Recommendations for "on the go"

I have just bought the E17 after reviews. you could check it out too. :D  nothing plugs into the iphone or ipad through USB. the iphone and ipad's DAC can not be bypassed normally. meaning you can usually only use an amp with them and have to use the iphone or ipad or ipod's DAC inside. the cypher labs solo and fostex hp 1 can bypass this as they bought the decryption codes off apple. i don't own the solo or fostex hp 1 but from reviews. they may be waht you are looking for. more so with people and Jude himself leaning towards the HP1 it seems :D

Oh and

"Welcome to Head-Fi! Sorry About your wallet!"

one's to check out:

Fostex HP1

Cypher labs algo Solo

iBasso DB2

iBAsso PB2

Triad L3

i don't own any of them nor do i know too much about them other than gernal things. but they are very popular and well known and should do you well. you can check them out :D

PS, only the algo solo and HP1 on this list can bypass the iphone's DAC and use their own. the rest can't do that. the DB2 comes with a DAC, but that is/should be near uselss as it is just a means of a portable DAC..one you can easily bring to ur friends house or something..u already have one. other than that. the PB2 is just an amp. the Triad L3 is a very popular amp. ..again. don't know anything about them. check them out.. 

i can answer most of your general audio questions if you have any..have any?

Actually, if you have an ipad you could use a camera kit to get digital out from the 30pin connector with a usb cable. As far as I'm aware you can output up to 24/96kHz using the camera connector kit and some 3rd party software. You could feed the digital out to almost any portable DAC if not all, there's a thread somewhere around here with a list of compatible DACs for the camera kit.

The camera kit is not compatible with your iphone though so if you really want to bypass the DAC then you would need an HP-1 or a CLAS.

Do you plan of upgrading to a balanced system any time soon?

if not then the DB2 and PB2 might not be what you want as there are much better single ended options for cheaper. But if you do indeed plan to upgrade to a balanced portable system then by all means go ahead.

What are your sonic preferences?

It would be easier to help you if we knew what kind of sound you like.

Cheers

Do you travel with a laptop?  Getting good sound is a lot more straightforward from a laptop than from your iPhone/iPad.  As noted, to bypass the iPhone's DAC requires either something like the Algorythm solo (which then requires a separate amp) or the Fostex HP1 (but then you are stuck with that as your only amp choice).  Going out of a computer opens you up to the huge selection of single device usb DAC's/amps, like the Headamp Pico.  Note that these devices can also be connected directly to your iPhone or iPad, preferably with a line out dock to bypass the output stage of those devices.  You are still using their built in DAC, but Apple's DAC's are known to be pretty good, so you may be happy as is.  Devices like the Pico are also available without the usb DAC as an amp only, if you don't see yourself ever using it direct from a computer.

Actually, both the CLAS and HP-P1 can be used as transporters only as they both have digital-out.

The CLAS has coax whereas the HP-P1 has optical. This along with a good portable DAC and Amp would probably give you the best, most "portable" (If you can call that huge sandwich portable) sound you will ever get from your iPhone.

With an iTunes Match subscription you can keep a duplicate library on your Macbook (or an external drive, or even stream it if you prefer).  Depending on the amp/dac and headphones you choose, you could easily get 95% of your home setup on the road.

Just another option I'm throwing out there.  I travel extensively and for years I've tried all different portable setups because I too had my master iTunes library at home and didn't want to deal with managing two libraries.  I was never totally happy with any of the portable systems though.  Now, with Match, I have my same library, same playlists, same meta-data on my laptop, get to use the full iTunes interface, and only have to bother with a single tiny usb device for both amp and dac.  On the plane I just use my iPhone and IEM's.  It's not worth the bother of an external amp, let alone a 3-device stack, IMO.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pioneer123 

Thanks for all the input chaps, just to address everyones comments;

 

 

Anyway a bit off forum topic but here is a picture of my home gear at the moment. Shame it all can't be squeezed into a matchbox size and run off batteries.....maybe in 20 years :)

 

 

wow...that is a nice setup. Some people get the CLAS or Fostex and use it as an Apple DAC and then bypass or dual amp with another "synergierzing" amp like the triad L3. just throwing that out there

I don't like iTunes match. it auto finds and matches ur music that is probably CD ripped and turns it into 256kbps VBR. Which is very very good already. Since 1, the file they match it with is a legit and Apple personally ripped great copy with their own great AAC source, encoding. however for real audiophiles. 256kbps no matter how good they can encode it would want ALAC on their iphone's instead.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bowei006 
I don't like iTunes match. it auto finds and matches ur music that is probably CD ripped and turns it into 256kbps VBR. Which is very very good already. Since 1, the file they match it with is a legit and Apple personally ripped great copy with their own great AAC source, encoding. however for real audiophiles. 256kbps no matter how good they can encode it would want ALAC on their iphone's instead.

Match does not replace any files that you don't explicitly tell it to.  It leaves the source files and all metadata on your source computer 100% untouched.  You can still load ALAC versions on your iPhone, but you can also have cloud access to everything else that doesn't fit or you didn't put on your device.

With a second computer, yes, you get 256k versions streamed (for the most part, some files that are not matched are left in their original compressed format, unmatched ALAC files are converted to 256k on your computer before uploading), or downloaded to your computer if you want off-line copies.  However, once your library is 'matched' on that second computer, you can go back and replace any of the 256k downloaded files with the format of your choice.  They are still just files, just like in the main library. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by zhenya 

Match does not replace any files that you don't explicitly tell it to.  It leaves the source files and all metadata on your source computer 100% untouched.  You can still load ALAC versions on your iPhone, but you can also have cloud access to everything else that doesn't fit or you didn't put on your device.

 

With a second computer, yes, you get 256k versions streamed (for the most part, some files that are not matched are left in their original compressed format, unmatched ALAC files are converted to 256k on your computer before uploading), or downloaded to your computer if you want off-line copies.  However, once your library is 'matched' on that second computer, you can go back and replace any of the 256k downloaded files with the format of your choice.  They are still just files, just like in the main library. 

yeah i know it doesn't replace files and what you said in the second paragraph. 256kbps VBR just isn't for me. It is a good idea, but ........yeah. 

I'd rather buy an 160GB iPod Classic for $200 and call it a day. heck, get an old ipod classic with the Wolfson chip and ability to rockbox and do some imod on it for $60 :D why not?

Quote:

Originally Posted by bowei006 

 

yeah i know it doesn't replace files and what you said in the second paragraph. 256kbps VBR just isn't for me. It is a good idea, but ........yeah. 

 

I'd rather buy an 160GB iPod Classic for $200 and call it a day. heck, get an old ipod classic with the Wolfson chip and ability to rockbox and do some imod on it for $60 :D why not?

 

Finish that second paragraph.  You can go ahead and replace those files with your original ALAC files if you like.  I have an iPod classic loaded with my ALAC library.  I hardly ever use it - the interface kind of sucks and I much prefer using the amp and dac of my choice from my laptop.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zhenya 

Finish that second paragraph.  You can go ahead and replace those files with your original ALAC files if you like.  I have an iPod classic loaded with my ALAC library.  I hardly ever use it - the interface kind of sucks and I much prefer using the amp and dac of my choice from my laptop.

 

i use home streaming through itunes and don't rely on Match :/ it just seems all roundabout and everything with us audiophiles :/

now..if only rockbox would come out for ipod touch 2G...... then i could fit another 50+ songs on my 16 GiB ipod touch :D