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iMod or DAC advice...

post #1 of 8
3/9/10 at 9:22pm
Thread Starter 
I have ~$350 to play with, I don't necessarily need extreme portability. I'm fine with using my laptop as a source or using my iPod... What would bring a greater audio benefit: iMod'ing my 5.5 80GB iPod OR getting something like a Headroom Micro DAC?

Thanks in advance for your advice.
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post #2 of 8
3/9/10 at 9:30pm
I think the iMod with a decent V-Cap and amp is excellent, however, for your budget, you'll only get an iMod with so so cable with caps in it and not much of an amp.

I'd invest in a second hand iRiver H120 and a D10.

You'll be amazed how good it sounds.

Regards
Sceptre
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post #3 of 8
3/9/10 at 9:39pm
Thread Starter 
Lets just say I got the standard iMod $265 and the $85 mini jack adapter from ALO. I could use a 6" Cardas mini-mini (already own) to connect to my older HR Micro amp (already own)... would that be a "better" solution than just getting a MicroDAC and connecting it to my laptop.

I guess my real question is, which would be a better source (all things being relative)

Thanks.
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post #4 of 8
3/9/10 at 9:49pm
I looked into getting an imod not to long ago.... really mixed reviews i felt. Sceptre got a link for a decent post about the vcaps?
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post #5 of 8
3/9/10 at 10:00pm
Thread Starter 
Making this more confusing... I'm sitting here scouring the ALO website and they sell the Wadia iTransport which appears to do the same thing as an iMod except it only costs $379 total... no fancy VCap docks necessary...
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post #6 of 8
3/9/10 at 11:23pm
Similar application, but the imod would be portable, and the itransport is not. I'd do some research on what people say about the quality of the imod.
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post #7 of 8
3/10/10 at 12:19am
I had joneeboi diymod my 5.5G 80gb for $100. Shipping to Canada and back is a bit rich, and time consuming, and joneeboi is a student, so you can't be in a hurry. If you are patient, joneeboi is a gentleman to deal with and does nice work. You can also commission an imod LOD or a vcap dock for less than ALO charges. You give up warranty and beauty for a bit of savings. That is the route I took. The DIYMod is a bit (tiney bit) thinner and drier sounding than my Dacmagic from my macbook pro. I like the macbook pro to dacmagic a bit better, but sometimes not enough to bother setting up the laptop. The DIYMod really is a pretty fine source. I suspect it might sound better with better caps than the tiny blackgates in my LOD cable. So that's my long winded 2 cents worth...
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post #8 of 8
3/10/10 at 12:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by markkr View Post
Making this more confusing... I'm sitting here scouring the ALO website and they sell the Wadia iTransport which appears to do the same thing as an iMod except it only costs $379 total... no fancy VCap docks necessary...
Eh, orange and apple. They are totally different animals.
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