[stonyboys]

Are there any significant increases in SQ and/or power? What justifies the 50$ price difference between the two?

 

[Mochan]

Quite different. In terms of power the two are not far apart, I don't remember the specs off hand but the Mamba doesn't have that much more power from what I recall. The main differences are in the SQ. Mamba sounds considerably better and has a more distinct sound signature. Especially when you use the Mamba as a DAC, it is a whole different ball game from the Boa.
 
I don't want to get into too many details beacuse my memory of the two is kind of fuzzy and I may say something wrong, but generally the Mamba sounds much crisper with better soundstage. The definition is a lot more detailed. The Boa doesn't add too much to the sound in comparison.
 
*EDIT*
Oh yeah one more thing I remember the Mamba does have more power because it uses a 9 Volt battery, I forgot what the Boa has but pretty sure the Mamba has a juicier batt. 

 

[qusp]

well there is that matter of the D4 having dual DACs

 

[stonyboys]

But the D2+ is still worth getting, right? Or should I just save up and go straight for the D4? Or maybe save up all the way till a D10?

 

[Mochan]

Price diff is very small, I honestly don't see any reason to get the Boa over the Mamba unless you're very cash strapped and can get a Boa for a ridiculously low price.

 

[timothyll]

If I can hijack just a bit... 1) what grade of headphone would be needed to really hear the difference between the two and 2) what is the lowest quality mp3 at which the D4 would be superior?
 
I ask because I've been waiting on a D4 (Ibasso's been out of stock for a long time now...), but regarding the first question, the headphones used would only be ath m50's at work and akg k272hd's at home; and for the second, a lot of my music is 256-320kbs mp3... so would the D4 even be worth it for me in terms of source material and headphones?
 
Thanks

 

[stonyboys]

timothyll, the first thing you need to do is upgrade your music. You won't believe the difference between songs ripped off a CD and songs that are downloaded.
 
As for me, I think I'm gonna try to save up enough to get a used D10. It'll take awhile, but maybe something even better might come along by then.

 

[Mochan]

Generally, songs that are downloaded are ripped off CDs, too.

An M50 and a K272 are more than enough to appreciate the difference. I usually don't even think in these terms. Even a $10 PL11 is enough to hear the difference.

I personally cannot reliably distinguish the differences between FLAC and 320kbps. I hear great results and can appreciate the diff between amps and gear even just listening to 192kbps MP3s so you should be fine. If you do ugrade your music then I'm sure it'll get even better.

 

[stonyboys]

Quote:

Generally, songs that are downloaded are ripped off CDs, too.
 

I downloaded the Beatles collection in 320kbps MP3. I forget why/how it happened, but I ended up ripping one of the albums I already had into the same 320kbps MP3 format. I was shocked with how much better it sounded. Even with my old, worn out speakers I could hear the amazing difference.
 
I'm not denying that the people who uploaded the music didn't rip it off the CD, I'm just saying that after upgrading your headphones, ripping all your music personally is the next best step to satisfying your audiophillia.

 

[stonyboys]

Hey Mochan, how do you think the mini^3 amp fares against the D2+ and the D4?

 

[Mochan]

Depends on your tastes.
As an amp, the Mini^3 is better than both IMO if you like a forward, aggressive sound with powerful mids. Simply outdoes both for that kind of sound (excellent for rock or metal!), but lacks a little definition compared to the D4.
 
However the D4 has two DACs whereas the Mini^3 doesn't have any. In reality if you hook up your D4 to your laptop playing Foobar or whatever nice music, it will sound better than the Mini^3 on an LOD out of your iPOd, or even your Mini^3 out of the headphone jack of the same laptop.
 
 But if you want to get cute you chain the laptop to your Mamba, then use Mamba line out to your Mini^3.  But unfortunately I have not tried this....

 

[Mochan]

The diff might be in how you mastered it. Maybe the internet rip was just using a simple Lame command bar. Maybe you have a nice soundcard in Audio Creation mode that rips with a very nice software that adds dynamics to the sound? Well I dunno.
 
Quote:

I downloaded the Beatles collection in 320kbps MP3. I forget why/how it happened, but I ended up ripping one of the albums I already had into the same 320kbps MP3 format. I was shocked with how much better it sounded. Even with my old, worn out speakers I could hear the amazing difference.
 
I'm not denying that the people who uploaded the music didn't rip it off the CD, I'm just saying that after upgrading your headphones, ripping all your music personally is the next best step to satisfying your audiophillia.

 

[stonyboys]

So the mini3 is out of the question, then.  What about this thing? http://www.nuforce.com/hp/products/Iconmobile/index.php
 
From what I understand, it serves the same functionality as the D4.

 

[Mochan]

So a DAC is a must? I have to ask, what exactly are you looking for? This started with either the D2 or the D4, then mentioned a Mini^3 so I thought you were just looking for an amp.
 
How will you be using this? Do you want an amp, a DAC, or both? Are you going to use this with an iPod, a laptop, or what? Not really sure what you are after. I would just recommend something like the D10 or the D4 and be done with it, but it seems you are also looking for something affordable since you are now looking at the Icon Mobile.
 
Anyway, I only heard the Icon Mobile once and did not use an LOD. It's about on the same level as the D2 Boa but I haven't really done a proper comparison. It's an alternative to the Boa for sure.
 
The Mamba and the Cobra are clearly a few notches above it.
If you are looking at the Icon Mobile, you might as well check out the FiiO E7 as well, which IMO is the better deal. This still depends mostly on what kind of sound sig you are looking for. 
 
So it comes down to:
 
What exactly do you want
How will you use it
What kind of sound are you after
 
Recommendations will be different based on the answers to those three.

 

[qusp]

Quote:

The diff might be in how you mastered it. Maybe the internet rip was just using a simple Lame command bar. Maybe you have a nice soundcard in Audio Creation mode that rips with a very nice software that adds dynamics to the sound? Well I dunno.
 

 

a sound card has zero effect on audio ripping, the only thing that has any effect is the algorithm/error correction used by the software you rip it with, with a very small amount of impact perhaps coming from the CD drive/transport mechanism (very very small if at all in this case, but who knows) the audio hardware is not even engaged in this task