[McMerc]

After reading Skylap great review for portable amp I have decided to get one of these three the Leckerton Audio UHA-3, C&C XO and Practical Devices XM4.

Leckerton Audio UHA-3:
As Skylap said that this is great amp for bass lover. As my ears never get enough of bass punch, I think this amp really suit my taste.

C&C XO:
When I saw the web site for this amp, I was amazed by the look. This is one of the best looking portable amp I ever known. I am considering the XO just because of the look and it does bring out pretty good sound. Skybus rated XO bass A-.

Practical Devices XM4:
This is the cheapest out of the three. What I like about this amp is the price which is pretty reasonable and there is bass boost button. Skylap rated the xm4 bass A without the bass boost. With the bass boost on is should give out very powerful bass.

I will be running the amp with my iphone most of the time and couple it with shure se530. When I first got my se530 I was very disappointed by how it sound with my iphone and my computer. Right now I am running the se530 with creative usb external sound card and it sound great with 60% bass boost. se530 and iphone is not a good combination, the iphone make the se530 sound like just ordinary ipod earphone. So I decided to get a portable amp to always have great sound where ever I go.

If you guys have any other suggestion for which amp I should get try not to go over $200. Thanks!

 

[mrarroyo]

Having heard all three, I would steer you to: MiniBox-E or the Mini^3. Either of these two amps will sound IMO much better than the 3 you have listed. The Mini^3 has one of the tightest and punchiest bass I have heard in a portable amp, specially at $125 from Rockhopper.

 

[Mulo]

I would suggest that the XO is by far the best of the three amps you mentioned. Another interesting amp is the Minibox-E, but I personally am more inspired by the Little Dot Mk I.

 

[McMerc]

mrarroyo can you give me the link where I can buy the amp you mention. I tried to google it but found nothing. Thanks

 

[McMerc]

I really like the XO. It really look great but as many great looking thing it might not sound great. But I am really considering the XO.

 

[Mulo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by McMerc /img/forum/go_quote.gif I really like the XO. It really look great but as many great looking thing it might not sound great. But I am really considering the XO.

It cannot not sound great IMO, if it's better than the BOX V2 which I have and love. Not everyone likes the same sounds & not everyone uses the same headphones (I use and love Senns). I am ready to bet that you'd love the XO as most of (or all) its owners do. And it's even upgradeable, by changing the AD823 with something like the LM4562...

 

[Mulo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrarroyo /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Mini^3 has one of the tightest and punchiest bass I have heard in a portable amp, specially at $125 from Rockhopper.

The AD8397 (which is in the Mini^3) may be punchy and tight, but it's also (unnaturally?) hard sounding in the bass. I prefer a controlled but more rounded and less hard hitting type of bass.

 

[cyberspyder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by McMerc /img/forum/go_quote.gif mrarroyo can you give me the link where I can buy the amp you mention. I tried to google it but found nothing. Thanks

You mean the Minibox-E?
http://www.head-direct.com/

For Mini^3:
http://homepage.mac.com/skatsaounis/...o/portable.htm

Brendan

 

[IPodPJ]

First you call him Skylap and then Skybus. You're going to offend the guy.

 

[Podster]

"First you call him Skylap and then Skybus. You're going to offend the guy"

With 9 post I was giving them a break lack of thread time! LOL

I'm sure Rob has laughed or will when he reads this thread. Innocent as the post sounds I'm sure they mean no disrespect.

I loved Miguel stepping in with the venerable MiniBox E+ and Mini^3. They are also great contenders for 2 of the mentioned amps but as far as the love of the look (can't tell you how many times this one wins

) our OP loves the look of the XO which is 90% of his/her purchasing battle right? For that look they will walk that extra mile and pay that extra $74.00/$30.00

I liken picking portable amps to picking horses in a race, you like the name and background on your horse and place the bet/order

Whatever they decide on I hope it makes them listen to more music and the cycle will be complete

 

[mrarroyo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mulo /img/forum/go_quote.gif The AD8397 (which is in the Mini^3) may be punchy and tight, but it's also (unnaturally?) hard sounding in the bass. I prefer a controlled but more rounded and less hard hitting type of bass.

All I can say is that its implementation in the Mini^3 is flawless and worthy of a listen. The fact it sells for $125 is nothing short of a miracle. I prefer the MiniBox-E mostly for what it does diferently.

 

[Thermionic]

I have no idea what your first choices sound like but I have been using a MiniBox-E for the last few months. In direct comparison with a Graham Slee Solo 2007 (which IS a good headphone amp) it looses perhaps 5% in SQ, which is pretty impressive for a little relatively cheap box. In Fact I am so impressed with the E I have ordered (despite all the competition) another one for general use as a headphone amp around the house (for use with mid range Grados, Senn HD650s and AT EW9s). I also like the look of the thing, as it reminds me of a scientific instrument.

 

[Mulo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrarroyo /img/forum/go_quote.gif All I can say is that its implementation in the Mini^3 is flawless and worthy of a listen. The fact it sells for $125 is nothing short of a miracle. I prefer the MiniBox-E mostly for what it does diferently.

Agreed about the Mini^3 @ $125. Really inviting...

But also the Minibox-E...

 

[aych]

I love the XO, owned it for almost half a year now. Just gets better. but I did change the opamp out for something more detailed. but thats just personal opinon. the XO is awsome. looks good too ^.*

 

[Thermionic]

The MiniBox-E+ arrived a couple of days ago and I have had it running most of the time ever since. In contrast to the rather rustic wooden storage box of the first MiniBox-E, this time it was supplied (seemingly direct from China) in a blue cardboard box with the Three Stones logo and the name MiniBox hot foil printed in gold on the top. Inside was the amp, a universal 16V (was 12V) charger and their 3.5mm to 3.5mm interconnect. This little interconnect while apparently employing nice silver plated copper conductors and gold-plated Neutrik plugs is about as flexible as a piece of coat hanger wire. It probably sounds good but is fairly useless as its stiffness causes you to worry about damaging your 3.5mm sockets (!). Again no instructions were supplied.

Internally the MiniBox-E+ is virtually identical to the previous version, with of course the exception of the battery pack and the addition of an amber charging led on the rear panel. (The led is on while charging and goes out when the batteries are full). The battery looks like a pair of cell-phone type packs shrink wrapped together. Again the surface mount 8610A op amps are on ‘Brown dog’ type adapters plugged into a pair of 8 pin DIL sockets. The L shaped double sided PCB uses a mixture of conventional and surface-mount components. Overall the construction quality is pretty good. I like the tough anodized extruded alloy casing, and the front and rear panels made of painted copper-clad glass fibre PCB material. I am less impressed with the quality of the silk-screened labelling, and while the toggle switches are wonderfully tiny I do wonder how long they will survive.

Out of the box the batteries seemed to have some charge in them so I immediately connected the amp to my HD650 headphones and my usual Sony Viao / M-Audio Transit Foobar set up. Well straight away the MiniBox-E+ sounded very fine, no roughness good sound stage and frankly nothing at all to criticise. The ‘SFOR’ (cross feed) effect remains an enigma which I don’t bother with, while the ‘BASS’ boost seems to have been reduced slightly and might well be of more use in some situations. I have been playing with some ATH-EW9’s lately, and the ‘PtoS’ together with ‘BASS’ boost do seem to help with this particular phones mix of idiosyncrasies.

As I have (often!) remarked: the MiniBox-E is depressingly similar to my Graham Slee 2007 Solo mains driven amplifier. Actually the E+ at this point in its life seems to have a touch more base weight and is a little darker (not a bad thing), while the Solo at some 500 hours has slightly more image depth and is smoother. The Solo is of course audibly better but only just, and for me what small deficiencies the MiniBox-E (and E+) might have they are of little importance for serious listening in a portable context. In fact I would have no hesitation in using the MiniBox-E+ as a serious live recording monitoring tool if needed.

Can’t say more than that.