Note: this is my first review of what I would consider to be a truly high end component. Perhaps that means it deserves a stepped-up, crazily thorough review with detailed write-ups on how it behaves with various sources and music and headphones… but I like to keep things informal and relatively simple. So that’s what I’ll be doing here, as well. Also, I apologize for the lack of pictures—I know how Head-Fiers love their pictures. If I get my hands on a decent camera (and someone capable of operating the durn thing), then I’ll post some pictures. Until then, I dunno, use your imagination. Or Google it.
 
The Great:
 
-Let’s start with the looks. Boy, is this guy a looker. I think it looks sexy and aggressive and classy, with a sort of hard-edged but luxurious aesthetic that really makes it the center of attention on my desk. My girlfriend says that it looks like a cute puppy dog begging for a treat.  So, whatever, we don’t exactly see eye to eye, but the important thing here is that there is a lot of ugly audio componentry out there that your significant others will try to force you to get rid of every time they have to look at it—the Phonitor is not one of them. I could go over more of the details, but honestly, just look at a picture.
 
-The features. The front panel of this amp is loaded with them. And they are, each and every one of them, pretty awesome. Now, that’s not to say that all of them are equally useful—at least, not if you’re an average Head-Fier like me who is just using the Phonitor as a regular old headphone amplifier. However, the Phonitor is not just a regular old headphone amplifier—SPL calls it a monitoring amplifier, and with good reason. If you need to check volume levels on each channel, you can do that. If you need to listen to a single audio channel or mimic your monitor setup, you can do that. If you need to reverse or invert phase or whatever such studio voodoo is called, you can do that.  (Look it up! This is informal, remember?)
 
-Even if you’re just using the Phonitor as an amplifier, however, the features are still worth playing with. Granted, pretty much all of the ones I mentioned directly above are, well, just for playing with. You can certainly do some pretty interesting things with them though, like practically stripping the vocals away from some songs, or bringing background instrumentation to the foreground so that you can actually catch that fiddle lick you’ve always wondered about.
 
-The really important features, however, are the cross-feed controls. Initially, I was afraid that they’d be a bit too overwhelming (I really like the simple on/off of Headroom’s cross-feed implementation), but their effects on the music is beautifully subtle—unless you turn everything to fairly extreme settings, flipping a switch or turning a dial is really going to require you to use your ears to notice the difference, and I like that. Drastically altering the musical output is possible, but I like playing it soft and easy with the cross-feed, which is controlled through three dials: Crossfeed, Speaker Angle, and Center Level. I’m not going to go through each of these controls—not only because I’m lazy, but because SPL’s excellent manual for the Phonitor (and Jude’s Head-Fi TV review of it) do a considerably better job than I ever could. Check those sources out if you want more information.
 
-With regards to the cross-feed, it is simply the best implementation of cross-feed that I’ve ever heard. Granted, my first-hand experience with cross-feed is fairly limited. I’m a certified newb with regards to this hobby, and I just have not had the opportunity to get out there and play with all of the gear that I’d like to. That said, once you home in on a cross-feed setting that you really like (or 2 or 3—having different settings for different recordings is actually pretty reasonable, in my opinion), you’ll be treated to the most natural, fatigue-free music you’ve ever heard. Or at least, that’s how it was for me. Now, like I said, the cross-feed effects are *very* subtle—with some recordings, clicking a dial over one position or even two will yield no noticeable difference.  Just play with it, try out different recordings, and give each setting you tinker with time to burn into your brain. I will say that the Center Level is my favorite aspect of cross-feed tuning—finally, you can get all the benefits of even the most extreme cross-feed levels without turning the center into a mud-pit!
 
-The volume control. This thing is pure sex. I’ve never used a smoother control in my life, and I love the numbers arrayed around it—makes it very easy to remember ideal volume positions for each of your headphones, and even for some of your recordings. (I’m looking at you, John Zorn and Iggy Pop.)
 
-Speaking of the volume control—between it and the beautiful and hypnotic (especially at night) VU meters you may gain a new appreciation for listening to your headphones at reasonable volumes. I don’t have any way to directly measure the volume output of my headphones in db, but I can figure out a rough approximation by taking into account my headphones’ specs and the Phonitor’s volume control and VU meters. I personally have always aimed for a listening level of about 70-80 db, something I’ve always tried to home in on by ear, based on what I’ve read about the various noise levels of average, every-day sounds. The Phonitor makes such homing quite a bit easier.
 
-The sound. A quick caveat—I suspect that my relatively inexpensive, though still impressive (to my ears) Headroom Micro DAC probably bottlenecks my system a bit. Add to that the fact that my ability to accurately describe and pick apart sound has always been somewhat lacking, and, well, this part of the review is going to be sort of incomplete, is basically what I’m saying. Note also that the ‘signature’ of the Phonitor I’m describing below is fairly generalized—the extent to which it affects a particular headphone’s sound is, of course, entirely dependent upon the headphone’s inherent qualities. If you want good sound impressions, I’d really recommend you look elsewhere. Try Headfonia or Head-Fi TV.
 
                -The first thing I noticed was the bass, and how *controlled* it was. For example, I’ve always thought the bottom notes on Sufjan Stevens’s track ‘John Wayne Gacy, Jr.’ were fairly shapeless—blobs of low frequency information without any clear edges.  I’ve just figured that they were a fault of the recording. However, the Phonitor seems to almost remove a thick veil from the low notes, revealing nicely detailed and clearly delineated bass notes that sound, well, analog. Not only can I ‘feel’ the vibrations—I can hear them too. Such control is evident in other tracks I’ve always thought prey to unsightly and muddy low frequencies, as well—such as The xx’s ‘Fantasy.’
 
                -The second thing I noticed was how the backgrounds of various tracks don’t seem as far back as they used to be—which is not to say that they are brought really far forward, as that would only lead to their details running rampant over the ‘important stuff.’  It’s just that now I can pick out those minor string or keyboard parts in art pop without having to even actively listen for them: the Phonitor has given Joanna Newsom’s back-up orchestration on her album 'Ys' a whole new lease on life. I can’t reconcile how this is happening without pushing the foreground and the background onto one chaotic ‘plane,’ but it works. It works beautifully.
 
                -Lastly, things just sound less congested on the Phonitor. I suspect it’s the pitch black background that does it—even noisy recordings where you can hear the room and environment in which they were born still manage to pop in a vibrant way I've not experienced before.
 
The Good:
 
-The manual. I wish every product came with a manual as informative as this one. Indeed, it’s almost a little too informative in spots—and I can’t help but feel that some of the more technical aspects it covers suffer from a bit of a wonky translation into English, assuming that this manual was translated directly from the German one. (Or maybe I’m just dumb and it all goes right over my head.) Still, that and a couple of typos aside, this is one product manual you probably won’t mind actually settling down to read.
 
-The rear panel of this thing is laid out really well—I typically hate having power switches on the back of devices because I can never find them that way--but here that’s no problem. Everything just feels like it’s right where it should be, and the fact that some of the labels on it are printed up-side down so that you can read them when you’re looking at them over the front of the amp is a nice touch.
 
-The ability to change the sensitivity of the VU meters is a nice touch, as is the -20 db adjustment switch.  I use both a lot more than I thought I would—the -20 db switch for quick volume suppression and the VU sensitivity switch for getting a better read on the volume of especially loud (or poorly mastered) music.
 
-The Phonitor runs very cool. When I saw its huge vents all over the case, I was worried it was going to be one hot piece of machinery. That is just simply not the case. Only thing I’m worried about with those huge vents is dust getting in and colonizing the interior.
 
The Nitpicks:
 
-The cost. The Phonitor is not a cheap amp—I got a deal on it and my wallet was still aching afterward. Is it worth it? I think so—I’m really loving it thus far, and am eager to feed it something from a higher-end DAC in the future. Still, I suspect that this amp’s price is quickly approaching the point of diminishing returns. At least, it is for someone with an income like mine.
 
-The Crossfeed dial was loose upon me receiving the amp and spun freely, rather than clicking into place. This was nothing that a little readjustment and a hex wrench couldn’t fix, but still, just goes to show that despite its buff looks and German heritage, not even the Phonitor is indestructible.
 
-Those looking for an immediate and noticeable improvement over a previous amplifier with the Phonitor may be disappointed—the Phonitor works its magic only on a very subtle level. Or, at least, it does so with my stable of headphones and my sources.
 
-The Phonitor is huge. Making room for it can be a challenge. Not recommended for people who have a covert setup or who have very little space to begin with.
 
-There’s no way to dim the Phonitor’s front VU meters, or the bright red lights within the case itself.
 
-Leaving your headphones plugged in after turning the amp off will result in rather startling, loud noises emitting from your headphones after the amp’s power-down process is complete. The manual does include a warning about this (it recommends unplugging your headphones whenever you turn the amp off), though I doubt it’s actually doing the headphone’s drivers themselves any harm. Just don’t leave them on your head after you’ve powered off. I made this mistake once, and it was unpleasant. (The intensity of the noises differs depending upon your headphone. For example, it’s hardly there on my Denon AHD2000s, but it sounds like a banshee on my HD650s.)
 
-Perhaps I'm just imagining it, but it seems like the Phonitor requires a bit of warm-up before it starts sounding its best. Listen to it right after flipping the power switch on and it can sound a touch on the thin side.
 
-Don't expect to be able to perfectly drive low-impedance headphones off of the Phonitor. While there is a -20 db switch that should give you a wider range of volume control, you will get a noticeable background hum out of low-impedance headphones when you are driving them with the Phonitor. Note that this hum may not actually be noticeable while music is playing over it, but you'll probably catch it in between tracks or during silent moments.
 
Conclusions:
 
The Phonitor is a hell of an amp, and I love it to death. My current system does not do the thing justice I’m sure, but I plan on rectifying that as time goes on. More headphones, a better DAC, maybe I’ll even play around with expensive cables at some point, who knows. I plan on updating this review once in a while as my system evolves, and I’ll post the volume settings I use for each of my headphones as well—which I’ll update when I add new headphones to my stable. Or try borrowed headphones with the amp. (You know, if any of you guys want to send me your LCD-2s and HD800s and T1s and whatnot... ) If you see any obvious mistakes in this review or have any questions, let me know! Thanks for reading!
 
My listening levels:
(Please note that these just represent my comfort level with the gear I use.)
 
AKG K701:
Normal: -28
Loud (no more than a couple minutes at a time): -19
 
Beyerdynamic DT1350 (Background hum noticeable on all volume levels):
Normal: -35
Loud (no more than a couple minutes at a time): -24
 
Denon AH-D2000
Normal: -28
Loud (no more than a couple minutes at a time): -19
 
Sennheiser HD650:
Normal: -28
Loud (no more than a couple minutes at a time): -19

Honestly, I probably can't say a whole lot of these that hasn't already been said before. Still, I figure it's worth putting my two cents out there, so here goes!
 
The Great:
 
-While the looks are certainly not to everyone's taste, I think they look fantastic. Easily one of the most attention-grabbing pair of headphones I've ever seen--even people who scoff at you when they hear you remark upon the sexiness of this or that pair of headphones can be stopped short in their tracks by the K701.
 
-The sound. It's not perfect--indeed, I do have a couple of moderate-to-severe nagging issues with it. But, on the whole, I find that these cans play extremely well with most of the music I throw at them. I especially find that jazz and chamber music that has been recorded live suits the K701 marvelously--the amount of detail that these headphones present to you is superb, especially considering that they manage to somehow not detract from the music itself. I also really enjoy them with thickly-layered pop albums where the K701's excellent instrument separation can work its magic, albums like Sufjan Stevens's Age of Adz and Talk Talk's The Colour of Spring. And if you're looking for a quasi-religious experience, give these cans William Basinski's Disintegration Loops to chew on. The sound of decay has never been more beautiful.
 
The Good:
 
-The packaging. Sure, you don't get a sturdy and pretty box to store them away with, but un-boxing these is a superior treat--and the cheapie little stand they come with is actually pretty handy.
 
-Boy, I love how easy the velour ear pads are to remove and clean. After hearing horror stories about trying to put Hifiman cans back together without breaking something, or feeling like I'm destroying the DT 1350s when trying to peel the pads off, I'm afraid to try and remove the pads on any cans period... except for the 701s. They come off easy, they go on easy, and they stay secure. Everyone should ape AKG's design here.
 
-Good value for the money, in my opinion. I'm eager to try out phones that are a bit pricier just to see how they compare. (Comparing this with the HD 650 as I type this now.)
 
The Nitpicks:
 
-The bass. Now, I think the bass is suitable for most of what I listen to, and it's present enough and extended enough for you to not miss anything... but those who like their bass to have a visceral presence should really look elsewhere. That said, some amping and equalization can really bring the K701's bass to life, but it's still not going to touch that of other quality full-sized cans.
 
-The sound stage is another possible hiccup with regards to the K701's sound--it may be, of all things, just a little too wide. It can make some music feel a tad artificial or tinny, and genres that depend upon aural blunt force trauma, like lots of metal, really suffer on these. The K701s will spread whatever you're listening to out by a pretty fair amount, and while doing so can yield great results, spreading out anything that's loud and heavy, or immediate and intimate, can really hurt the overall effect.
 
-Some people report that they find the K701s to be very comfortable--while I can tolerate them longer than, say, my DT 1350s, they don't at all approach the weightless sensation of something like the Denon AHD2000s. The bumps along the bottom of the headband which help to give the headphones some of their aesthetic appeal really have a way of drilling into your skull after a long listening period. And while the clamping force is pretty moderate, I find that the pads really push on my glasses.
 
-Speaking of glasses, just moving my head around while listening results in my frames and the velour ear pads squeaking up against one another rather loudly. (Despite the fact that they grip tighter and have similar pads, I don't have this problem on the HD650s.)
 
-While the headphones look fantastic, once you get them in your hands they feel pretty cheap and flimsy, and aesthetic flaws are easy to find, whether they came with the phones or rather you put them there. Which is all too easy to do, given just how white these things are, and how easily the silver can and will attract fingerprints. Also, all of that white can chip very easily. Be careful when putting these things down on a hard surface.
 
-I have concerns about how long the elastic strings which allow the headphones to self-adjust on your head can last, especially on a big head like mine.
 
-No detachable cables, no way to fold these things up, no way to wear them around your neck without looking like a dope. The K701s are big and bulky, and they are going to stay big and bulky.
 
The Bad:
 
-The K701s are hard to drive. They need an amp, and a fairly good one, to be worth listening to. Plugging them into an iPod won't get you much in the way of volume, and will make the K701s sound paper-thin and wispy. Plugging them into the headphone jack on your computer will result in slightly better sound, but still nothing to write home about. In fact, your cheapie headphones plugged into your computer will probably sound better. Don't even consider these without having an amp that can power them, or if you don't have room in your budget for an amp.
 
Conclusion:
 
So, there you have it. I really like these headphones. I'm not great at describing sound, so if you found those portions of my review a bit lacking, you'll find plenty of better listeners and writers describing the sound of these on the forums if you do a quick search. Thanks for reading!

First thing's first--I'm not a speaker guy. I picked these up because my cruddy $10.00 speakers were, well, cruddy, and I needed something that would sound at least a little bit better for those rare occasions when I'm not using headphones. So, this may not be much of a review, as my experience with decent speakers is, well, zilch.  I don't doubt that there are far better speakers out there for the price of these, or even for cheaper. I'm not going to lie--I went with these because they are dead sexy. Seriously. That's how much of a speaker guy I am--I take sexiness over sound. Still, that said, these speakers have some pretty positive things going for them I think, so let's get this review rolling....
 
The Great:
 
-Let's get the obvious out of the way first--I really, really think these things look amazing. I'm not the only one--everyone who sees mine practically fawns over them. They look great in pictures, sure, but having them sit on your desk is really special--Joey Roth, the designer, really deserves some serious credit for the aesthetics of these things. Oh yeah, and the amp sort of looks like a toaster, which is basically awesome.
 
-This is a complete speaker system. It comes with everything you'll need to get them hooked up.
 
-The packaging these came in is great, as is the 'manual.' Roth put a lot of thought into making a strong first impression--unboxing these and setting them up is almost as exciting as unboxing anything Apple.
 
-Not only do the speakers and the accompanying amp look great, but they *feel* great. The two do not always go in hand--for example, I think the AKG K701 is an absolutely gorgeous looking headphone, but I find that they feel very cheap in the hands. These though--I spent some quality time petting them after getting them out of the box, and I never found a flaw. And that's just the speakers--the amp is easily the most solid and pleasant to use piece of gear on my desk. (Edit: was the most pleasant to use piece of gear on my desk. It has been supplanted by the SPL Phonitor.)
 
-Roth seems like a great guy--I've had a couple of email exchanges with him regarding this and that, and I've found him to be very helpful, knowledgeable, friendly, and eager to please. This guy does not slack on his customer service, and he's very personable, to boot.
 
The Good:
 
-I may not be a speaker guy, but I'd like to think that I know what good sound sounds like. And these certainly passed my test: the closing track of Sunn 0)))'s Monoliths and Dimensions, Alice. These speakers were able to send shivers down my spine, and, you know what? That's more than good enough for me. I'm not great at describing sound, but I found them to be nicely balanced and detailed--would really recommend you Google them to get more and better writing on their sonic qualities.
 
The Nitpicks:
 
-Pink interconnects. I mean, I keep them tucked away, but really?
 
-I'm a little bit iffy on the wood bases--they are considerably more solid than they look, no worries on that account, but they do seem a bit rough around the edges, and feel fairly cheap when compared to the rest of the system.
 
-Why is the power switch for the amp on the back? I mean, it's not terrible or anything.... but I would have liked it on the front. Maybe that's just personal preference, though.
 
-The volume control on the amp is a real pleasure to use... except for the fact that it's just a little wiggly. Not very wiggly, mind you--but enough to be a slight bummer when compared with how substantial and solid the amp itself feels.
 
-Bass heads should steer clear, unless they plan on adding a fairly good subwoofer to the mix. For what it is, I find the bass to be fairly impactful, and to suit most of my music collection just fine--but there's no denying the fact that there is a *lot* of bass information missing when listening to these speakers. I'd highly recommend factoring a subwoofer into your budget if you plan on getting these. I've confirmed with Roth that he is currently working on designing a subwoofer to match the speakers--but really, any decent sub should probably do just fine.
 
-These are fairly pricey. And, as I've said earlier, I'm certain that you can obtain better sound quality for less money out of other speakers. Which leads me to my next point...
 
In Sum:
 
I really think the main thing you're paying for here is the quality/sexiness of the materials used. To my ears, the speakers do sound quite nice, and while they are fairly directional, I've found that they do a pretty good job of filling a small room with good sound. If getting the most bang for your buck, or getting the best sound quality you can is your main concern, however, then you could do worse than to look elsewhere. Me--I'd take these little beauties over even the prettiest sounding chunk of curvy black plastic any day. If you prefer speakers over headphones though, you're not likely to agree with me.

I couldn't believe my ears the first time I heard the DT1350. It seriously blew me away. I was expecting it to sound pretty good, given all of the positive reception it has been receiving here and elsewhere, but Jesus. I wasn't expecting it to sound *this good. * In fact, I was so awestruck by it that I even thought it might be better than my full-sizes. (It's not, as I later confirmed--though it played a lot nicer with my jazz collection than my Denon AHD2000, to my ears. Mingus's The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady was simply beautiful on the DT1350.)
 
The Great:
 
-The sound. I've listened to the Sennheiser HD 25-1 II, which many people seem to agree is the best sounding on-ear sealed portable headphone in production. And they are certainly very good headphones, there's no denying that. I think these are significantly better, however. The bass is more finely controlled (but still deep and heady enough to feel positively seismic at times), the sound stage is wider, the instrument separation is clearer, and all the little hidden details from your favorite tracks are easier to pick out. Other people are far better at describing a headphone's sound signature than I am, so I'll leave the rest to them. Suffice to say, I'm very impressed with the way these headphones perform.
 
-The DT 1350 does respond very well to amping, I've found--but even plugged straight into my 4-year old iPod Touch they maintain a lot of their positive sonic character. (Update: that said, they do sound quite a bit better amped--I'm not sure that I'd recommend these headphones unless you have an amp to power them, but they'll still do the trick without one.)
 
-These are very portable. Whether folded flat around your neck or traveling with you in the supplied carrying case, the DT 1350 can pretty much go with you everywhere that you need to go.
 
-Speaking of the case, it's pretty nice. I use it to not only hold the headphones, but also various adapters, interconnects, and even a couple of hex wrenches. You know--stuff you need everyday. ^^
 
-They isolate extremely well. If you're like me and earbuds and IEMs cause you physical pain and discomfort, but wish there was a headphone out there that approached their ability to isolate, you're in luck.
 
The Good:
 
-Very attractive design. Probably not to everyone's taste, but I find them to be a real joy to hold and look at every time I take them out for use, aside from a few issues I raise below.
 
-The split headband is nice--I've never worn a headphone that was easier to keep in place than the DT1350.
 
The Nitpicks:
 
-So far as I can tell, the only things that are easily replaced by users are the ear pads. In this regard, I wish Beyerdynamic had paid more attention to the design of the HD 25-1 II.
 
-Kinda sorta pricey. Do your research first before taking the plunge on these.
 
-They're not the most comfortable cans in the world. Not that anyone in their right mind would expect them to be... But boy, if you get overzealous about listening to them, you're really gonna pay the price for it later when you have to pry these things off your aching skull. The clamping force on these is seriously pretty intense--which no doubt helps with the isolation and whatnot, but ouch. I recommend not wearing them for much longer than 2 hours--4 absolute max, unless you're made of far sterner stuff than I am. (Update: the comfort is considerably better after these break in--or after your head breaks in.)
 
-While I like the overall design and aesthetics of these headphones, I do have a few niggles with them:
      -If you're not careful when swiveling the ear pads flat, you can catch the cord right where it enters the cups between the metal bales (think that's the right term) and the metal band that holds the adjustment sliders. If you did this particularly forcefully and repeatedly over a period of time without realizing it, I imagine that this would not be a good thing.
     -The plastic sheaths on the split headband look and feel rather cheap.
     -The pleather padding on the underside of the headband is not convincing. Not only do the two strips of pleather seem to be off center on my pair, but they also seem to be unevenly and under-stuffed. The overall effect of the headband is a tad bit on the sloppy side. (Update: One of these crummy pads came nearly completely off on my pair after about 4 and a half months of semi-regular use--so not only are the pads themselves of poor quality, but it would seem that the adhesive that holds them onto the band is sub-par, as well. Obviously, it wasn't anything that a little bit of firm glue couldn't fix, but still, I was pretty annoyed.)
 
-Finding the sweet spot for these headphones can be a real challenge. Even if you have no troubles finding it once, you may be hard pressed to find it the next time you put them on. And even once you do have them on and have them sounding great, if you're at all like me, you're gonna be constantly readjusting and poking and proding them trying to see if you can make them sound even better. In my experience, the bass is the easiest to recognize aspect of the DT 1350's sound that is affected by how close you are to the sweetspot. Close but not quite and it sounds pretty flabby. Too far away and it's painfully anemic.
 
The Bad:
 
-This applies to folks with long, wavy/curly hair only. These will pull on your hair. They will pull your hair out. They will get stuck in your hair. If someone is trying to talk to you and you're trying to take the headphones off so that you can listen to them without seeming rude but you're doing it too fast, they will get caught in your hair and make you look like a complete doofus. You will seriously be standing there with these headphones tangled up and hanging in your glorious mane of hair with someone laughing at you and offering to fetch you a pair of scissors. The key? Remove them slowly, extending the headband as you go.
 
-The cable makes a lot of noise when it rubs against other objects. Pretty lame for a portable pair of headphones.
 
In Sum:
 
The DT 1350s are a pretty finicky and occasionally painful little pair of cans that sometimes make you want to hate them. But then they slip into their sweetspot and they're positively magical, and all is right with the world, for at least a little while. There may be other portable sealed headphones out there that will match your needs and price range better than these will--so, as always, do your homework first. And take into serious consideration the problems that people are bringing up with these headphones. I think they're worth it--you may not think the same.
 
(Update: Lowered the overall score a little bit and tweaked the other scores to make room for my frustration with the headband pads--read above.)
 
(Update: It seems to be pretty universally accepted that Beyerdynamic has been having some quality control issues with these headphones--if you get a pair that sounds like it should it's awesome: but it would seem that there are some pairs out there that sound and measure terribly.)

My first review! I'm a bit of a newb, so please take what I say with a grain of salt!
 
The Great:
 
-This little amp is positively packed with features--and you'll use them all. Even the ones that you think you won't, like the 'flashlight' mode, or the 75 Ω button. (Makes for a great way to quickly lower the volume if someone is talking to you.)
 
-It's got some truly unique features--a lot of which are packed into the amp's power button. ('Sleep' mode, flashlight, LED dimmer, battery tester...) On top of that is the adjustable cross feed and the media control shuttle, which you can use to pause, play, and skip forward and back when you've got the amp hooked up to your computer. (Getting this to work the way you want it to may require some setup.)
 
-I think that the implementation of the bass and the treble boost is worth mentioning--even if you don't much care for EQing your headphones, it's hard to resist toying with these features a little bit. They add just enough oomph to make a noticeable and welcome difference in most cases. I've yet to turn them on with any music and headphones combination and be displeased with the result.
 
-The guys (or guy, or guys and girls, whatever) at Practical Devices are the very definition of great customer service. The unit I got came with a hex wrench that was too small to fully tighten the volume knob after taking it off to do some op-amp rolling. One email to Practical Devices and I got two wrenches of the correct size lickety split. (The amps now ship with the correct size wrench.)
 
-Three year warranty. Awesome.
 
-This amp is ridiculously easy to upgrade. Even an idiot like me can do it. Sure, I was sweating bullets the whole time, scared to death that I was going to irreparably break something, but it wound up being a piece of cake. The whole amp comes apart and goes back together again very easily, though sometimes getting the face plates re-positioned just right will cause a moment's aggravation.
 
-I love the battery life on this thing. Granted, its life does depend heavily on how the amp is configured, but stock (and even after some op-amp rolling) it still outlasts the battery on my iPod.
 
-The XM6 sounds good stock, and sounds even better when you install an op-amp that you like. Plenty of upgrade options. I, for one, am looking forward to trying other chips in it in the future.
 
The Good:
 
-The USB DAC is a nice little touch--I find myself using it quite a lot, especially at work. I stayed with the 8740 DAC in mine, though there are more choices when you purchase the amp.
 
-Other than a few niggly points (look below) I like the cross feed and use it fairly frequently--I find it makes long music-listening sessions considerably less fatiguing than they would be otherwise.
 
-While it's useless now, the AUX expansion should allow for some (hopefully) pretty cool add-on stuff in the future.
 
The Nitpicks:
 
-The adjustable cross feed is nice... but unless you carry a screwdriver with you everywhere you go, it's not the sort of thing you'll be using very often.
 
-Maybe it's just me, but I've found that it can be difficult to find a happy medium with the cross feed. It can sound and work great with most music, but with other music it can cause the center of some productions to get pretty muddy (Kayo Dot's Choirs of the Eye is a prime offender, for example), even when it's set fairly close to stereo. Now, I could take a screwdriver to the cross feed control and try to fine-tune it further, but when I'm on the go or actually trying to get some work done, it's just easier to turn the cross feed off. This is a problem that I don't have with my Headroom Micro Amp, and that's only got two flavors of cross feed: on or off.
 
-This is more of a transportable amp than it is a portable amp, really. It's not something that I'd try to use from my bag or a pocket--not only is it just a little too big for that, but it's really easy to push its buttons or turn its volume knob without trying. (Hasn't stopped me from using it this way before, though.) I think the best thing to do with it is to put on the adhesive feet that it came with and treat it as a portable desktop amp, if that makes sense.
 
-The XM6 appears to be solidly built, no denying that, but there are a few little aesthetic niggles I have with it. The groves on its side (on mine, at least) didn't get quite as good a coat of paint as did the rest of the amp. The buttons along the front of the device don't all line up totally right, and feel fairly loose and wiggly--though I doubt that they are going anywhere. Not sure that I care for the sticker that comes attached to it that displays your XM6's configuration--though you could probably remove it fairly easily if you wanted. (Can you tell that I'm really stretching to find faults at this point?)
 
-The XM6 is a bit on the pricey side when compared with some of its competition. I think the price is justified if you really plan on using all, or at least most of, the XM6's features. The fact that it's so easy to drastically change the amp's sound is really great, as well, and isn't something I see a lot of. Still, a lot of people can probably get what they need out of another amp and for quite a bit less. Just research before you buy.
 
In Sum:
 
I love this amp--it goes with me to work every day, and I use it at home if I'm away from my 'main rig' for whatever reason. If you've done your research, checked out the competition, have cash to spare, and love lots of features, go for it. The amp comes with a 30-day money back guarantee, so if it doesn't suit you at all, you're not out anything.
 
Thanks for reading.