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Portaphiles still alive and well? - Page 2

post #16 of 24
2/18/10 at 9:39pm
Why cant Cesar use green Panasonics instead of blackgates or whatever? I hear theyre pretty good caps. Theres other good caps out there, and im sure the amp will still sound good. Id like to see a Portaphile amp/dac combo.
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post #17 of 24
2/19/10 at 6:18am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Drag0n View Post
Why cant Cesar use green Panasonics instead of blackgates or whatever? I hear theyre pretty good caps. Theres other good caps out there, and im sure the amp will still sound good. Id like to see a Portaphile amp/dac combo.
Why not go to his webpage and email that question tohim? He has always been very good at responding quickly.

Don't care about the amp/dac combo. I'd just settle for seeing the Portaphile back!!!
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post #18 of 24
2/27/10 at 5:36am
Ill ask him. Ill be in touch with him soon. I dont know how much difference black gates make really. Is it a slight difference or huge? I know alot of times audiophiles pay alot for even a slight change and then some on Head-Fi and announce their equipment sound loads better.

I think itll be pretty close with those panasonics, but im not a tech .
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post #19 of 24
3/7/10 at 5:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Romanee View Post
Ditto. Tho' I've heard some amps that sound wonderful, I haven't yet heard any that are as remarkable as the Portaphile Maxxed -- in more ways than I have time to list at this late hour.

Yes, it is a power hog, and it's larger than the current crop of tiny portable amps, but it is still my favorite "home amp in a portable case". I use the latest iPower Pro 520mAH 9v Li-Po which is just smaller enough than the iPower 500 so that it slides in & out easily and gets a tiny bit more play time (I get a work day's worth with Class A on and wide bandwidth off). When I carry this amp I just take an extra iPower Pro which I can swap in about 30 seconds. A dedicated wall wart sits under my desk at work, just in case.

I do carry my RSA Tomahawk often in transit due to its 300-400 hrs playtime on 2xAA alkalines (I can just forget about that for weeks on end), and it is smooth sounding with my ES2 IEMs, with more volume control latitude and very low-level listening in the quiet of night -- but nothing is as "lifelike", extended, inner-detailed and dimensional as the Portaphile Maxxed. I'm sure some will agree with me and others not, but I hear it and I love it (immtbiker and bozebuttons -- hope they don't my bandy-ing their names about -- own and enjoy the Portaphile, which in itself is a solid recommendation).

Just for fair and equal perspective, Ray's new ultra tiny Shadow amp is very good, very musical and dynamic and is the one to get if you want a nearly-weightless-amp-with-guts that runs 9 days on a charge per Ray, or at least 70 hours or so per jamato (?). It's spring-loaded rocker controlled digital volume "pot" keeps perfectly even left-right levels and is marvelous for easy in-transit handling. A joy to hold, and obviously designed with IEMs in mind ... it won't drive the more demanding phones to proper levels (AKG701/501, HD800...) but drives Audeze planars and HeadDirect HE65 surprisingly well. Actually it does drive the HD600/650 to reasonable levels and sounds pretty good, if not optimal.

Still -- for me -- nothing yet comes up to the Portaphile's sound experience. If there are some new generation "wow" amps someone wants to lend me to compare -- with as an objective mind/ear as I can muster -- I'll be happy to comply.
What he said.

USG
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post #20 of 24
3/7/10 at 1:13pm
I want one, WHO is selling it
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post #21 of 24
3/7/10 at 3:12pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackmore View Post
I want one, WHO is selling it
send a PM to Pappachuo (sp??") the developer who's on the first page of this thread. Know he's got some parts and may still be able to build one for you
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post #22 of 24
3/8/10 at 10:41pm
Ya better hurry.....He might only have enough parts for one or two more, assuming he didnt make them and sell them already!!!
He cant find the blackgates no more. Maybe he can use nichelon caps or something?
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post #23 of 24
3/23/10 at 10:35am
Thread Starter 
Just dug out of a desk drawer an old P to S cable for my Etymotics. It adds 75 ohms to make my "p" sound like the "s" so question is, do I change my Portaphile from low gain to high gain to use this??? I notice I have to use a little more volume with this and it does sound slightly better than not using it, but fearful I'll have still more battery drain if I dont' chaange to the higher gain setting.
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post #24 of 24
3/23/10 at 9:59pm
If youre going over 3/4 volume to run them, then yes.
A good place is to run 1/3 to 3/4 up and no higher. If youre safely in that range, youre prolly fine, but you may want to compare and see if you get more punch out of the higher setting.
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