I know that for most people an iPod dock that doesn't extract a digital bitstream, contain a DAC or transform into a jet that will fly you to a private island is kind of boring. If so, you have my permission to skip this mini-review of my new AV{DOCK} and BASE{DOCK} from Z-Docks (formerly known...

People sometimes describe headphones as delivering an experience akin to sitting "front and center" in a concert hall. Or maybe "twenty rows back" for some other headphone. Where do most people consider the prime listening location at an orchestra performance? Is being too close more...

I know that with video being digitized from movies on film it can sometimes be tougher or require more bit rate to properly capture grainy and/or dirty old prints than a fine-grained, pristine modern print. Does any of that apply to old audio recordings? I'm thinking of some of the CD's I have...

My armchair listening setup is iPod Classic (via line out)==>Portaphile V2^2==>HD595 and I think it sounds great. I've experienced high-end headphones and sources and won't claim my setup matches that level of detail and spaciousness but I am perfectly happy listening to music through this...

I'm starting to think encoding my music at around 170-190kpbs AAC for the iPod is way overkill. I've installed EAC and Foobar on my computer and am gradually re-ripping all my CD's and then encoding them as VBR .m4a files with a setting of -q 0.55 using Nero's command line encoder. I also...

I've been doing some searching through the archives here and with Google and I think what I'm planning is practical. I'm hoping you folks will indulge me with an overall assessment of my ideas. I use iTunes to sync to my iPod and I've been just ripping and encoding to AAC with it, too. I want...

As my two-year-old iPod Mini begins its inevitable battery-life decline, I was casting about wondering what I'd do next (with paying $59 for a new battery being an option). The G5 iPods were out of my price range until I happened across the Apple factory refurbs. They're selling the 30GB for...

I have a long, long airplane trip coming up this summer and I need a pair of in-ear monitors to let me listen to my iPod instead of jet noise. I'm going to get cheap ones so it probably comes down to three choices: super.fi 3 ER-6i E2c How do these three compare on blocking out external...

If I want to drive two headphone amplifiers with the line-level output of my Adcom CD player, do I need some sort of splitter/combiner thingy? From my vague recollection of studying RF electronics (I've never studied up on audio and my RF experience is decades old) it's a big no-no to just...

I've replaced the CD player (Adcom GCD-575), power amp (GFA-535) and spekaers (A-D-S L810) in my "music room" with a headphone setup consisting of the GCD-575, Portaphile V2 w/24V wallwart and HD595. The listening experience is much more enjoyable and the sound is better. The only problem is how...

Most people mention at the beginning of their review what similar equipment they've used in the past. Instead, I'll just have to say that the Portaphile V2 I recently purchased from Cesar Aguilera is the first headphone amp I've ever listened to (other than electrostatic driver amps a couple...

So I got my first good headphone today. FedEx delivered it to me at work, I closed the door and plug it into the iPod. It's a lightly used (4 months old) HD595, packed in the original box which was inside a sturdy shipping box with lots of bubble wrap. Looks immaculate. The HD595 smells...

Is there a back-of-envelope way to ballpark the proper gain for a headphone amp? I know it depends on input voltage, is "line level" always pretty much that same? By that I mean will a home CD player and a portable CD player and a portable MP3 player line-out generally be in the same...

I'm getting my first good headphone, a used Sennheiser HD595. In all likelihood it will sound great from the stout little headphone jack of my old Adcom CD player. It may even work OK out of my iPod Mini, although it has famously puny headphone driver performance. So I really ought to use a...

I have two almost unrelated questions. Advice on either or both is appreciated. Q1: Where is the easiest place to obtain a replacement set of earpads (or whatever you call the little foam-and-cloth thingies) for a HD595 headphone? Q2: I just had a brainstorm, well more like a little gust...

I'm actually not a DIYer but I hope that this is the place to have a couple of concepts explained. I have an electrical engineering degree (early 80's vintage) but don't recall very much practical design stuff and what I knew is perhaps obsolete anyway. I'm trying to study up enough to make...

The only CD player I've ever owned is an Adcom GCD-575 that I bought used in about 1989-ish. It is set up in my "music room" with its variable line output driving a GFA-535 and a pair of ancient A-D-S speakers (two-way "bookshelf" speakers, each the size of a dorm refrigerator). It sounds a...

So in reading up on various closed, circumnaural headphones that might fit my listening preferences some of them are always discussed with the caveat that an amplifier is required because their impedance or lack of sensitivity makes them "hard to drive". What is the actual sound of a headphone...

So I'm listening to my Money for Nothing compilation CD on the iPod while working at my desk. After a while it dawns on me...on most tracks the sound sucks. I don't have any recent-vintage Knopfler recordings. What are some suggestions for one or two that might sound better than the old Dire...

I recently bought an iPod Mini which I really like. It sounds good with some PX200 headphones although at some point I'll try "better" ones (or at least more expensive ones). Anyway, I've been reading on this forum about how portables like the iPod, running on three to six volts and with...

I have an iPod Mini. I bought it for three uses: 1) to avoid needing a CD player my car and it works great through the cassette adapter, 2) to listen at work by myself in a cubicle that's fairly quiet but not totally private and 3) to listen on airplanes when I travel three or four times a year...