synaesthetic
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2008
- Posts
- 2,263
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- 11
Quote:
There are a wide variety of headphones which a portable amp can provide sufficient power to drive properly.
The issue here is that those same headphones can be driven properly by a DAP or a sound card as well, rendering a portable amp superfluous at best.
I understand that money can be tight; I had to scrimp and save to buy what little I have. But what Red, Uncle Erik and I are pointing out is that a portable amp is not especially cheaper than a full-size home amp and provides far less performance and "bang for the buck."
A used Gilmore Lite with Elpac PSU can be had for $200 or less; a used CIAudio VHP-1 can be had for the same price. PPAv2, Millet Maxes and various other DIY designs pop up on the FS forums all the time for prices less than what one would pay for a top-of-the-line portable amp. Sometimes even half as much.
The idea that one can save money by purchasing a portable amp is something of a myth; not all home amps have $1000 US price tags. Many, especially DIY designs, but even many commercial designs, are much lower than that.
For the cost of a Mustang, you can get a damn nice mains-powered home amp and still have enough left over to buy music with. =)
Quote:
Right, but the RSA Mustang is not a $100 portable amp. It costs almost $400. If you take a look around, you could easily get any number of new or used mid-level mains-powered amps with that kind of money.
And when it comes to cheap portable amps, the under-$100 range, all of the ones I have used did not impress me at all. For that kind of price range, if you can't do DIY or don't have the tools, you can't go too wrong buying a vintage Marantz or NAD integrated amp and using the headphone jack. I used to use an old 80s-vintage NAD integrated amp for my headphones and it worked well.
| Originally Posted by HK_sends /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, in that case, what do you like for cans? 
As I told the OP, the Mustang is in fact pushing the K702s. It's an observation. I hardly think the deities in charge of desktop amps should charge me with blasphemy 
Look, given the opportunity, I will be happy to listen to, evaluate, and (i'm sure) praise full size amps. Unfortunately, money and circumstance are against me at present. I am looking forward to moving to the next level of this great (and expensive) hobby. |
There are a wide variety of headphones which a portable amp can provide sufficient power to drive properly.
The issue here is that those same headphones can be driven properly by a DAP or a sound card as well, rendering a portable amp superfluous at best.
I understand that money can be tight; I had to scrimp and save to buy what little I have. But what Red, Uncle Erik and I are pointing out is that a portable amp is not especially cheaper than a full-size home amp and provides far less performance and "bang for the buck."
A used Gilmore Lite with Elpac PSU can be had for $200 or less; a used CIAudio VHP-1 can be had for the same price. PPAv2, Millet Maxes and various other DIY designs pop up on the FS forums all the time for prices less than what one would pay for a top-of-the-line portable amp. Sometimes even half as much.
The idea that one can save money by purchasing a portable amp is something of a myth; not all home amps have $1000 US price tags. Many, especially DIY designs, but even many commercial designs, are much lower than that.
For the cost of a Mustang, you can get a damn nice mains-powered home amp and still have enough left over to buy music with. =)
Quote:
| Originally Posted by scompton /img/forum/go_quote.gif I believe the reason newbies, students, etc, look at portables is the same reason I did. When I was looking at amps, I read that home amps always out preformed portables of the same price. However, I couldn't find any home amps that cost $100. Even now, I haven't seen many. Most of the DIY amps cost more than that in parts. The Starving Student is cheaper, but if you have to buy tools, that pushes the price over $100 too. |
Right, but the RSA Mustang is not a $100 portable amp. It costs almost $400. If you take a look around, you could easily get any number of new or used mid-level mains-powered amps with that kind of money.
And when it comes to cheap portable amps, the under-$100 range, all of the ones I have used did not impress me at all. For that kind of price range, if you can't do DIY or don't have the tools, you can't go too wrong buying a vintage Marantz or NAD integrated amp and using the headphone jack. I used to use an old 80s-vintage NAD integrated amp for my headphones and it worked well.
