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

[jamato8]

Excellent comparative study of the amps. Not an easy task and it would drive me nuts after a while. Thank you for the hard work that you appear to have enjoyed and for sharing the results in a very readable form.

[fuzydice]

good review. would have liked to see how the go-vibe v5 compares to the rest of the pack when listened to with the elpac psu, but that obviously isn't fair to the other amps listed and would require a lot more testing and such and so forth. Otherwise, thanks for the time and effort put into this Very informative and a great starting point for portable amp purchases who sole use will be with batteries.

[inconnu]

Thanks for the nice review. I would only have liked to see the mSEED LABS Faith AMP included in it, besides the XTRA X-1. Perhaps the C&C BOX too...and while I'm at it, the Minibox-E.

[Skylab]

Originally Posted by inconnu

Thanks for the nice review. I would only have liked to see the mSEED LABS Faith AMP included in it, besides the XTRA X-1. Perhaps the C&C BOX too...and while I'm at it, the Minibox-E.

I actually wanted to include the mSeed, but I kept losing the EBay auctions

Maybe I will get one and add it when I add the Xenos 1HA, which seems to have shipped.

[cansman]

Thanks Skylab for the professional review. I have just received my Tomahawk today and am already quite amazed at its performance. It even drives the HD650s really well - something that I did not expect at all.

BTW, I also enjoy the sound of Jan Meier's amps like yourself.

Thanks again and cheers,
cansman

[MaN227]

very informative , very professional , yet presented in a easy to digest way for those of us that are new to this ummmm addic... hobby :P

look forward to your doing more reviews of amps and/or cans.

a MUST sticky IMO

[MrJoshua]

Mr Skyab Sir...

Have you received your replacement X1 yet?

[Skylab]

Originally Posted by MrJoshua

Mr Skyab Sir...

Have you received your replacement X1 yet?

As of yet, no. But I doubt the defective one has even made it to China yet.

[velogreg]

Wow skylab fantastic and very professional review. You have reinforced my satisfaction in selecting (and luck) the PRII to be my first portable amp. Somehow this needs to become a reference source for all those newly traveling down the expensive slippery slope of portable ampland.

[gmckay]

Thank you for the well organized and very informative review.

I put a great deal of stock in reviews of this nature.

Good job!

[wlai]

another thumbs up!

[Skylab]

I have purchased a couple other portable amps since I first published this review, the Xenos 1HA-EPC and the iBasso P-1, and I got my Xtra X-1 repaired unit back. I have run the new amps through the full battery of tests described above. I have added full comments on the X-1. I have not done so on the Xenos or iBasso amps, but will as time permits. I have decided to do an updated rankings. These are all now in the original review post.

EDIT: PLEASE READ THE WHOLE UPDATE before commenting. As I indicate there, since I no longer have the Practical Devices XM4, I could not decide directly between the iBasso and the XM4, so I list them as a TIE.

[Morph201]

So, #3 and #4 in your list are definite? Would you consider it a close enough tie?? Hmmm...

[Skylab]

Originally Posted by Morph201

So, #3 and #4 in your list are definite? Would you consider it a close enough tie?? Hmmm...

They are indeed very close, and of course, slightly different. From the Headphonia amp on up, the amps were good enough that I could live with any of them happily. They all produced that "WOW that sounds great" feeling consistantly.

Below that, the amps for me were missing enough that I wasn't impressed enough to say I would be completely satisfied over the long haul.

[EnOYiN]

I just got a Porta Corda MkIII-USB in the mail today. But it is not on this list.

Great reviews though. I really liked reading them. Maybe you can try to get people to send you portable amps for free just to test them.