Best portable amp under $100
Mar 28, 2006 at 6:17 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 18

Sebastianbf

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Hello
What is the best portable amp that I can get under $100 (us dollars)?.
where can i get it?
Thanks

ps: Are the Cmoy good amps?
 
Mar 28, 2006 at 3:24 PM Post #3 of 18
thanks for the info Bolo. Any other amp?

BTW Bolo where can I find it?
 
Mar 28, 2006 at 3:40 PM Post #4 of 18
I always find it ironic, that someone on a site this specific would be asking all these questions about where to find amps, headphones, etc as well as what's the best under $100 and on and on....

if you got this far, you must have used Google or something, so why then, would you make it this far and then not utilize the search features of the site to further your research?
 
Mar 28, 2006 at 5:07 PM Post #5 of 18
Quote:

Originally Posted by bobzemuda
if you got this far, you must have used Google or something, so why then, would you make it this far and then not utilize the search features of the site to further your research?


Search isnt always as useful as it could be, though you should try it first. I just used search for the best amp under $100 and the result I found was

http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...ght=amp+%24100

Searching on best amp $100 gives 867 hits which are merely hits which contain some of the search terms. If you amend the search to "best amp" $100 then you get no hits even searching on full text. The search is very useful but is not perfect for complex or ambiguous information retrieval, nor should it be, it does what it does very well.

The upshot is that a question like best portable amp under $100 is best addressed by asking members whereas a question such as HD580 vs HD600 is generally very well answered by the search.

FWIW the cMoy is a design and so the implementation (and price) varies by builder, though both the ones I tried were pretty good.

From personal experience the PA2V2 ($60) (www.electric-avenues.com) is a very capable little amp and so is the Rockhopper Portable Pimeta ($100 eBay). There are many other sub $100 designs about such as the Xenos amps, if you do an eBay search for "Headphone (Amp,Amplifier) " you will see many different options - then you can ask members here about them, or use the search
biggrin.gif
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Good Luck
 
Mar 28, 2006 at 5:48 PM Post #7 of 18
Quote:

Originally Posted by Sebastianbf
Hciman or any other member: between this two which one should I pick:
- PA2V2
- Cmoy: http://cgi.ebay.com/Rechargeable-Hea...QQcmdZViewItem

thanks for the replies



I cannot comment on the particular "not at all a cMoy" advertised - though it looks to have pretty good parts, which tells you precisely nothing I am afraid. Having a recharge circuit is good and the quoted battery life is good - though the PA2V2 battery life is sans pareil if that matters.
 
Mar 28, 2006 at 7:29 PM Post #9 of 18
One can go from the PIMETA to the PIMETA is now tiny (PINT)
smily_headphones1.gif
 
Mar 28, 2006 at 9:54 PM Post #10 of 18
LITTLE DOT MICRO+

If you want transparency, crispness, and air go for that. Check ebay. I think it's 59+10 shipping. Your ears will love it.

Many say it's better than cmoys, and pa2v2. And It's got a recharging ac, so you don't really have to worry about bringing extra batteries with you.
 
Mar 29, 2006 at 1:11 AM Post #11 of 18
Quote:

Originally Posted by Sebastianbf
Hciman or any other member: between this two which one should I pick:
- PA2V2: http://cgi.ebay.com/PA2V2-Headphones...QQcmdZViewItem
- Cmoy: http://cgi.ebay.com/Rechargeable-Hea...QQcmdZViewItem

thanks for the replies



I was under the impression that MINTs used to sell for around $100. For that, you'd get an amp with 2 9V, buffered outputs, option to bias the opamps into class A, and the same railsplitter in the cmoy, all in the same mint tin. Granted, it doesn't have a charger circuit, and ... well, Tangent doens't sell the boards anymore, so I expect that they'll be harder to find as time goes on, but I still think it's superior to the cmoy in almost every way.

Owing to the fact that the MINT is slightly antiquated and possibly difficult to find, however, I think you ought to go with a PINT. I don't know if any of the builders are offering it yet, but if they aren't I'm sure they will be. People seemed to have good things to say about the mini³, which is similar.

That said, a lot of people really like the PA2V2, and the builder seems like a nice fellow that knows what he's doing, so I don't think it'd be a bad choice.

[edit]For some reason, I thought it was $100 (buy-it-now? although that doesn't make much sense either). I still think the PINT is a better amp, but I was wrong to compare that cmoy to a MINT, sorry[/edit]
 
Mar 29, 2006 at 4:23 AM Post #12 of 18
Thanks Shimage for all that info and all the other "repliers" too. Any other recommendation?
 
Mar 29, 2006 at 5:26 AM Post #13 of 18
Second the Rockhopper Portable Pimeta ($100 on eBay)... it's built with quality parts, and I highly doubt you can get anything technically better for $100 and under (maybe better to someone's ears, but not in technical + parts quality terms).
 
Mar 29, 2006 at 6:57 AM Post #14 of 18
Quote:

Originally Posted by fewtch
Second the Rockhopper Portable Pimeta ($100 on eBay)... it's built with quality parts, and I highly doubt you can get anything technically better for $100 and under (maybe better to someone's ears, but not in technical + parts quality terms).


I have not listened to (nor seen, even) any of the "tiny" pimetas, so I probably shouldn't say anything about them ... But I have read here (from a couple people, anyway) that the pimeta board is overkill in the smaller cases. That is to say, that the size and power constraints limit the potential of the design too much; that a cheaper design with less parts is better value. But I'm talking out of my butt.

That said, I think $100 for a Rockhopper pimeta is a good deal; I just didn't see any on ebay, and it looks like Thrice is done selling them. Just another reason to go with a PINT. And keep in mind that while I don't know the market value of a built amp, the parts (not including batteries) can be had for < $40. Unfortunately, rechargeable 9Vs are pretty expensive (~$9 each, I think), and then there's the issue of the wall wart for charging (elpacs are ~$30, as I recall), all of which adds up pretty quickly.
 
Mar 29, 2006 at 11:18 AM Post #15 of 18
what about the little dot 2? i believe they're available for about 100 used and new. i was actually considering getting a rockhopper pimeta for my dt990's until i ran across posts about the little dot 2. now i'm probably gonna get a little dot 2 built for 100 bucks.

* oh, sorry - i forgot this topic was about portable amps
 

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