What is the best Portable DAC for iPod Classic 160GB to buy? - Page 5

I'm glad this thread is not a really old one, I wasn't going to post anything but since we're all still alive i thought I would.
I've got an 8th (i think??? its the newest anyway) generation ipod classic. for quite some time, i've been using an outboard dac/amp combo (2009 zero w/ discrete opamps), and have just recently received a little dot mk III (LOVE IT)

Question. most times i just use the dac as preamp and go into the HP amp that way, but sometimes I like to take the little-dot out to my couch in the living room and just go horizontal and enjoy it that way. For this I use my ipod classic with a belkin cable that splits to l/r cables into the back of the headphone amp. I most certainly notice a simliar nice quality, but its certainly not as clear as with the outboard dac, and there is a faint hissy sound. I can live with it, but I was wondering, if i got this, if it would be better. I know its not a "portable" set up but i do often like to take my little-dot out of my computer room, which has no couch ;(

I've been hearing mixed things about the "line out" of the classic not actually being what it should, and was wondering if the line out is actually better.

Also, i thought ipods/itunes topped out with the apple-lossless format limited to 24/48...
I once had to downsample (don't worry, i kept the originals :D ) some high quality 24bit/192khz stuff down to 24/48 so that it could go from flac to apple-lossless. the downmixed stuff seems to play fine both in itunes and on my ipod, and is of course noticeably cleaner sounding than my lossless ripped cd's.

My oh my all this arguing over a simple mobile rig. My personal view on all this is if I'm going to spend 1000 plus bones on a CLAS/amp combo why not just forgo the pricey and bulky mobile rig and throw the money into a great sounding home rig? For a thousand plus bones you can easily get quite a nice home rig put together that's nothing to sneeze at. The OP of the thread wanted a solution concerning a nice sounding mobile rig and was obviously not sure where to go and in my opinion was obviously mentioning gear from Cypher Labs and Fostex because of all the hype these two products have been garnering from head-fiers. I'm sure these products sound quite nice but there's really a simpler solution and what the OP should keep in mind is most of the people who have these Fostex and Cypher Labs rigs mostly don't use them on the go. Yes I'm sure some people have these so called mobile rigs in their carry bags etc but you only have to read through some of the threads on here before you start to notice the majority of the posters are using them more as a mobile solution for when they're at work in the office.

If someone wants slightly better audio quality from their iPod in my opinion there's a far better and much cheaper solution. As suggested before on the thread just get yourself a nice little amp and a Fiio LOD and save yourself a lot of money and frustration lugging a large stack around in your backpack. Below is the route I chose to take. Small simple clean and sounds great with all my IEM's and doesn't require me having to lug a series of bricks around everywhere I go. As an added bonus it also has a DAC which although I can't use with my iPod I can use with my laptop when I'm at a coffee shop and add a little more depth to my music.

Personally, I have gotten fantastic results with an iPod Classic, filled with Apple lossless files, plugged via a $5 or $10 LOD into my Grado RA-1 headphone amp, and driving my Grado RS-2's. (I know Grado are a matter of personal preference, but I happen to quite enjoy their 'house sound.') 

It's not exactly a "mobile rig" in the sense that I'd want to bring it on the subway with me or listen in a park or crowded coffee shop, but then that's not what open cans are for anyway.  I have found this rig to be exceptionally suitable for bringing my favorite music with me to work and then taking it home again to listen in bed, on the couch, or while working from the home office.  Portability?  Check.  But within reason.

I have been pondering either upgrading my headphones (thinking about the Grado GS-1000) or getting a DAC like the CLAS.  After reading this thread, I think I'll focus on better (or different sounding) cans first.

Let us agree to disagree with me disagreeing to what you just said.  The Neanderthal evolution of Hominids is find for some people. Me? I want to push the envelope and max out the possibilities of my gear.  I'm not into BLING BLING---I want true value for the dollar expenditures.  MUSIC Floats my boat and it should you, shrimants!!!  FYI, I rarely even see my Ipod 160GB Classic Ipod.  It is permenantly locked in the trunk of my Miata, attached to a high speed cable for my Alpine IDA X001 tuner/mp3 device.  So what is my priority Musical device? My iPhone 4S (32GB).  I paid $300.00 for the puppy and you would assume people would be happy with Apple's free IBUDS. Sadly, it ain't the case.  I am a returning veteran sucking up Accounting Classes on your tax dollars and I was SHOCKED at what I saw.  GEN M types all walking around campus with high quality cans rapped around their throats!!!  They all looked like Tiger I tank crews but playing killer jams.      I counted 40 plus students with Klipsch, B&W, Bose, Monster Cable, Grado and other High End phones hooked up to their SMART PHONES!!!  

As a Geezer-American, I am stunned what is coming out of the mouths of GEN M types. Music matters but only from the 60s & the 80s DITTO!!! LP's rule, dude. DITTO DITTO!!! You Know WHY that is, 'Skinny-Puppy? 400 KBs per Channel---its the THROUGH-PUT, STUPID!!!  At best, we are stuck with AIFF 256KB HI DEF or garbage 128KB as downloaded off YouTube.

I won a small scholarship of $300.00 and you know what I did with it? I ran to the nearest Good Guys and bought a Bose AE2 Headphone (almost as good as the Klipsch cans).  My Bose AE2s are not in the same league as my STAX Lamda Jr with SR84 power units but it'll drink, as they say.

I like my iPhone 4S but it needs its own portable AMP and DAC.  I am eying a portable amp that goes for $300 and is about the size of a CIGARETTE PACK of 120mm cigarettes.  When I am in a hotel room with a brief due in Court in 4 days and I'm got to pull an all nighter (no hooker), I need musical stimulation and that is my iPhone 4S 32(GB) with portable amp. Wanna know the current TOY I am lusting for? Brookstone has a projector for my iPhone 4S that is about the size of a cigarette pack but throws a 17"x17" HIDEF Image against any wall.  Think of it---I can go walk into a client's office, whip out my iPhone and plug in my hip-projector and say "Here's the latest from Spain---they're on for a general strike and I'm buying 100,000 gallons of Madrid regular Gasoline with a March 2013 future---you in or out?!!!  Music is my perk to myself. Right now, I'm swirling outstanding Woodford Reserve Bourbon while writing this, my Bose AE2 rocking out to THE LUCY SHOW (80s band)!!!  FYI, the Siber 9018s Dual Dacs rock---they are the ones OPPO uses in their top players.  Its like the difference between a FINE CREME BROULET and a Hostess Twinkie! 

For true portable, I use an iPod Touch plus Fiio E17, or Electric Avenue PA2V2.

When I am able to lug something in a bag I run my HRT iStreamer powered with an external SONY USB battery.... I call it a poor man's CLAS, or lo CLAS solution.

ArmyDicked, YOU ROCK or is that ROK (1st SIG, Hooah?!!!)  I've been 'recklessly eyeballin' that slutty new Sumiko DAC ($199.00) with headphone amp ($199.00). The damn things stroking my wallet and saying 'Take me home, Daddy and let me be your nasty little FREAK'!!!  I keep chanting "I AM AN ADULT NOW. For $500.00 I can buy some sensible tyres for my car or give in for some mind blowing tunes buying these puppies. What to do? What to do?!!!