New iPod Touch 4G first impressions - Page 18

IMO you aren't really going to get any benefit from amping those headphones. I had both the 555s and the Tripples along with amps and I didn't find them to be very much beneficial; definitely not worth the price I paid for the improvement in sound. I was amping with a LOD from various iPods.

My experiance is much different, using my UM3X's, i find the SQ is noticably better when using my miny3. And it is not subtle. The separation and airyness is much better, sound stage seems to open up, and the low end goes from good to very, very good. The highs also seem to extend further and are much more pronounced, or at least separated from the mids better. As good as the HP out is, the amp makes it better. Now my CMoy, that is another story, it does little to no good, in fact i think it hurts the SQ, but keep in mind i am still playing with opamps, so there may be hope for it.
Again i kind of feel like i am hyjacking, cause im listening to a 4G iphone, but this post was more to state that i feel there is good reason to use an amp, even with sensitive IEMs. And i have a feeling that the new touch probably has a similar, if not identicle, chipset as the phone.
Just spent several hours listening through said rig while flying/driving to a jobsite out of state, and man it does sound good to these ears, i still am of the impression that it (with amp) is at least as good as the X. But many more hours will need to be spent compairing before i can say witch i prefer, if any. I do find that the X does not seem to improve as much with an amp, at least i dont notice that much of a change. Im pretty sure this is mainly due to the fact that sony uses a much more purpose built/powerfull chipset, this is with IEMs of course. For full sizex cans the amp helps quite a bit.

I also got a ton of improvement when amping my um3xs; It sounded like you were stating that i was wrong however... Just to clarify I wasn't talking about any other IEMs than the two I posted above.

Sorry, did not mean to imply thay you were in any way "wrong" that would be silly, just wanted to offer a diferent opinion. I read a lot of posts that claim an amp is not needed or benificial with sensitive IEM's, and while that may be true, it does not mean that there is no benifit to na had.

Ah ok, well thanks for clearing that up.
But yea volume and power are different; going by sensitivity alone isn't the best way to determine whether phones need amping or not.

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Edited by jalyst - 12/7/10 at 8:46pm

Is there anyone here that can answer my questions:

 

Is an European iPod Touch 4G louder than a 3G? I've read some German test in which they measured over 500mV for the 4G against over 200mV they measured for the 3G. They also claimed that the latest firmware could save the 3G.

 

Is an European iPod Touch 4G louder and better sounding dan the Classic 160GB that was released late 2009? I had that and didn't like it at all, not loud enough on my HD-595, especially with music on normal level (music not suffering from the loudness war).

 

Is an iMac 2009/2010, MacBook Pro 2009/2010, HP Envy or Sony Vaio better sounding than a dedicated MP3 player like the iPods or Cowon S9? I remember my Toshiba L300 laptop had more power than my iPod, but unfortunately it did suffer from little sound drop outs (processor?) and my Asus Eee PC suffers from even more drop outs using the SIM card in my Vodafone USB stick and also lacks power.

If you put an amp to any of those portable players, they'll sound better and/or be louder. Adding a DAC/AMP to any of those computers you mentioned, again will make it sound better. 

 

If all computer info is 0's and 1's, having the same DAC/AMP/Headphones, going out from USB, all those machines should probably sound the same.

C'mon folks! Anyone?     Thank-you.

 

Last week I bought a Speck Candyshell case for my wife's 4th generation Touch. It's very nice with a soft, rubbery interior and a hard plastic outer shell. It can be found for about $20 - $25 online.