Quote:
Originally Posted by kugino /img/forum/go_quote.gif
percentage increases and quantitative measurements of improvement are going to be difficult to provide. you'll really have to listen to it yourself to see if the difference is worth it to you.
some things to consider:
- portability/hassle factor. is it worth it to carry around more equipment for whatever the gain in sound quality?
- your source. is your source good enough to warrant a good amp?
- your headphones. are your headphones good enough to warrant an amp?
i'm quite happy with my er6i/livewires straight out of my ipod nano with no external amp. i used to have an imod with different portable amps, but the bulk was more than i was willing to put up with, so i ditched all of that for my minimalist portable setup.
however, my laptop rig uses a pico as DAC/amp...and i used to have an alien DAC/PINT...so i'm willing to have a bigger listening setup with my laptop, but not with a small portable player like the nano. YMMV...
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FeedMeTrance /img/forum/go_quote.gif
yes with an if
no with a but
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YES,
if you use high quality throughout the chain or perhaps NO
but you will always be wondering just how 'little' or 'big' the difference might have been
Everything really is dependent on you - what you use and how you hear the results.
I have decided to use Livewires as the end of my chain, with FLAC feeding an iRiver H140 through an amp via a cantsleep burned in silver IC. I would definitely say the amp can make at least 20% difference BUT (as FeedMeTrance might put it) that's the difference between low end MidFi sound (say 50% of what's possible) and higher end MidFi sound (say 70% of what's possible) (Note they are
my percentages based on
my recent testing of a number of amps with
my set up - You may find different).
The amps that made the most impact for me were the RSA SR-71 and the Mini3. But the differences between most other amps was minimal in overall percentage terms and very much related to different sound signature characteristics of the various amps - remember I am only trying to find what will work best for
me through
my Livewires - I think the differences could be much greater with full sized headphones if other threads are correct
Yes, portability/hassle factor is to be considered but, for me, the sound improvement is important regardless of carrying an SR-71 mini brick or even a sizeable Mini 3 (in comparison to a Tomahawk or a Xin amp). For you, size might be much more of a factor, as well as your preferred source audio encoding, etc.
In short - you really will need to try some things out for yourself - and try to get equipment loans from fellow HeadFiers, or arrange mini-meets with them - can save you time and dollars and is a great way to meet your compatriots and share music as well!
