Review: Portable amp roundup! 56 portable amps reviewed and compared - FINAL update 12-20-10... - Page 152  

Thank you for the time that you put into this review Skylab! It's always been a reference point for my portable amp selection.

BTW, the Rudistor XJ-03 is not in the list, think it's got some good review. Hope to hear your comment for it soon.

Hi, It’s my first post here, and I want to thank Skylab for his review of all those AMP.
And after reading all this thread ( OMG it’s a long way ;-) )

To Skylab >

Here are my questions; as an audiophile, I need a” no compromise” portable gear…. But with some constraints
With this idea, earphone will be UE PRO-11.
So, I need an AMP to load it well

According to your list,
Triad Audio Lisa III
Qables iQube
RSA Mustang P-51

First, about Lisa, it seems to be large and his connections (both sides front and rear) are not very useful to carry it in the pocket even a small bag with all the cables connected.
Do you have the measure of the Lisa (Hx LxP) ? I can’t find it

Second, about the 2 others, do u think they could load EU-11 without *any* problem?

And third, according to my tastes, I don’t want “any” sound coloration, and my key points are Transparency and of course sound stage.

So :
Lisa > a little bit to big to travel “in a pocket”… and not easy to carry it
IQube > soundstage A-, and Transparency, Mid and Bass ….. A “only” rated
P-51 > Transparency A “only”, Mid A++ ….. what does it means really…. Colored

So, if you can help me a little bit more

Thx in advance
Laurent

Sorry for my English, I’m French

Great review, your review is the reason I get a Hornet instead of Mustang. There so many used Hornet for a great price. Do you have any idea if SR-71A compare to iQube and LISA III?

Laurent - I've had my UE-11's for about 18 months, own a Lisa and owned then sold an iQube. I have no experience with the P-51. Both the iQube and Lisa were excellent, no problems at all getting the UE-11's to sound their best.

I LOVE the sound of the Lisa with these IEM's, much better than the iQube. That said, the Lisa is large, can be a problem to carry (I use mine only as a portable, but it is still a problem). The iQube is much more convenient. Based on your description I would probably recommend the iQube, it is very, very neutral sounding, almost sterile in some applications. The Lisa is musical, involving, detailed and a joy to listen to, big, wide, deep and intoxicating. The iQube will let you analyze the music without getting too involved.

That make sense?

Both are great amps, you will be happy eith either. I elected to keep the Lisa and have absolutely no regrets.

Minibox E+

Hi Skylab,

Just a quick question. Wondered if you would ever be considering looking at the E+ version of the Minibox, I was curious given that it seems to be getting quite a bit of interest, with it in some reviews now being placed above the SR71 and a couple of others very high on your review. Could the difference between E and later E+ versions be that much Anyhow, thought I'd ask & would be interested in your thoughts

no review for the go vibe stuff ? interested to see where the go vibe vulcan stands.

Skylab, Freeblues, thx for your input.

Freeblues,

1st why did you sold the iQube ;-) you can PM me if you prefer
2.what do you mean by "intoxicating" about the Lisa III
3. how do you manage connectivity with 1/4 scale when you use it portable ( which source do u use ? ipod ? )

BTW, when I read " The Lisa is musical, involving, detailed and a joy to listen to, big, wide, deep " ..... it's difficult for me to buy another one and have this sentence somewhere in my mind ;-)

thx again,

Laurent

I searched for info on the HR Total Bithead/Total Airhead on this thread and found some references to a few other people asking about it but no reports about the more recent incarnations. I bought a Total Bithead about 3 months ago so it's the current model or close to it. It's the only headphone amp I've owned so I can't make comparisons to other amps, but it seems to improve the sound of my mp3 players (Sandisk M260 and Cowon D2) with my MDR-V6 headphones. Unfortunately I bought it for use in a very specific setup, namely as a USB DAC for my Lenovo laptop playing into Peltor active noise cancellation headphones. The Peltor phones are a long way from audiophile quality but in my noisy office environment, the noise cancellation more than makes up for deficiency in the audio. The trouble is that 60 cycle hum from the Lenovo AC power supply leaks out the Lenovo USB port and through the Total Bithead and then somehow gets amplified in the Peltor noise cancellation electronics. The same thing happens with my Asus EEE PC when running on its AC adapter. It does NOT happen with either laptop when running on battery power. It does NOT happen with headphones other than the Peltors. It does NOT happen on my officemate's Mac Pro, even on AC power.

Anyway, I thought the idea of an outboard DAC was to take the analog audio stuff away from the noisy computer electronics, and the Bithead seems to fail at this notion. Once again I don't know at the moment whether other DAC's are any better. Maybe if I were willing to spend enough, I'd get a USB to SPDIF converter and then use an SPDIF DAC with optical input. At the moment it's just not worth it, I'd bought the setup to use my computer as a music source, but I just use my D2 instead (direct to the Peltors without the amp) and that works fine and the Bithead is just sitting here. I might put it on the sale/trade section. Or if Skylab wants to review it, I'd be happy to lend it.

Thanks to this review I bought the 3Move, and I am very happy with it!

Petition to make this thread a sticky!

X2. Excellent idea! Thanks for suggesting it.

I wonder how many of us have made a great choice thanks to Skylab's reviews and other insights from Headfiers??? I know Skylab has done untold damage to my wallet....but I am smiling...!!!!

Great reviews! Thanks.