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Help With Quality 2.5 - 3.5mm Interconnect

post #1 of 11
2/14/08 at 7:00am
Thread Starter 
I appreciate the difference a high quality interconnect can make and am researching options for an upgraded mini-mini for my portable headphone amp. and player. However, my player is a Treo 755p with a phone-styled 2.5mm plug, so the 3.5 mini - mini's require an additional adapter to my Treo.

Will this adapter be the weakest link in the chain and negate the value of the upgraded IC? if so, anyone know of a better quality 2.5 to 3.5 option as I've not seen anything but stcok Palm or radio Shack options for this.

Thanks for all the great info. this forum provides.
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post #2 of 11
2/14/08 at 8:42am
Chances are you weakest link will be the source. It will probably sound fine and honestly a "high grade" cable probably won't improve it much if at all.
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post #3 of 11
2/15/08 at 6:13am
Agreed with gritzcolin. Besides, whatever you get, you'll be limited to that initial physical space of 2.5mm. This is not ideal in terms of connection surface, but it's just a phone anyway. Worry about good connections and cables for your dedicated audio gear.
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post #4 of 11
2/15/08 at 6:29am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the "input" (pun intended.) The Treo / PTunes is a surprisingly capable mp3 player but i understand it's not equivalent to dedicated gear and upgraded cables won't provide much benefit. I have ordered a Box+ portable headphone amp to drive my Senn HD280 Silvers and was hoping that would increase their soundstage and overall musicality as they can sound a bit distant with the Treo. Is this a realistic expectation?
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post #5 of 11
2/15/08 at 7:27am
Does the Treo have a line output? If the 2.5mm jack is volume-controlled on the phone, then it's a headphone output, and if that's the case, an external amplifier won't help much with the sound quality, since you'll be double-amping. But you may still find that it drives the headphones better than the Treo's internal amplifier. You'll hear the improvements of the external amplifier more when you listen on dedicated gear.
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post #6 of 11
2/16/08 at 2:50am
Thread Starter 
I also have a Rio Carbon MP3 player but that too has a headphone jack that is volume controllable...no dedicated line out. Will that still permit more amp effect on improving sound?
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post #7 of 11
2/16/08 at 3:30am
It might be an improvement in the same way that it may affect the sound using the Treo, but if you don't have a line output, you won't be able to bypass the device's internal headphone amplifier (which is the purpose of an external headphone amp). You'll need a device with a line out to really hear the benefit.
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post #8 of 11
2/16/08 at 5:16am
Thread Starter 
I was unaware that most ipod typle players, which many of the posters on this fine forum have in their amp'd rigs, had dedicated line outs. Am I missing something?
Forgive my newbieness. btw, and thank you for responding
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post #9 of 11
2/16/08 at 8:18am
Thread Starter 
Perhaps you can recommend an mp3 player that does have true line out...but I'm not an ipod guy and prefer one that does drag and drop with Windows, preferably inexpensive / low storeage but SDHC card expenadable. Am I dreaming?
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post #10 of 11
2/16/08 at 2:41pm
iPods have line outs, but they're not in the typical 3.5mm form one might expect. In order to get a line out from an iPod, one has to use a cable that hooks up to the iPod's bottom docking connector:



I think some portables have regular 3.5mm line outputs; you might try searching/asking in the Portables forum.
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post #11 of 11
2/16/08 at 4:47pm
Thread Starter 
Thank you, infinitesymphony, for taking the time to educate me. I appreciate your knowledge and courtesy and will visit the "Portables" forum. To date I've found an interesting thread on the Cowon D2 (http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f15/vo...ne-out-294339/) where folks debate what player volume / EQ settings to use to simulate a line-out from headphone jack, but I'm sure that still falls short of a true line out.
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