[bluepowder]

Hi guys,
I'm a musician cum music lover from Singapore...my name's Sid....I'm from Singapore...

till date, Ive been listenting to most of my music on my ipod....basically....

Ipod -> Ultimate Ears (i believe its something.3...pardon my ignorance)

I wanna really updrage my setup.....I'm OK with my current in-ear ear-phones....I wanna get maybe an amp and headphones(senn hd series?) now!

So basically what I'm looking at:

(1) Budget of maybe 500 USD(flexible on this, I can spend more if I'm gonna get a significantly better setup)
(2) headphones ....I listen to everything from rock(led zep,porcupine tree etc) to jazz(chick corea etc) to metal(opeth,megadeth) to progressive(tool) to classical(chopin,debussy,haydn)
(3) amp.....not too big

I need a setup thats PORTABLE...cos I do most of my listening on my way to work and back.....standing in the train.

I've read some stuff here....read about getting better cables and a DAC etc....

If anyone could recommend threads to look at or give their suggestions , I'd me much obliged...

I got a list of amps to look at from Jaben....
Tomahawk
Humet
Predator
AE-2

Some headphones recommended were
Audio-technica(forgot the name BUT it had the wooder finish)
Beyer
Senn

I initially wanted to order a total bithead but they dont ship to Singapore

Appreciate the help

Cheers
Sid

 

[jgonino]

I vote for the following:

Line-out dock for Ipod: 45 USD
Denon D2000: 240-280 USD
Rockhopper Audio Mini3 portable amp: 125 USD + Shipping

 

[Pianist]

Even more portable will be Yuin PK1 + a good hi-fi amp and a source with line-out, like iMod or something.

 

[bluepowder]

cool I will check these out, any other suggestions?

 

[FallenAngel]

x2 jgonino on LineOut and a used Mini3. Headphones are up to you, I can't recommend what I like the most for portable so I'll leave that up to you.

 

[Luminette]

Definitely do the line-out dock. Ultrasone HFI-780s are a really popular choice of headphones right now for your budget but one must be wary of people being crazed over them since they are new. The D2000s mentioned earlier are a 'good' choice as well- all of these things will depend on your tastes and priorities of what you listen to really.

As for an amp, there are actually quite a few popular choices around that price range, a used Meier Porta Corda III (If you don't care about it looking ugly) could be your best value though the other choices mentioned are popular as well

Definitely take your time on this stuff and read up on the options you've found as best you can, as well as finding as many options as you can - rush is bad.

Edit- I almost forgot my annoying remark! Opeth is firmly considered to be progressive, where as Tool is more-or-less on the fence between 'normal' and 'prog' =D

 

[LaBreaHead]

I would think that, for listening on the train, you would want to use closed headphones or an IEM upgrade. Isolation would be important for you on a daily basis, right?

And it's nice that you can take advantage of having a resource such as Jaben ...

 

[1012007]

Jaben is in Singapore. Im not sure how far away you are from it but its a store with lots of stuff

 

[bluepowder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luminette /img/forum/go_quote.gif Edit- I almost forgot my annoying remark! Opeth is firmly considered to be progressive, where as Tool is more-or-less on the fence between 'normal' and 'prog' =D

lol ...noted....yea I guess in the traditional sense of things your definition is more accurate...I was thinking more along the lines of how I myself hear it

 

[bluepowder]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions guys...

Yea I did goto Jaben and they are the ones who recommended checking at this forum and their forum! I would love to know what I can get off their shop...cos it would be nice to try it...so any recommendations of stuff to buy from Jaben?

ps. I DONT wanna buy used stuff...why? cos I dont know enough to judge about it...and I dont wanna spend many months before I can get my setup.

If i need to up my budget so be it,

(1) budget upped to 700 USD
(2) looking for line out,headphones,amp

question about amps

How is the total bithead? a lot of people have recommended it to me but since they dont ship to singapore it will take a lot of effort to get it....anyother amps which are good enough in the price range?

thanks a TON guys

 

[bluepowder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaBreaHead /img/forum/go_quote.gif I would think that, for listening on the train, you would want to use closed headphones or an IEM upgrade. Isolation would be important for you on a daily basis, right? And it's nice that you can take advantage of having a resource such as Jaben ...

Yes I would need something to listen in the trains....Im told active noise cancelling changes the frequencies a little...

 

[rypin]

isolation best would be iems, dont use noise cancelling for sure, although there are some that are worthy liek the audio technicas. But i say for trains for sure IEMS all teh way. Go grab some livewires from ttyj good custom fit with a decent price, garantee to get a good isolation, for amps i would recommend a tomahawk, if you can dish out more predator, and if you willing to wait pico.

Alo cryo line out: 85
Tomahawk: 300
livewires: 250 if i remeber correctly if not 300

 

[bluepowder]

damn im confused...can anyone recommend good threads to read for intro to audiophilia?