One of the things you soon realise when you travel is that gear needs to be adaptable and take up as little space as possible - it's for that reason that I took nothing more than a netbook and my Sony X with me on my last trip to Asia, but lets assume you were about to hit the road for several months and you wanted a genuinely transportable rig that would give you good sound in a hotel room anywhere with a power source to recharge your laptop/netbook and any Li-on powered DAC/amps you take with you.
Sure, you could use a DAP as your source, but I prefer to use a laptop when I'm back in the hotel room - its great for movies as well as music. I didnt take the Topaz or any fullsize cans on my last two trips, but in a 'perfect' world my rig would look something like this :
laptop > dac/amp -> *one* pair of fullsize cans
Everything would need to be able to run from batteries - one of the other realities is that they often put the single powerpoint in the bathroom and make the connections for TV etc sufficiently odd that your adapter wont work. Having a separate DAC and amp is great at home, but on the road you will be happier with one unit. I'd like to try the D4 in this role, but it seems that each new DAC/amp is better than the last atm - I'm sure everyone has their own suggestions.
Finally, why am I insisting on fullsize cans when IEMs do such a great job ? I dont hear any excessive hiss on any of my gear with my fullsize cans, but it seems to be the first complaint to pop up when a new DAC/amp is released. The other thing is that I like using open cans like my Grados as a break from having IEMs in my ear during the day - I particularly like them with movies. Speakers are a luxury you are unlikely to have in a hotel room - open cans are the next best thing IMO, even if it means you need to keep the volume at reasonable levels when your partner complains that In Flames isnt her preferred lullaby music. Harden the **** up, sugar.
Anyone else have a perfect mobile rig ? If you are packing a WA6 in your carry-on luggage, I admire your spirit, but I'm guessing most keep it under 10 kilos of electronics.
Sure, you could use a DAP as your source, but I prefer to use a laptop when I'm back in the hotel room - its great for movies as well as music. I didnt take the Topaz or any fullsize cans on my last two trips, but in a 'perfect' world my rig would look something like this :
laptop > dac/amp -> *one* pair of fullsize cans
Everything would need to be able to run from batteries - one of the other realities is that they often put the single powerpoint in the bathroom and make the connections for TV etc sufficiently odd that your adapter wont work. Having a separate DAC and amp is great at home, but on the road you will be happier with one unit. I'd like to try the D4 in this role, but it seems that each new DAC/amp is better than the last atm - I'm sure everyone has their own suggestions.
Finally, why am I insisting on fullsize cans when IEMs do such a great job ? I dont hear any excessive hiss on any of my gear with my fullsize cans, but it seems to be the first complaint to pop up when a new DAC/amp is released. The other thing is that I like using open cans like my Grados as a break from having IEMs in my ear during the day - I particularly like them with movies. Speakers are a luxury you are unlikely to have in a hotel room - open cans are the next best thing IMO, even if it means you need to keep the volume at reasonable levels when your partner complains that In Flames isnt her preferred lullaby music. Harden the **** up, sugar.
Anyone else have a perfect mobile rig ? If you are packing a WA6 in your carry-on luggage, I admire your spirit, but I'm guessing most keep it under 10 kilos of electronics.
