Portable Amp for less than 100$ to suffice my combo's needs

You don't need an amp unless your IEMs can't be driven without clipping - and given the specs of the DAP and IEMs, you can't have clipping. In fact, adding an amp will reduce sq - because you'll have the ipod's amp noise plus the noise from the amp. (And probably most of the amps in your price range will have worse noise than the Apple's amp, so you'll more than double the noise...) Anything else is voodoo and marketing.

I suppose an exception might be if you want a lot of bass, in which case an amp with bass boost might help - but I'd try installing Rockbox and using its EQ first.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schiso 

 

 

I rockboxed my ipod classic and enabled the equalizer. Ive seen posts that w4r will be better with an amp. :(

There's no law to stop people posting stupid things to the Internet - regrettably. The WR's are an excellent design with very reasonable impedance and high efficiency, and the standard Apple dac/amp designs are excellent - they repeatedly proved impossible to tell from enormously expensive "audiophile" desktop components in blind testing. People believe silly things about amps because of the power of marketing and the placebo effect. But in reality:

http://tom-morrow-land.com/tests/ampchall/index.htm

It really is as simple as the tests in the article prove: if your amp and phones don't clip and noise is ok, that's as good as you're going to get. Which, ironically, is why amp sales are so profitable - you can sell a well-designed amp that costs $30 to make and it will sound as great as any amp on earth, and then the rest is down to your ability to bs your customers.