Review: Portable amp roundup! 37 portable amps reviewed and compared

[intlplby]

how does the Pocket Reference II and a PPA compare?

[Skylab]

Originally Posted by intlplby

how does the Pocket Reference II and a PPA compare?

I'm sorry to say I have never heard a PPA. Anyone?

[Packgrog]

Originally Posted by JLai

Ahh yes. I think in general, people who have heard both have voiced the Hornet edges out the TH ever so slightly. Not just 1 month ago, I was seeing threads on why the TH is better and how someone could straight up trade a used TH for a Hornet M (even though the Hornet costs $100 more). Glad to see the fanboyism is calming down.

Oi vey. Yeah, I never had no illusions about that. I always expected the Tomahawk to be "almost as good", which is the only possible reasonable expectation. For my purposes it's a better value than the Hornet or the SR-71 (both of which I seriously considered), simply because 98% of my listening is with IEMs, and these other amps seemed like they would be too powerful, and too difficult to fine-tune the volume to my liking (yeah, I listen on low gain). Plus, the others would be a bit too bulky for me at this point. Even my current H120 -> Tomahawk setup is a little bulky for cramped subway commuting, but it's not TOO bad. It's a trade-off I was willing to make, but I never expected sound quality to be better than these larger, higher voltage amps. That'd be crazy. In fact, I'd be disappointed if that were the case. I need to have Better Hardware to look forward to!

I'm very, very happy with the 'Hawk, though. It sounds wonderful. Me likey.

[jadalias]

Skylab,

Thanks for the big review, but one thing stuck out at me: these are all portable amps, being tested with a portable source, but the headphones you used are big and probably aren't ones that people will take on the go. What made you decide to use the Beyers instead of the Shures or some Etys or something?

[Skylab]

Originally Posted by jadalias

Skylab,

Thanks for the big review, but one thing stuck out at me: these are all portable amps, being tested with a portable source, but the headphones you used are big and probably aren't ones that people will take on the go. What made you decide to use the Beyers instead of the Shures or some Etys or something?

This is a very good question. For the formal review of the sound of these amps, I wanted to review them with headphones whose sound I was intimately familiar. That was the reason for my choices. Since all of these amps with the exception of RSA Tomahawk are supposed to drive the majority of headphones (and the Tomahawk certainly CAN), it seemed the best approach. None of the headphones I used are so punishing a load that the amps should have struggled to drive them, and none did. I did try each with the Shure E500, but IEMs don't lend themselves all that well to this sort of review.

But most of all, I wanted to use headphones whose sound I knew like the back of my hand, to really get at the sonic qualities of the amps.

[zippy2001]

Skylab,
Great job on reviewing all of these portable amps, I'm sure it took a lot of time and effort to do all of this. It is very helpful to see all of these compared side by side. It sounds like the Headphonia is a very versatile amp / dac combination. I would love to see this as a sticky, very helpful.

[Ray Samuels]

Originally Posted by JLai

Ahh yes. I think in general, people who have heard both have voiced the Hornet edges out the TH ever so slightly. Not just 1 month ago, I was seeing threads on why the TH is better and how someone could straight up trade a used TH for a Hornet M (even though the Hornet costs $100 more). Glad to see the fanboyism is calming down.

Great review, skylab, that must have been a very time consuming. I would call it a true aducational review. Great job my friend. I may add also that since the Tomahawk has been released none has fully matured yet. 120 hours on the Tomahawk against over 400 + hours on the Hornet "M" won't be a fare comparison IMHO as both have 15000mf cap. Give the Tomahawk a little more time.
I truely enjoyed your write-up.
Thanks.
Ray Samuels

[Skylab]

Originally Posted by Ray Samuels

Great review, skylab, that must have been a very time consuming. I would call it a true aducational review. Great job my friend. I may add also that since the Tomahawk has been released none has fully matured yet. 120 hours on the Tomahawk against over 400 + hours on the Hornet "M" won't be a fare comparison IMHO as both have 15000mf cap. Give the Tomahawk a little more time.
I truely enjoyed your write-up.
Thanks.
Ray Samuels

Thanks Ray! I'm sure the Tomahawk will indeed continue to improve. It's already a small marvel.

[aperson]

Great review. It's good to see a wide array of amps even if they aren't all in the same price range.

You've actually convinced me to buy a hornet when I decide to get a new amp, sorry wallet

[jinp6301]

now are you gonna have a big sell off, since I dont think you "need" all those headphone amps

[laxx]

he's slowly selling them. first the ldm+, not the xm4.

[Skylab]

Yeah, the LDM+, Go-Vibe, 0HA and XM4 are all sold. Have to clear the decks for the Xenos 1HA and the Larocco ISA Diablo, which I should hopefully get...soon...

[m_memmory]

I think this also tells us a bit about your preference for each ... the ones that you sell are (obviously) the ones that aren't good enough to satisfy your audio wants/requirements.

(not to say that they aren't perfect for someone elses wants/requirements of course)

[Skylab]

Originally Posted by m_memmory

I think this also tells us a bit about your preference for each ... the ones that you sell are (obviously) the ones that aren't good enough to satisfy your audio wants/requirements.

(not to say that they aren't perfect for someone elses wants/requirements of course)

No doubt, since I don't even need the number of amps I AM keeping, that I am keeping the ones I liked too much to part with only. But there are some people that will really like them. The Go-Vibe especially I think will really make someone happy who has the right headphones for its unique sonic signature.

[*645-k701]

Fantastic review. Big thanks..