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Portable vs Home set-up

post #1 of 3
11/28/11 at 10:57pm
Thread Starter 

 

The gear I currently own:

 

Sansa Clip+

Acer laptop

Little Dot 2+

Sennheiser HD 438

Grado SR60 (gave this to my brother who lives in the next room)

Etymotic HF5

 

 

I'm deciding whether to go for a full-portable set-up or a purely home-based set-up. I can't do both as I don't have the funds. Should I expand my home set-up by getting a higher end full-sized headphone and a USB-powered DAC or should I sell off my Little Dot 2+ and get a better DAP (maybe the Teclast T51) and be done with it? I'm also a multi-tasker, so I don't listen to music exclusively. I'm either surfing the web or playing games, doing reports, etc. while listening to music on my Laptop > Little Dot > HD438 set-up. Right now I'm leaning towards the portable rig.

 

I'm trying to move away from this hobby/addiction but I want a rig that can satisfy my needs. Ideally this rig would have to be small and portable, that's why I'm leaning towards the portable rig. But my main concern would be that a portable rig wouldn't satisfy my needs for long. My room's kinda crammed with a lot of other things and sometimes hooking up the Little Dot to my laptop to the wall socket is too much of a hassle. In fact, as of late, my Little Dot amp has been more of a room decor than an amp. Anyone else can share their experience on going either path? This may sound like an easy choice to make (portable set-up), but I just wanna make sure I don't come back to these forums a few months down the road, looking to upgrade.

 

If I do end up going portable, my set-up will be the Sansa Clip+ > Etymotic HF5. Will getting a better DAP (seriously eyeing that T51) noticeably improve the sound and should I get an amplifier to go along with it? If I end up going the home-based route, what's there to add into the chain, a better DAC? Amp? Headphone? I'm on a low budget but I'm open to any recommendations. Btw, in case anyone's wondering, I'm not an audiophile, I just like to enjoy my music and not worry too much about my set-up. 

 

 

Cliffs:

 

Home or portable set-up? (endgame rig)

Good portable/home set-up recommendation?

Need help.

 

 

Many thanks, 

 

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post #2 of 3
11/28/11 at 11:38pm

Where do you listen to the most music?

 

If you aren't listening on the go, build a home rig.

 

I rarely listen outside the house, so an iPod and old IEMs are fine.  When I'm outside I'm usually concentrating on something else, too, so great sound quality isn't that important.  I run a stock radio in my car, too.

 

Home is where I can concentrate on music and I find full-sized open headphones and speakers  etter than portable gear, so that's where my money went.

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post #3 of 3
11/28/11 at 11:52pm
Thread Starter 

I find myself focusing on the music more when I'm commuting, since I've got nothing better to do. When I'm at home, I multi-task while listening to music. It's also quite a hassle to set-up my rig sometimes since I always pack everything else up after I stow away my laptop. I really want to go the portable route, but I'm afraid that I'll come back a couple of months later looking to upgrade because I'm not satisfied with what I'm hearing out of a portable set-up. (I'm really happy with my Laptop > Little Dot 2+ > Ety HF5 now though).

 

I guess I'll just have to take the risk and go portable. 

 

 

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