[krismusic]

Mainly because there are better sounding portable amps out there.

I'm afraid I have to agree. I thought the Arrow was the bee knees. And it is with my IE8's.
With my HD 600's and now some Final Audio IEM's that I am trying, both much more revealing 'phones, the Arrow just does not sound good. The only other amp I have is an O2. It really shows the Arrow up sound wise.
A great shame as it is a brick.

 

[headwhacker]

I'm afraid I have to agree. I thought the Arrow was the bee knees. And it is with my IE8's.
With my HD 600's and now some Final Audio IEM's that I am trying, both much more revealing 'phones, the Arrow just does not sound good. The only other amp I have is an O2. It really shows the Arrow up sound wise.
A great shame as it is a brick.

 
Try the UHA-6SMKII, it can match if not beat O2. Not a brick but I wish it's thin as the arrow.

 

[whoever]

Well, when it comes to power and portability plus adjustment features, the arrows are unbeatable. ..
sound is sure something subjective, but all these other "portable" amps...portable is a joke...

 

[headwhacker]

Portability, power and the reason for using an amp has become subjective as SQ these days. I sure am interested to hear the arrow but giving heavier weight on SQ compared to O2/Leckerton amps which are my reference amp in terms of power and transparency. Sure, the only thing that keeps me interested is the slim profile. If it does beat or matches O2 or the UHA-6SMKII then it's no brainer for me. Unfortunately, comparisons between the above mentioned amps are far in between at best.

 

[krismusic]

Post removed by poster.

 

[mpawluk91]

I love the sound of my arrow, if you don't use any eq switches than most amps should sound very similar. I don't have the golden ear like some of you here

 

[redrich2000]

The truth is the difference between portable amps is miniscule, far smaller than the difference between phones. Even the difference between a portable amp and full desktop is far smaller than the difference between headphones. I use my arrow with plenty of very revealing headphones (AD2000x for example) and it sounds fantastic. It's fine for people to disagree but it annoys me when people say "With my HD 600's and now some Final Audio IEM's that I am trying, both much more revealing 'phones, the Arrow just does not sound good." That's just not true.

 

[Brooko]

One of the biggest issues when people compare is that they never volume match, or they do it by ear (ie highly inaccurate).  The only way to make a valid comparison (even acknowledging that its highly subjective) is to volume match as closely as possible - then a/b.
 
It's pretty easy to do too - all you need is an spl meter (even an app with a smartphone is better than nothing), a constant tone (I use 1 khz test tone), and a set-up that allows same placement of microphone each time.
 
Its amazing how many formerly perceived differences disappear when the volume on two devices is exactly the same.
 
FTR - when I had it, I loved my Arrow with just about everything - including the HD600.  I sometimes think that I may have been far better off just sticking with a 64Gb iTouch4 + Arrow - than moving into the changing world of the new HiRes players.  If Apple came out with a 64Gb Touch with expandable memory, or a 128Gb version - I'd just repurchase the Arrow, sell my other DAPs and I'd be done 

 

[redrich2000]

  One of the biggest issues when people compare is that they never volume match, or they do it by ear (ie highly inaccurate).  The only way to make a valid comparison (even acknowledging that its highly subjective) is to volume match as closely as possible - then a/b.
 
It's pretty easy to do too - all you need is an spl meter (even an app with a smartphone is better than nothing), a constant tone (I use 1 khz test tone), and a set-up that allows same placement of microphone each time.
 
Its amazing how many formerly perceived differences disappear when the volume on two devices is exactly the same.
 
FTR - when I had it, I loved my Arrow with just about everything - including the HD600.  I sometimes think that I may have been far better off just sticking with a 64Gb iTouch4 + Arrow - than moving into the changing world of the new HiRes players.  If Apple came out with a 64Gb Touch with expandable memory, or a 128Gb version - I'd just repurchase the Arrow, sell my other DAPs and I'd be done 

 
I also think you need a switch device, plugging and unplugging takes too long to assess very small differences. I've been using an iMod with a 240gb solid state drive with my arrow. Blu-tac'd together it's only 2cm thick. I still think that's too much though, both the size and the need for interconnects, so I've ordered one of these new Sony players.

 

[krismusic]

. It's fine for people to disagree but it annoys me when people say "With my HD 600's and now some Final Audio IEM's that I am trying, both much more revealing 'phones, the Arrow just does not sound good." That's just not true.

By "people" I take it you mean me. I am sorry if it annoys you but I am just reporting what I hear.

 

[redrich2000]

By "people" I take it you mean me. I am sorry if it annoys you but I am just reporting what I hear.

Yeah that's fine, but I think saying "it sounds bad" is just wrong and misleading. It's better to say, "it sounds harsh to me" or "it's too warm for me" or "I prefer X".

 

[Brooko]

By "people" I take it you mean me. I am sorry if it annoys you but I am just reporting what I hear.

 
Its all good - people are allowed opinions.  Question for you though - did you volume match (using an spl rather than 'by ear') before you made the comparison?  I see you have an iPhone - so you could download an SPL app.  Assuming you didn't, would you be prepared to volume match this time, and then compare again?  Would be interesting to see if your thoughts change.  Given you 'sig' (The human brain is a lot cleverer than 4' of wire.)  I'd imagine you'd be game to try 

 .
 
The other thing to do is simply to turn the Arrow volume up slightly.  I'm afraid I'm one of those who found your earlier statement quite puzzling. Unless the newer Arrows changed SQ - I always thought mine was pretty much wire with gain when I owned it.  And it sounded great with the HD600 to me.

 

[krismusic]

You are both right.
I should know better than to post vague information.
Placebo and expectation make evaluating equipment very difficult.
Measurements are a way of hanging on to sanity!
I will download that app and explore further.
Although I totally agree with your rigour, all I was trying to do was listen to a bit of music!
The Arrow did not sound "nice" and the O2 sounded "better". FWIW a friend said the same without prompting.
I will attempt to be more analytical when I get a moment.
In the meantime no offence meant or taken!

 

[Brooko]

Like I said - there is no right or wrong with this - just opinion .... and the pursuit of knowledge.
 
Post back about the volume thing if you get the chance to do a test genuinely interested.  Using an spl meter opened my eyes about a lot of the differences I "thought" I heard.

 

[krismusic]

Will do.