Best Portable Amp for Shure 530s

[skoog5600]

In ya'lls humble opinion, what is the best portable amp available that will compliment the Shure 530s.

I am running off a 4G 20G Ipod (occasionally a 3G Iphone).

Budget - above 200 clams.

Thanks in advance for your opinions.

Skoog

 

[vkvedam]

Hey
I am not sure about clams. My D10 works great with 530/500s. You get nice soundstage, distinct instrument seperation and nice treble extension depending on the Op Amps you choose to roll.
Kousik

 

[Lil' Knight]

Try to find a used Tomahawk.

 

[qusp]

pico worked well when I had mine, also D10 and Lisa III

 

[mark2410]

i havent tried many amps but i went for the XM5

it likes the treble boost button

 

[Gitbags]

x2 on the tomahawk

 

[skoog5600]

Thanks for the suggestions. Tomahawk sounds nice ... what's the word on the pico slim?

 

[wotblake]

I've found my iPhone 3GS sounds great by itself with the se530s. And yes, I have used nice dac/amps before but the I find the iPhone to actually sound pretty good alone.

 

[stang]

I honestly can BARELY tell a difference with my Westone UM3x coming from my iPod touch 3rd gen 32GB unamped and amped with my P-51 Mustang amp with copper LOD. The ALO Rx is said to be very good for a portable amp and it's a great size too. I might trade my P-51 for it some day because the P-51 is like 3 or 4x as thick as the Touch and half the length, which makes it annoying to take it around places.

 

[skoog5600]

I have a Cmoy and an Airhead amp and notice a major difference between the 530s with the LOD and just running it out of the headphone jack. Same goes with the 4G Ipod I have. But will be going higher end with both LOD and amp.

 

[clarinetman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mark2410 /img/forum/go_quote.gif i havent tried many amps but i went for the XM5 it likes the treble boost button

x2

I adore it, the XM5 seems to amp everything well, including IEMs. There's a 75ohm switch which works marvelously (not to mention the over 9000 other features it has)