Have had my Red Wine Audio iMod for about a week. Some impressions and questions...

Before I write this I just want to say that upon purchasing the iMod I was very very skeptical. If i'm honest, most of the "night and day" differences people describe on this board usually underwhelm me to the point where I sometimes consider this whole audiophile thing a complete waste of time and figured the majority of the community were suffering from a large case of placebo effect. Not anymore though. Read on...

I purchased a used 4G iMod from a fellow head-fier and then got an RSA Tomahawk and a mini-mini cable from qusp. My intention was to get the gear, try it out to see what it was like and sell it. I have always wanted to hear the iMod so if it cost me a bit of money (which I could recover) just to hear it, I was quite happy to do so.

Well I have to admit, i'm completely blown away. Running this setup with my HD25-1 II is pure audio bliss. The music sounds so amazing I can't even describe it. The detail is extraordinary, the bass is tight and controlled and the soundstage is wonderfully deep. My music collection has taken on a new life and i'm revisiting tracks I haven't listened to in years just to see what they sound like. I'm still completely amazed by the performance of this little device. 

The only thing I don't like is the portability. I tend to listen to the rig while in bed or laying on my couch and it's too fiddly for that sort of environment in my opinion. Cables running everywhere and a hard to reach volume knob don't make things pretty. I'm starting to think a desktop rig is more suited to me so now i'm in the hunt for something that will sound as good as the iMod. It's that good that i'm almost thinking it can't get any better.

I'm considering a new iPod classic and a Pure i-20 dock matched up with a Centrance DACMini but i'm seriously worried that i'll spend over $1000 and end up with a less enjoyable sound than the iMod provides. So I guess the question is, for guys that have owned the iMod, have you found anything comparable or better in a desktop rig?

Quote:

Originally Posted by qusp 

if you are going to go with a home solution, forget the pure dock. if you have a lappie or home computer; run usb into a proper home dac and amp. the imod will sound better than the classic so you will just be spending money on a redundant portable transport that costs more because of functionality you dont need and performance from a decent usb audio solution is superior to the output of the pure.

Thanks dude. To be honest though, I would prefer to use my iPod as a source rather than a laptop.

What about streaming the audio from my computer via a Squeezebox to a DACMini?