Better USB/DAC than Total Bithead for under $200? - Page 3

Yeah - a large number of my other amps will buzz to some degree when stacked under the iPhone, and the EM blocking card usually stops it completely. So, you may still need one with the Total Bithead.

Just wanted to add my $0.02 to the thread, I own a pair of Westone 3, a REALLY OLD HeadRoom Total Bithead (no gain adjustment), a NuForce Icon Mobile and just received a brand new Ray Samuels Audio P-51 Mustang, and I absolutely suggest avoiding the Total Bithead if my experience applies to the latest Bitheads. When I first received my Westone 3 back in November, I could not even use them with my Total Bithead, because of the HUGE amount of background hiss. That was when I ordered the Icon Mobile, and was pleasantly surprised to find that not only is there extremely minimal background noise, especially on low gain (never really bothered testing high gain), but it's significantly smaller and lighter, and the volume dial doesn't make scratching noises when adjusted during playback (unlike my Total Bithead).

Now, my completely fresh, not broken in P-51 Mustang easily beats the Icon Mobile for tonality when combined with Westone 3, IMHO (No more sibilance issues!!!). There's no comparison...I can't wait 'til the thing is broken in! I have not had any chance to compare the two with other IEMs yet, and I plan to come back with results using IE8 sooner or later, between the two amps.

-Ed

PS: My last pair of IEMs was UE Triple.fi 10 Pro and the pair before that was Etymotic ER-4S, which was what I used with the Total Bithead when I first bought it years ago. What I don't understand is how I didn't have issue with hiss with those IEMs on my Total Bithead, but it's utterly unlistenable with the Westone 3 such is the magnitude of the background hiss!

Since the P-51 has no DAC, are you feeding the Nuforce into it?

No, when comparing the three amps, I am using iPhone 3G->ALO Cryo 18G connector->amp->Westone 3. That is a true apples-to-apples amplification comparison. If I were to compare with the two DAC/amps in digital input versus the Mustang with a different source, it wouldn't be a fair comparison. I do not know what level to set the volume dial at on the Icon Mobile in order for the headphone out to act like a pure line out to the Mustang.

-Ed

It definitely needed burn-in for me - I was disappointed out of the box, but it matured nicely to become a decent mid-range DAC/amp.

As I said, significantly better than my very old Total Bithead, which at one point in time was considered a pretty darn good portable amp/DAC for the money.

-Ed