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Member Reviews: Fostex HP-P1

Currawong

A good-sounding portable DAC/amp for low-impedance, easy-to-drive headphones.

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Featured Review
By Currawong

Pros: High quality sound, more like that from a desktop DAC, quite flexible in possible uses.

Cons: Frustrating carrying case, quite big, volume knob sticks out too far and has channel imbalance at the lowest point, digital output is only optical.

For some time I've been looking for a decent piece of kit to travel with. Previously I tried a HeadRoom Portable Desktop amp/dac, but didn't like the overall sound, though the DAC was good.  The Fostex, allowing digital output from an iPod or iPad to a high-quality DAC is more appealing, especially as it was reported to have a half-decent headphone amp. Something has to give in all this, and it is the headphone amp which, while decent with low-impedance, easy-to-drive headphones, such as my V-MODAs, Audio Technicas and Symphones Magnums (eg: Grados), doesn't do so well with high-impedance ones.   However, a rig that does well with both would require adding a good...
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Lillee

Fostex HP-P1 DAC/AMP First Impressions

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By Lillee

Pros: Great resolution, highs and bass. Excellent sound stage. All in one solution which fits into my pocket quite nicely

Cons: Battery life is on the low side, volume knob dampening too light, slight unit rattle, useless case

  Fostex HP-P1 mini first impressions:    Original thread: http://www.head-fi.org/t/596755/fostex-hp-p1-vs-gen5-5-imod-rsa-sr-71b-balanced-output-now-with-fostex-hp-p1-review-page-2/15   I am moving from iPhone 4S playing lossless files + RSA Tomahawk + SE535LTD   Build quality good: is industry leading. It is solid, curvy, beautiful and integrates very well with an iPhone with the cut outs on the top. It just oozes quality. Think RSA build quality. It fits well into my jeans pocket as a unit surprisingly, so quite portable considering all it does.   Build quality bad: The unit rattles? erm well not really rattles but it's...
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justanut

Amazing audiophile grade gear on the go!

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By justanut

Pros: SQ is top notch

Cons: The bondage carrying bag... >..<

Just received it. Sounds amazing with my current phones. The 2 filter options are really handy to help taper off phones that had too much of a treble spike (using filter 1), while the "flatter" sounding phones sounded awesome with filter 2.   Soundstage improvements aren't that noticeable compared to my iQube width wise. But there is a noticeable improvement in the layering of depth in the soundstage. Helps with imaging and makes everything that much more "3D".   Going to spend a couple of weeks listening to it and report back~
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