This is the portable rig I brought with me to work today (the rig can vary from day to day). Today's portable audio enchilada consists of a
HeadRoom Total BitHead (2006),
Ultimate Ears UE-10 Pro custom in-ear monitors,
AudioLineOut Jena Wire Cryo Dock (with right-angle connector),
Apple iPod nano 8GB (2nd generation), all held together by an
iMojo nano Sweat wristband.
This photo (above) shows the whole rig, but the
HeadRoom Total BitHead (2006) is hidden inside the wristband.
This photo (above) shows a close-up photo of the
AudioLineOut Jena Wire Cryo Dock (with right-angle connector). Ken's craftsmanship is exceptional.
This photo (above) shows the
HeadRoom Total BitHead (2006) peeking out of the wristband (obviously it can't be worn as a wristband rig with the Total BitHead stuffed in there). This also shows a close-up photo of the
Ultimate Ears UE-10 Pro custom in-ear monitors.
Given its relative compactness (it wasn't too long ago I was carrying a shoulder bag with a portable CD player rig), this is an awesome little setup. The UE-10 Pro is the best portable headphone I've yet heard, and the Total BitHead (in its low-gain setting) is an excellent amp to drive it with. As someone else said here today (I think it was
n_maher), the Total BitHead is easily one of the best values in Head-Fi'dom right now, as it can also be used as a great little USB DAC (for which it sees frequent use by me).
Arriving soon will be a
Ray Samuels Audio Tomahawk ultra-portable in-ear monitor amplifier. I've only seen it in photos so far, but I can't believe how tiny it looks--I'm going to have to get creative to figure out how to use it with my nano Sweat. For the Tomahawk (which I plan to use in a stacking configuration, directly beneath the nano), I have an extra-short custom AudioLineOut six-wire Jena Wire Cryo Dock ready and waiting (the six-wire braid on this Cryo Dock looks similar to the braid used in
this Jena Labs interconnect).
The nano Sweat is a very cool case. In the photos above it's being used in more of a desktop configuration (as the Total BitHead is where one's wrist is supposed to be). But used as a wristband case (as its manufacturer intended), with the nano directly driving the headphones, the wire-wrap cleats come in handy, and it's the most comfortable nano case I've used so far. (It can also be machine-washed.)
Because I've been a bit more on-the-go lately, I've been using my portable rig(s) more and more lately. I'll post other photos as the configurations change.
