Well jamato confirmed that this amp doesn't share the digital volume control of the Shadow so we're back to the panasonic pot. That may also hint at only the output stage being differential so calling it balanced at all is kinda "meh" in my book.

The only thing I'm interested in the new portable amps these days is the digital volume control since all the amps I tried with the JH13s did have hiss, which is so annoying.

Does the differential output stage mean that this amp is not truly balanced?

Trying to introduce a proprietary connector is fail.

Worse is doing it on a portable amp where said connector cannot rotate without turning the whole stack of equipment in my pocket.

I guess once you realize you can sell 10 bucks worth of ebay cable and epoxy for $125 this must seem like a good idea...

Yeah, he can fuck off.

jamato said it would have a balanced input but I doubt it very much that the amp is balanced throughout. Not that it would make any sense to do so as what source are you going to use that would give you a balanced signal to work with. There is also the problem of attenuating that balanced input, either digital or go with a 4-gang analogue pot which would have to be custom ordered in 100 piece lots or even 1000.

So as a guess I'd say the glowing switch on the front is the power (derrr).

What would the grey one on the back be?

jamato said it would have a balanced input but I doubt it very much that the amp is balanced throughout. N

He said it has balanced output, not input.

They grey switch would be the gain switch, I guess.

That was my first guess but it would seem a bit out of place on an amp aimed purely at iems right?

Bass Boost.

That was my first guess but it would seem a bit out of place on an amp aimed purely at iems right?

That's no surprise cos all of his portable amps have gain switches, even the Shadow has.

He said it has balanced output, not input.

They grey switch would be the gain switch, I guess.

Yeah, I took it as input. Then this is just a SE amp with a phase splitter and a differential output stage with more noise/impedance. What a truly terrible idea.

Well if that is the connector it would have to be about 50% less Slim.

What about a ribbon-like connector, where the four connections are next to each other?

What about a ribbon-like connector, where the four connections are next to each other?

but that's not the standard connector!

TRRS is the best idea, and retard proof it. not exactly the engineering problem of the century.

I'm assuming that connector comes in a straight version as well, but if all the cables are going to be made with the R/A connector, then every amp made will have to be designed so that the non-rotating cable does not interfere with other switches/connectors/volume

Re-reading that thread...... does anybody else get the impression that Ray has a financial stake in those connectors? He seems to be pushing awfully hard towards making them a standard.

i don't think that's about money

Why not micro usb? its got 4 connectors? There should be enough manufactured to keep costs low. Granted it doesn't rotate, and the fact that its used elsewhere, for other things, means that it is a disaster waiting to happen for the unwary. But what has logic and reason have to do with this, anyway?

i don't think that's about money

Ego then? I can't see it being altruistic......

Looks like the race has begun. Yet another world 'first' portable balanced amp. Never tried their amps before though.

And not only do they claim balanced input, but the pot looks like it is a two-fer.

Oooooh, and it looks like a 3.5mm mini for each channel

Looks like the race has begun. Yet another world 'first' portable balanced amp. Never tried their amps before though.

"We have been developing the portable balanced AMP for more than half years."

I guess that means 6 months

Well, I don't know if it's true or not, but according to the numbers of prototypes, they should have begun the project quite a long time ago.

It's a gold rush. There are only so many morons to go round.

I'm still stuck on the whole balanced portable concept. Why go balanced IEMS and amp when the source isn't? Am I missing something?

I'll watch the morons get all spun up for entertainment but I'm not changing my Slim pre-order

because its cool! Don't you want to be cool?

I'm still stuck on the whole balanced portable concept. Why go balanced IEMS and amp when the source isn't? Am I missing something?

Cause nobody has thought of the sextanced portable yet. This involves 6-channels, two of which are ground channels that are used to drive the shielding on the left and right cables, a la Audience. This is really the next big thing, thought you guys should know. The technology is there, but the advances in cable connectors has not caught up yet, and once that matures we should be seeing some really fantastic stuff.

Here is another balanced portable coming soon, apparently. I will be reviewing the AMP1 soon, but I don't have any details on the "Portable1" other than what I found on their website.

RW Audio.com

I'm still stuck on the whole balanced portable concept. Why go balanced IEMS and amp when the source isn't? Am I missing something?

A fair question. Here's how I'd go about seeing if the answer makes sense: determine what is the benefit of going balanced, see if it applies in this case.

The benefit of going balanced -- in general -- is noise rejection. This is most useful in low level signals such as microphones and turntables. So having it post-amplification? Not so much. Small, non-zero, yes; worthwhile? Not for me. I'd want balanced all the way back from the source, as Headroom does it.

And for IEM's, certainly not at the expense of going backwards with the volume control.