jnug
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2011
- Posts
- 18
- Likes
- 11
I am a newbie in more ways than one. However having come to this site often to read the excellent reviews and post by its members I just cannot think of a better place to ask these questions. While I own and have owned a fair number of pretty good IEM's and earbuds (triple.fi 10 pros, SE530;s for example) I have never either crossed the line into custom IEM's or the portable dac/amp world.
However so many new products have come out that are aimed at portable high end digital audio that I can hardly avoid it at this point. I have at various times purchased an ipod classic, an itouch and now an iphone. I still have all three devices and while there are certainly non-apple devices out there I think I have that end of things covered. I really did not get them as a series of options. I got the itouch as my first portable audio/video device of that type. I got the ipod because I bought a car with an ipod dock and I did not want to move my itouch in and out of the car and I got the iphone because it was just time for a new smartphone.
I have been looking at the next generation of IEM's like the Westone 4's and the SE535 along with all of the new portable electronics out there. It does seem that custom IEM's have continued to improve to the point where I don't wonder that simply using something like an itouch, iphone or an ipod with a very good custom IEM like the Starkey SA-43's possibly with a headphone amp or maybe even the JH-3A/JH16 combination makes the most sense. The performance of the really high end, custom IEM's seems to reach out so far beyond what even the best (off the rack) IEM's are capable of that it almost seems to make even the addition of an amp in question if you have one of the really high end custom IEM's.
Surely the headphone amp becomes more of a gotta' have for full size phones. If one is not using full size headphones though it almost seems that the custom IEM's are actually a very high value item given their sonic performance relative to cost when weighed against the other options (meaning off the shelf really good IEM's with a full compliment of support electronics like the Solo with a dac and an amp). Sure they cost more but it seems that the IEM is the place where money yields the best result if you really are focused on portability and the custom IEM's seem head and shoulders better than the off the shelf IEM's.
I do see a number of people posting that they like to have a number of options to play with and I think I understand how much fun it is to mix and match different components especially if they are portable components. The very idea that you can take the audiophile hobby a hobby that has always encouraged mixing and matching, and downsize everything to a bunch of components that easily fit on a table top seems too good to resist. If however the desire is to have one really good/optimal portable system then it would seem the best way to do that is to start with custom IEM's for your "i" whatever regardless of the cost and then determine if there is any reason to add anything. I guess you have to get the JH system as a kit all at once so I guess that would be the exception.
Putting aside for a minute the sheer fun of mixing and matching different components, reviewing them etc, if one simply wants to get the most value out of dollars spent for high end portable audio, does anybody think it makes sense to start with custom IEM's and then see if anything else is needed or do I have it just plain wrong?
However so many new products have come out that are aimed at portable high end digital audio that I can hardly avoid it at this point. I have at various times purchased an ipod classic, an itouch and now an iphone. I still have all three devices and while there are certainly non-apple devices out there I think I have that end of things covered. I really did not get them as a series of options. I got the itouch as my first portable audio/video device of that type. I got the ipod because I bought a car with an ipod dock and I did not want to move my itouch in and out of the car and I got the iphone because it was just time for a new smartphone.
I have been looking at the next generation of IEM's like the Westone 4's and the SE535 along with all of the new portable electronics out there. It does seem that custom IEM's have continued to improve to the point where I don't wonder that simply using something like an itouch, iphone or an ipod with a very good custom IEM like the Starkey SA-43's possibly with a headphone amp or maybe even the JH-3A/JH16 combination makes the most sense. The performance of the really high end, custom IEM's seems to reach out so far beyond what even the best (off the rack) IEM's are capable of that it almost seems to make even the addition of an amp in question if you have one of the really high end custom IEM's.
Surely the headphone amp becomes more of a gotta' have for full size phones. If one is not using full size headphones though it almost seems that the custom IEM's are actually a very high value item given their sonic performance relative to cost when weighed against the other options (meaning off the shelf really good IEM's with a full compliment of support electronics like the Solo with a dac and an amp). Sure they cost more but it seems that the IEM is the place where money yields the best result if you really are focused on portability and the custom IEM's seem head and shoulders better than the off the shelf IEM's.
I do see a number of people posting that they like to have a number of options to play with and I think I understand how much fun it is to mix and match different components especially if they are portable components. The very idea that you can take the audiophile hobby a hobby that has always encouraged mixing and matching, and downsize everything to a bunch of components that easily fit on a table top seems too good to resist. If however the desire is to have one really good/optimal portable system then it would seem the best way to do that is to start with custom IEM's for your "i" whatever regardless of the cost and then determine if there is any reason to add anything. I guess you have to get the JH system as a kit all at once so I guess that would be the exception.
Putting aside for a minute the sheer fun of mixing and matching different components, reviewing them etc, if one simply wants to get the most value out of dollars spent for high end portable audio, does anybody think it makes sense to start with custom IEM's and then see if anything else is needed or do I have it just plain wrong?
