[ken6217]

I was looking at buying an Imod and amp to use with my Sony Ex 1000 IEM's and was wondering if I will appreciate the difference using the Imod and amp if I am still using 256 kb compressed music?
 
Thanks in advance.
Ken

 

[a_tumiwa]

depend on your ears, is it sensitive enough?
 
 
i dont know with other, but i prefer the line out of non-expensive player like Teclast T51 than imod, i feel the sound is cleaner, imod is already old stuff, i think now is the era of hifi player.
if you want to buy a new imod, then you may consider other hifi player, except you want very big storage or you already have ipod 5/5.5G and modif it yourself.

 

[wolfen68]

Quote:

I was looking at buying an Imod and amp to use with my Sony Ex 1000 IEM's and was wondering if I will appreciate the difference using the Imod and amp if I am still using 256 kb compressed music?
 
Thanks in advance.
Ken

 
Well encoded mp3's will sound better with an imod/amp as compared to the normal headphone output of most portable players.  The big questions will be whether you can notice it (most people would given enough audition time) and whether the IEM's you use are resolving enough to show the difference. 

 

[ken6217]

I'm using Sony Ex1000's and Sennheiser HD-25's.
 
I decided to re-do the collection anyway and went to HUGE used CD store in Princeton, NJ. After a lot of work, I now have 43 gb of uncompressed music.
Ken

 

[ExpatinJapan]

Why not try the Fostex hp_p1, the imod is fairly old tech these days.

 

[kenman345]

Fostex HP-P1 is huge man, it and the CLAS option are ridiculously inconvenient. If you are going that route I think people should look into the Venturecraft version that has the built in amp like the Fostex. It's about the size of the CLAS but with the HP-P1 features and more.
Quote:

Why not try the Fostex hp_p1, the imod is fairly old tech these days.

and an iMod with an amp may end up being smaller than a iPod with a fostex HP-P1 or a iPod with a CLAS and an amp attached. The iMod is nice, I have listened to one and am getting a 240gb diyMod next week actually. The performance will all depend on what your source files are and what you're plugging into the amp. You may hear slight nuances you didnt hear before when you first start burning in the capacitors and that should increase as the LOD gets burned in over the course of an estimated 200+ hours and then if you were to A/B the iMod with an amp to a regular iPod with the same amp it should be noticeable even with higher end entry level headphones and IEMs. Anything less than $50 probably is not going to benefit too much from the iMod, not something that would justify it's purchase at least. But if you have the option and feel you're headphone and IEM collection will be growing soon, the iMod may be a good option for large capacity storage and transportation as well as playback. 

 

[ken6217]

Old, doesn't make it bad.
 
Also with the Fostex, I believe that it has the amp inside as well.I heard the amp section is not that great.
 
If I am going separates, then it should be all the way. I have high end 2 channel music at home and from my experience from that, I would not want an amp in the same chassis as my DAC.
 
So with that said, I did order the Cypher Labs AlgoRhythm Solo and am pairing it with the Portaphile 627 amp. I will compare that to the iMod plus 627 amp and keep which is better.
Ken