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Portaphiles get no love?

post #1 of 247
9/4/07 at 12:12am
Thread Starter 
I've been listening to one the last few days and I don't get it? It is a very nice sounding amp? I know it eats 9 volts. It is a little bigger than a hornet. I know it is not close to a Lisa III. For the price it is a steal. What am I missing?
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post #2 of 247
9/4/07 at 8:34am
You are right about the Portaphile. The only point you're missing is that peeps here are fickle. I had two of them and I used them from Elpacs. I'd still be using them, except I got some 600 ohm cans and needed more oomph. So for that reason alone, they have found new homes.
It is also true that Cesar provides great service along with his amps.
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post #3 of 247
9/4/07 at 8:52am
Bushguy, Romanee and I are Portaphile lovers, as are others on here. BUT they need 400-600 hrs burn in to sound truly amazing. In fact, I'd stack mine up against my Supermacro I think it's that good. DOn't have Bushguys' 600 ohm phones, but the Portaphile drives my Beyer 990 250 ohm quite well. And of course it's stellar with my IEMs.

And you're right. At a price of mid 200s, it is a steal, albeit a battery-eater but that too can be overcome by the proper battery selection so you'll get about 10 hrs life out of a charge
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post #4 of 247
9/4/07 at 11:37am
Thread Starter 
I know there is no one perfect amp. There are trade offs for all the portable/transportable amps..... Too BIG, TOO small, not enough juice, too much gain, so on ,so on, and on.. The Portaphile is pretty darn SPIFFY
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post #5 of 247
9/4/07 at 3:30pm
I have a Portaphile V2 Maxx and had Cesar send it with max performance settings. Recently bought an Elpacs power supply for it. Since I probably have the only one in Mississippi and didn't have the oppurtunity to audition any of the other fine amps available, my opinion is biased. It is the best portable amp I have listened to! Would stay around longer, but have a doctor's appt. Bye.
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post #6 of 247
9/4/07 at 4:17pm
My V2 maxxed sounds awesome to me. I keep thinking about going to a smaller form factor Xin amp and selling my V2, but I keep not doing it. The V2 is not really that big beside my H140, I get 8 hours on my rechargable batteries, and Cesar has great and very fast service. Why mess with a sure thing? As long as it keeps ticking - and that's where Cesar's service comes in - I'll probably keep it as the only amp I need. Long live Portaphile!
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post #7 of 247
9/4/07 at 6:53pm
I love my old V2 (not squared). Right now it's my only amp, and the battery life is gettin me down for stationary use. I'm thinking of upgrading it to the V2^2 maxed...

Tom

edit -- here's a link to the Portaphile V2 owners' thread: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=109743
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post #8 of 247
9/4/07 at 9:04pm
htbyron: man does THAT thread bring back memories. To we Portaphile owners, it was most interesting reading and was most educational to boot. Thanks for maybe resurrecting it.

One of the loves of the Portaphile is the owner's ability to alter gains, biasing, etc with internal switches. Don't need to be a rocket science nor do you need to switch opamps to get different - sounding signatures. I turly love mine, and as I think I've stated previously, will put it up against any of the portables out there including the Xin products
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post #9 of 247
9/4/07 at 9:55pm
Love my V2^2 maxed portaphile.Use it with my E500/5.5g Imod perfect match.This is a outstanding sounding amp,battery life is it only downside,but not a problem for me.
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post #10 of 247
9/4/07 at 10:35pm
Hi Portaphile lovers!
I have the Portaphile V2^2 Maxxed. have about 1000hrs on it? sounds amazing with my EBs.
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post #11 of 247
9/4/07 at 10:48pm
Thread Starter 
One other thing with the amp. With an Ipod as the source, I could not make the Senn HD 580's beg for mercy. I can with other equipment. On the the other hand those Senns are not really portable either. Anyone else get the same results?
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post #12 of 247
9/4/07 at 10:56pm
The Portaphile V2^2 Maxxed with LT1210 and Black Gates sounds very good. One of the best bass out there. It has only one drawback, very short battery life and no built in battery charger. A pity because it sure sounds good.
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post #13 of 247
9/4/07 at 11:05pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrarroyo View Post
The Portaphile V2^2 Maxxed with LT1210 and Black Gates sounds very good. One of the best bass out there. It has only one drawback, very short battery life and no built in battery charger. A pity because it sure sounds good.
So How would you rate the sound against the other amps you have reviewed? Just curious Also not having a built in battery charger is not a drawback to me. I prefer it. I just buy a box of batteries from Costco and I'm set. The exception to that is my Red Tomahawk
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post #14 of 247
9/5/07 at 2:09pm
Dear Big Poppa:
I drive HD580s Jubilees with my Portaphile V2 Maxx with an ALO Cryo dock connected to an 80G iPod and have lots of gain. Check your gain switches inside the Portaphile. Maybe they are in low gain setting.
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post #15 of 247
9/5/07 at 2:25pm
Thread Starter 
I just think I'm used to a completely different setup that will just rattle your skull. I'm tellin' ya! The Portaphile was not made to do that. It is just a nice portable amp. Very nice sounding. Great with small headphones! To be front row of an Iron Maiden concert with your ears bleeding..... It ain't happening. I'm waiting for my Beloved MS-1's to come back to see how they sound with amp. I'm just getting use to the amp. Give me a few weeks to get to know the amp.
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