[vranswer]

According to CNET the Karma is rated at 60mW/channel. That's twice the 30m/W for the Ipod and suggests the ability to drive perhaps even the ER4S. Can anyone confirm/deny this?

 

[austonia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vranswer According to CNET the Karma is rated at 60mW/channel. That's twice the 30m/W for the Ipod and suggests the ability to drive perhaps even the ER4S. Can anyone confirm/deny this?

its rated at 30mw/ch.

 

[callanish]

55 MW/CH at 16 OHMS
30 MW/CH at 32 OHMS

 

[sparks]

I am using the Karma with Etymotic ER4S's. While I don't consider myself an expert, I do appreciate quality audio, and can hear the difference between HQ and Crap.

I find that the Karma drives my ER4S's just fine, for my taste. The bass seems adequate, after adjusting the Karma EQ, and I haven't felt the desire to feed the Karma into my Headroom Supreme amp. I have always used the amp with my portable CD player, but lately I have been downsizing the stuff I carry with me, hence the purchase of the Karma.

When I travel, I have begun to appreciate that less is more, especially if I can carry a lot of music in a small package like the Karma, and still have HQ audio.

I've only had the Karma for about a week, but so far I'm happy with the way it sounds with my ER4S's. Of course that's not to say that you will be satisfied. As I get older, I find that my hearing is not as good as it used to be, but I still can hear the difference between the "good, better, and best" systems.

Hope this helps.

 

[austonia]

if i remember right, it goes about as loud as an iPod at max, maybe a little less with ER4S. not much diff though

 

[sparks]

I have the volume level set at 20 give or take 1 or 2, with the normalization set to "off". That seems loud enough to me and I think I would be uncomfortable with it any louder. I don't like to play anything too loud. I think some of my slight hearing loss came about at a concert that I attended a number of years ago. My ears were ringing for hours afterward.

 

[halcyon]

I use ER-4P with Karma at volume 11 (ER-4P is 27 Ohm, with 4S adapter 107 Ohm).

Output measurements (at 27 Ohm)

Rio Karma 44,8 mW
Creative Zen Xtra 32 mW
iRiver IHP-120 15,6 mW
Apple iPod 3 mW (Euro version! US is more, don't know how much)

So, Karma has more than enough juice to drive ER-4P and apparently also ER-4S (based on sparks comments).

However, be warned that with higher sensitivity headphone at least I can hear my Karma's hard disk spin up during quiet periods.

 

[terrymx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by halcyon Apple iPod 3 mW (Euro version! US is more, don't know how much)

can you hear anything at all?

 

[halcyon]

With unsensitive headphones the sound can be quite weak yes. However, most Euro users (who know about this issue) hack their player with the US firmware to get the full amp output.

regards,
halcyon

 

[ratdog]

what is the average mw output of a basic cmoy?