[ldtboyl]

 
great review Do you think this will pair well with grado sr325is? I really need to tame the highs a little

 

[JoetheArachnid]

Quote:

great review Do you think this will pair well with grado sr325is? I really need to tame the highs a little

 
It pairs well with the Alessandro MS-1, but from what I've read they're less treble-heavy than the legendarily bright SR325s. The E11 notably darkens things up a bit, but I think you'll just have to try it and see what happens.

 

[singha]

OP, I never even thought about changing the battery. I found a 2100mAhm for the same phone battery so does this mean I will get 3x the battery life? Should be a good mod so I don't have to charge and make the E11 useless as much.

 

[JoetheArachnid]

It should improve battery life, but I don't know if it will triple it (3x800 would be 2400 anyway). The problem with eBay batteries is that there's no way of knowing if the listed capacity is accurate, so a quoted 2100mAh battery could be only 1200 or lower and you wouldn't really know. It's also worth noting that official BL-5B units were never meant to be manufactured above 800mAh, so anything above that is a risk.
 
I just went for the battery that looked to have a high capacity at a reasonable price but didn't look incredibly shady. If you look at ClieOS' review he went into more depth with battery life and had some results from a 2050mAh battery, though it should be noted that Li-on batteries don't get near full charge until three or four charge cycles in.

 

[adani]

Wonderful review and fun to read as well! Thumbs up, JoetheArachnid!

 

[Roller]

Quote:

It should improve battery life, but I don't know if it will triple it (3x800 would be 2400 anyway). The problem with eBay batteries is that there's no way of knowing if the listed capacity is accurate, so a quoted 2100mAh battery could be only 1200 or lower and you wouldn't really know. It's also worth noting that official BL-5B units were never meant to be manufactured above 800mAh, so anything above that is a risk.
 
I just went for the battery that looked to have a high capacity at a reasonable price but didn't look incredibly shady. If you look at ClieOS' review he went into more depth with battery life and had some results from a 2050mAh battery, though it should be noted that Li-on batteries don't get near full charge until three or four charge cycles in.

Correction. The official Nokia batteries in US are rated at 760mAh, while the original official Nokia batteries from the EU are rated at 890mAh. I should know, I'm running a phone with one of them

 

[miceblue]

Quote:

The LOD connectors are made of children's teeth and the wire of unicorn hair. My iPod's silicone case is lined with platinum foil to make it invisible to electromagnetic demons.
 

 
I LOL-ed at this. Nice review!

 

[Astrozombie]

More reviews from this fellow! He brings the humor.

 

[incubated]

great review. love the frankness of your tone. you don't get caught up with all the "audiophile" jargon.
 
i wanted to ask you, though, how did this amp fare with your alessandro ms-1s? i also have these for a few years now, should be broken in by this point . i was amazed at the sound quality when i first got them, but now i am left wanting a little more. could be my insatiable greed, could be my desire to spend my hard-earned money, could be anything. basically, im trying to enhance my commute to work.
 
right now i am using my blackberry pearl 3g as my source of music. the **** ipod 3.5mm socket wore out, so i have to hold the jack in place to get stereo sound. screw it. i turned on audio boost on the blackberry and it's pretty good still, but i've been thinking these headphones have a little more potential to offer.
 
how did you find the amp with your alessandros? is there a portable amp you would recommend on a budget? i am not looking ot make my own, i don't have the time or the determination, nor do i have much of a budget. soemthing in 150$ zone, no more, would be ideal. I listen to a wide variety of genres, but mostly electronic, hip hop, rock, and instrumental. i enjoy clarity, but lately i have craving the extra "umph" of bass with some of the new electro and hip hop tracks.
 
i was looking at NuForce icon 2 but that one seems to require greater power source than my blackberry can offer it.
 
i understand there will need to be limitations, but the compromimse i am looking forward to make is quality at lower volumes over low distortion at higher ones. basically, i don't crank my music, especially since alessandros leak sound like heavily, and people give me ethe looks. one bus driver even told me to turn it down. What!? so i would like to go for as much detail and bass depth as my price range would offer me.
 
which begs the final question, is a portable headphone amp even what i really need?
 
 

 

[JoetheArachnid]

Hrm. There're a lot of questions there.
On how the E11 pairs with the MS-1: I think it's a good pairing, personally. You get a weightier sound with definitely more/deeper bass than the HP out from an iPod and everything as a whole feels a bit more refined. Perhaps also a little bit wider in presentation? It's not a vast improvement, but then again amping never is - differences between amped/unamped are often very overstated. For the £40 I paid I think it's worth it for the improvement on top of the other features. If you still have your iPod then you could connect the amp with a LOD and then your iPod would be usable again, which is another upside to amping.
 
In terms of other amps, despite writing this review I don't have a great experience with other portables, though I do have quite a bit of experience with amps in general. Headphonia did a sub-$100 portable amp shootout that whilst I don't agree with entirely, gives you an idea of what amps are out there and their overall sound. Obviously you've got a bit more to spend than that if need be, so look around.
 
As to the MS-1s - whilst they can be used portably I generally don't use them for that, especially since I've recently bought a pair of HD 25-1s for that purpose. From your account I'd say that yes you probably could benefit from a portable amp, and yes the E11 might be a good investment if you didn't want to break the bank. But perhaps a pair of closed-back portables or IEMs might be a better investment.

 

[ClieOS]

Quote:

 Headphonia did a sub-$100 portable amp shootout that whilst I don't agree with entirely, gives you an idea of what amps are out there and their overall sound. Obviously you've got a bit more to spend than that if need be, so look around.

I have almost all the amps in that comparison except for mini3 (though I have others). Might do a shootout as well in the future.
 
 

 

[incubated]

thanks for the comprehensive responce. i am learning a lot.
 
why do you suggest closed back speakers? to stop the sound leak? or do they have other benefits? i have been eyeing the AiAiAi tracks and the TM1. tracks got the CNET editor's schoice award, and good reviews all around. the TM1 are quite more expensive, but also boast of stellar feedback. i am not sure if i need two pairs of headphones however, as much as i would like them.
 
at home i have a decent set up. i listen to music mostly on the computer. i have an m-audio audiophile 192 sound card and a pair of m-audio av-40s. i love listening to music on them, but plugging the ms-1s into the av-40s seems to diminish their quality. i have to turn on the bass boost on the speakers, and still the headphones sound better on the subway on the blackberry. i tried dusing male-to-female cable to run go directly through the soundcard, but it turns out i need a power source. that's where the icon2 dac/headphone amp came into question.
 
is there a way to take the icon2 on the road with me without the need of a power generator? would be sweet, i guess.
 
i am not looking for too much a change. just a reasonable boost, and from the sound of your feedback, it looks just like what i am looking for. unless my imagination is getting the better of me.
 
getting back to the question of headphones, god forbid something should happen to my ms-1s, i would definitely want to upgrade afterwards. i have tried all of the offerings at an apple store (bowers and wilkins, beats, bose) only to appreciate alessandros all the more. maybe i didn't get a good enough acclamation period, but the sound of ms-1s always impresses me. then there is the price. anyway, if i were to upgrade to something like Grado sr-325 oreven  rs-1down the road, how would the amp dac/amp situation look like for me?
 
hey, ClieOS, how would you compare the e-11 with the rest of the amps you have tested. any feedback, suggestions?
 
 

 

[ClieOS]

Quote:

hey, ClieOS, how would you compare the e-11 with the rest of the amps you have tested. any feedback, suggestions?
 

My review of E11 is here, with a small comparison (under the RMAA frequency curve) to E7, SoundMAGIC A10, cmoyBB and iBasso T3D. I am still waiting for the PA2V2 to arrive.
 

 

[WakiDabeast]

this was after burn-in right?
Oh and I wanted this amp would you say it does well to decrease sibilance, when compared to an iphone. My iphone is a pretty damn source, the Sansa was much better than my iphone, but I wanted a pair of SE215's instead XD. So i have a pair of SE215's, HD25's, and ATH-M50. I will use this for my on board gigabyte UD3 sound card, which is meh. ok my iphone is **** though, oh and both have a pretty damn small sound. So I want a somewhat dark sounding, non sibilant prone, small, and large sounding portable headphone amp. How low profile is it? 

 

[LammerOutsider]

Any amp comparsion with ibasso d-zero? Is better to take e11 for portable use and e10 for home use or take d-zero for both? Thanks