dongle dac with an amp and just did NOT like the characteristic's of the dac.  Though it's been so long I'm unaware if I tested enough to know for sure it was the dongle dac and not the amp.  I should get another one and try it again cause my apple dac kicked the can a couple day's ago.  But yeah the magni for the price it is..... ehrmahgerd such a steal.  I had to buy a heresy just because the price was so good, it's still sitting in the original box and I have no use for it but an amp of that quality at that price, I'd be losing money to not buy it lol.  SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY lol.  If the apple dac has good characteristics I would agree 100% that should be anyone in North America's go to budget solution, maybe mine was a poor quality example or I didn't test it right.  Still double amping isn't the best idea but it gets a pass for budget applications.

 

But yeah, the idea that poorly amped Only means low volume is a huge misnomer that is way to common.  Some headphones care less about being correctly powered, some care a lot.

[rice guru]

5 hours ago, Psittac said:

I tried the dongle dac with an amp and just did NOT like the characteristic's of the dac.  Though it's been so long I'm unaware if I tested enough to know for sure it was the dongle dac and not the amp.  I should get another one and try it again cause my apple dac kicked the can a couple day's ago.  But yeah the magni for the price it is..... ehrmahgerd such a steal.  I had to buy a heresy just because the price was so good, it's still sitting in the original box and I have no use for it but an amp of that quality at that price, I'd be losing money to not buy it lol.  SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY lol.  If the apple dac has good characteristics I would agree 100% that should be anyone in North America's go to budget solution, maybe mine was a poor quality example or I didn't test it right.  Still double amping isn't the best idea but it gets a pass for budget applications.

 

But yeah, the idea that poorly amped Only means low volume is a huge misnomer that is way to common.  Some headphones care less about being correctly powered, some care a lot.

I have tried it as well but last time I tried a apple dongle DAC amp combo was on my liquid spark amp which is admittedly rolled off. There are plenty fo cheap dongle DACs now to try on Ali express sadly I'm very outdated on that front. I'm down wondering if there are any crap traditional DACs coming out as a modi alternative cause the modi unlike the magni went up in price