I own the earlier version of the AirHead portable amp.  Different packaging, and  uses 2 AA batteries.  I purchased it used after I had my Benchmark HPA2 stolen.  The HPA2 is a headphone amp on a little PC board mounted to a 1/4" jack, and I believe it is now out of production.  I had mounted it in a small box with a DC/DC converter to provide the required supply voltages from a 9V battery.  So, technically, it wasn't a "portable" amp, but I made it into one.    I mention all of that because this might not be a fair comparison.  The HPA2 was...

I've owned a pair of SR-80s since 1996 when my old Yamaha phones collapsed beyond repair. I auditioned a pair of SR-60s at a local high-end store, and when I was ready, got a pair.  I was very disappointed!  It wasn't at all the sound I had heard in the audition.  I was unhappy enough to return them, and in a newsgroup (remember them?) complained about my experience.  Group members had been praising the SR-60s at the time, and I couldn't get behind that.  To my surprise, I got an email from Joe Grado asking for my shipping address!  He offered me a...

I'm on my third pair of these, and that's mostly because I'm hard on them. Sound is fairly uncolored, though brighter than my reference Grado SR-80s.  They respond well to being driven by a decent amplifier.    The trick to getting good bass out of these, like most in-ear units, is getting a good seal.  They come with several sizes of pads, for me the larges works.  Without a good seal, you get poor bass and low isolation, but WITH a seal, wow!   The mic works well on my iPhone 3G and 4G, the control button could be more positive, but once...