Portable Audio

For anyone interested, I abused a FiiO portable DAC/Headphone amp on my test bench and just published a rather lengthy review on my blog. The bottom line is it's far better made, and performs way better, than you'd expect from a $99 product. It easily shames a lot of more expensive products. The battery sipping TI chip they chose as the headphone amp is the weak link but is still respectable enough for many applications. But it's clearly not an ideal amp for power hungry high impedance cans. Given the surprisingly good performance of the E5 and E7, I'm curious how the $129 FiiO E9 desktop amp performs? It has the cojones for hungry cans (at least on paper) and the …

This gizmo has popped up like one of those after-the-rain mushrooms in other threads, so I'm doing the taxonomy thing and giving it a thread of its own. Three of us have one. We have each used it in different ways. So here's my experience: First off, my copy changed character in its first hours of operation, enough so that trying to figure out what was going on with it was frustrating. I think it's odd for electronics to "break in" much. If they change at all, they just seem to get "a little better." This thing sounded yucky and differently yucky every time I picked it up. I'd recommend a few days in the picnic cooler before listening. Once I got it figur…

My younger brother got a new 80gb Classic for his early graduation present and, as usual, I get his leftover garbage, which is a 60gb ipod with a broken screen. Can anyone suggest a good place to get the screen replaced?

My faithful Creative Zen Touch needs upgrading, and an 80 gb iPod looks like it might be the current sweet spot. From what I have discovered, it looks like if I install rockbox, I can play flac files on an iPod. If I'm right, looks like I need to choose between flac and apple lossless. Ideally, I only want to rip my CDs once. Down the track, I may well start using a squeezebox or something similar in my home system. Are there any sq advantages of one type over the other? What about storage space?

Hey guys, I'm thinking of getting a flight case to protect my Qualias and I was thinking the Pelican 1200 looked like a great case or some other pelican. They are a lot more reasonable than I thought. Any ideas?

better start coming around For the times they are a-changin'

So who's going to pick up the first gPhone, T-mobile's G1, for music listening? Seems integrated with Amazons MP3 sales, so hopefully there's bit of an audio focus. Live from T-Mobile's Android event in New York City - Engadget

The right channel went out on my ipod after only a few months so I sent it into apple. They said that the damage was caused by accident damage or abuse. I don't believe that I handled it in any neglectful way or there was accidental damage. Has anybody tried to force apple to honor a warranty after they have tried to deny a repair?

http://highrestech.com/microstreamer I just saw an ad for this thing. They claim it will work with an Android tablet or phone. If so, it might be a dandy gadget, assuming of course that it sounds good. I just spent some time scanning threads elsewhere. That made me older, but not wiser.

I've found a good deal in a used pico amp only the battery is not so good, before I commit I want to see if anyone knows the cost for Justin to swap the battery (I know he's often takes him some time to contact him, and the first owner had asked but still no response for over a month). Or better yet if anyone has replaced the battery themselves, I've read the battery can be disconnected by removing the back panel but that's all I know.

mackay maus, another other local headphone geek and friend, has kindly loaned me his Headroom Micro stack to play with for a few days. I was playing around with the DAC in conjunction with my AE-2 last night using both USB with my computer and optical via my Philips DVP642. I have a few thoughts but I'm not sure what to make of them exactly so I'm curious for those that have heard the Micro DAC what their impressions are so I can try to get a handle on what I'm hearing.

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Hello, So... I've tried doing some research. I don't want IEMs because I have ear problems with them. Here's what I basically need: Portable. These headphones need to be portable enough to put inside a backpack filled with textbooks. Another key here is durability, so they won't break while I'm carrying them around. They won't be under the books, but they'll be between the top of the books and the zipper of the backpack. Isolating. I'm going to be on a loud school bus a lot while listening to them, as well as on a plane sometimes. I don't like my music loud (I'm prone to hearing loss), so I really want them to isolate well so I don't have to turn my music up that loud…

I have a 5 gen 60gb ipod that I've been using for a while. I dropped the ipod yesterday and it kind of broke on me. The audio outputs works but the screen outputs weirdly. I've dropped my ipod many times but this is the first time this has happened. When I press buttons or have any inputs (change volume), right bars on the screen move up and down. I was wondering if you guys would know if this could be fixed with a new screen or if it is a bigger issue.

A buddy of mine asked my opinion of these today. I told him I like the way the 801 sounds, but I haven't heard the newer, cheaper ones. Has anybody heard them?

I did a search for HM801 and HM-801 and only found a reference in the thread on the last bought item. I hope it is ok to start this thread on the HM-801 that Fang of Head Direct sent me to try/test. I have had the pleasure to both buy and get loaner pieces from Fang in the past and I have been very pleased with his customer service. Needless to say I was excited to try this unit without having to front the $790 asking price. I did have to buy a 32 GB Kingston Type 4 SD Card, I bought it from Newegg for about $85 including S&H. Note: If the initial impressions hold over the next couple of weeks I may have be buying this unit. Anyways this is not going to be so m…

the design for it is horrible! My ears are still in pain from them pushing on the insides of my ears. Excluding that, its probably the best IEM that I've heard (heard things that I didnt even hear with my 225s) even though it has for the weird sibilance and the fatiguing treble (especially with like rock songs ex. ted leo's stuff) So the question is, what sounds like a ER4P/S with a better design that wont destroy my ears? the im716?

At the NYC meet, I was talking to Aaron and he mentioned the D10 and how much he likes it with the iriver/esw10 and I was wondering if anyone heard it or have any comments about the circuit. It seems like the only portable amp/dac that is battery powered and takes spdif that I know of.

I haven’t seen anything about the Ibasso D12 on this site. When my friend at work ordered one, I did a search and found nothing. I apologize if this is a duplicate thread. So let me briefly discuss my direct comparison between it and the Pico Dac/Amp combo that I made while borrowing the D12 for two days. I only used the USB input for both. And I didn’t make any attempt to isolate the DAC from the amp in either model. I only used the stock op amp in the D12. All comparisons were made using my JH-13s. The D12 is larger in all dimensions, making it considerably less portable. But it does offer a lot of features the Pico doesn’t. Like the D10, it has toslink an…

So I got this nice little black nano 8g for $50 when I bought my computer one month before the new ones came out. I haven't really used it, and probably won't much, if ever, but I've been looking at cases, or maybe a skin, and I don't want to bulky it up, but maybe provide some protection (mostly for scratches; not worried about other). I hate the look of those silicon things, and well, so far everything else. I like the small sleek look it has, especially if I ever decide to pair it with my pico when it arrives. I've done searches elsewhere and get too much information to choose from, get annoyed, and stop. Any ideas?

I keep seeing more and more trusted people on headfi saying the Vcap iMod is as enjoyable as Pico dac (albeit they are different in sound signature and qualities). In the past I used to believe iMod was overrated, but now I'm basically convinced I want a Vcap iMod and I'm preparing some big money to get it. This thread (and your replies) will be the last trial before I commit. Hope you can helpz.

I won an iMod from Vinnie at the NYC Meet. Well, not exactly won. I bought it for $100. I currently have a 5.5G iPod, but the LCD screen is starting to flake (I bought it refurbed from Apple) and Vinnie informed me that I would need to get an ALO LOD, which I think is $85 to use the iMod. I'm not a huge fan of that arrangement. Would it be wiser to find a cheap 4G and get that done?

Somehow I never heard about the Red Wine iMod until just this week. I'm wondering if this is still considered a first-rate upgrade. If not, is there another iPod mod that's better? I use a 4G iPod, Apple Lossless files, RSA Hornet, Westone 4s and Sennheiser HD650s. And, as of this week, my Westone ES5s are on order. Should I get my iPod iModded?

Headamp's product page has a small blurb about a new future product. pico POWER Portable Amp Coming in the future. Powerful like a desktop amp, small like a Pico. Recommended for hard to drive headphones. Are there more information available in meet threads and such?