A quick thanks to GLITCH3D and Hellbishop for the suggestions. We'll definitely check them out. Any other suggestions? It seems like there's a bit of wider interest in this question.

Hey folks   My wife is heading over to the US in a few days and wants to check out and buy some cans. She travels a bit on planes and trains, so is thinking of noise-cancelling on-ears, but maybe I can convince her to find some space in her bags for me... :)   Anyway, can anyone...

The new stock is available to buy!!!   I've just placed my order and am doing a jig waiting for my package!

Quote: Yeeeeeessss... have I missed something? 

Quote: Ahhh... you got me all excited. Just checked the site and same ol' same ol' - temporarily out of stock. :( Can't be too much longer... I hope!!!!

Quote: I asked Nick a similar question. He replied: "The amp can drive anything from low-impedance in-ears to high-impedance cans. I've even tried it with 600 ohm headphones, and   it gives a decent output level. I think Headroom.com has some great reviews on a wide variety of...

Ennio Morricone: The Mission Michael Nyman: Gattaca Vangelis: Bladerunner

You might want to look at the Leckerton UHA-4, which is a portable amp/DAC. Nick is very good at responding to enquiries and although he's out of stock this shouldn't be the case in the next week or so.   I only mention this as I'm in a similar boat to you and after a bit of digging around...

Remember the days of Walkmans? The real ones - the ones that played tape?   I don't have any of my old gear around (too many house moves), but I'm sure that there are some gems in drawers out there.   I'd love to have a look at some old stuff, and I'm sure that others would too.  ...

Hey, the 80s are back! I'm sure I saw a kid the other day wearing fluro socks and leg warmers. <shudder>   I don't have my gear from then, but how about people post some pics of retro rigs? Actually, that's pretty exciting - I think I'll start a thread!   EDIT - sorry - this posting...

Basically it sets the strength of the output noise signal. Low gain has a less powerful (quieter) signal, while high gain is louder.   Low gain is intended for IEMs, where less volume output is required. When using external cans people generally want the signal a bit louder, so the high gain...

Some juicy info here - thanks for the tips!   I hadn't heard of the 27 Club and checked out the link - that is really quite eerie.   Jeff Buckley is definitely a good one and, coincidentally, I've got his CD in my car at the moment.   The strange and tragic thing about JB was that...

  A lot of people rave about the E17 - very affordable with stacks of features.   Haven't tried it myself, although I'm thinking about moving to an amp/DAC since I'm starting to listen through my laptop a bit.   I'm leaning more towards something like the Leckerton UHA-4. Sounds like...

Oops, sorry - misread your message.   My understanding is that the iPhone4s has a DAC that, like the iPod, can't be bypassed.   So, for the iPhone you only need to buy the amp and not the DAC.   Hmmm... might cut down on the coffee now.... 

Hi there   I think that the advice for the iPod is: use an LOD (this disengages the iPod's amp - it is useless while the LOD is connected); and use an amp, portable or otherwise (this will do a much better job than the iPod's internal amp, which you are bypassing).   Other points...

  Not sure how many people have heard of Nick Drake, but although he never made it past 26 he left us with some truly great work.   I was listening to his album Five Leaves Left tonight and started wondering how many other great talents people may have missed because they left us...

I don't know if this thread is great because it's so interesting and there are so many great tips, or bad because I can just see my wallet bleeding!    Anyway, my two cents worth in no order:   Natalie Merchant - particularly her first two solo albums, and her life album (check out The...

What a great set of reviews - thank you very much for an excellent job! So glad that I came across this since I'm looking to buy my first amp, and this is just the sort of explanation that's really helpful to a newbie like me!

Bump! What a great idea - this is a really, really useful post. I hope that people take full advantage. 

  Hi folks   Firstly, I only found Head-Fi a few days ago, and it’s amazing! The discussions are great and a pleasure to read, probably because everyone is so keen about the topics.   Anyway, I’m struggling to choose my first portable amp / DAC unit, which I’ll be teaming with my...

Hey, has anyone compared the E17 with the Leckerton UHA-4? I'm in the market for my first portable amp/dac, and these both seem to be good units.   Thanks in advance! :)