[Joe Bloggs]

Yes, as people have mentioned elsewhere, the HD580 can only be considered 'luggable' phones, you won't be wearing these on the go. So the question is, how good is the 470's 'skip protection' with the antiskip off?

Can it withstand small jolts like you get when you're sitting in a bus or can it play properly only when put on a table?

Oh, and some of you have suggested higher/lower class systems. I'm wondering if I should just get a high-quality amp first and buy phones later. What can I get if I decide to throw all $275 into buying a (portable?) amp? What's the best portable amp out there? Or is the Porta Corda on top of all that and anything better would be tied to a wall socket / PSU?

OTOH, what if I throw all $275 into getting headphones? This probably sucks though becoz then I probably won't have any source to listen to it properly

Unless it's a Grado

If I buy a HQ amp I'll probably be better off because I can polish-a-turd and make my Aiwa HP-X225 sound great using digital EQ

I found that given the right signals compensating for the rough and unbalanced EQ response on my Aiwas they sound competitive with the Senn HD565 through the same source at my university library--but my pcdp is too weak to drive the eq'd tracks at a good volume and not distort

With a good amp I can hold off buying cans and polish-a-turd until I can afford super-duper phones

---
sig for this post: Who says you can't polish a turd?

 

[Xevion]

Best portable = Headroom Cosmic?

http://www.headphone.com/layout.php?...tID=0010013000

I think it is at least, but at a cool $700, it isn't exactly cheap.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

ah..ah...ah...

How about if you tell me what you think would be the next step up from the Corda... and the next step from that... until you get to the Cosmic?

Well, to get to the point, how many portable amps would there be between the Porta Corda and the Cosmic?

 

[jhoelter]

Joe wrote:
Quote:

How about if you tell me what you think would be the next step up from the Corda... and the next step from that... until you get to the Cosmic?

Joe,

Why don't you go look for yourself. Between head-fi, headwize, and HeadRoom's websites, you should be able to find ALL the information you're looking for. A *quick* scan of HeadRoom's website (www.headphone.com) would have revealed the Supreme amp at $449 (between the PortaCorda and the Cosmic).

Jeff

 

[Russ Arcuri]

Joe, why is it you seem reluctant to give an Altoids or CMOY amp a try? A portable CMOY even has a crossfeed circuit. They both use high-quality burr-brown opamps, and the general concensus is that they sound better than the total airhead with most headphones.

In other words, they are good amps, and if your budget is a concern, you should be considering them. There are DIY folks who would be willing to build you one. That guy Thomas I referred to above, and JMT, and possibly others.

As for the differences in sound between the Panasonic 470 and 570 -- I think it's a myth, or can be accounted for by normal sample-to-sample variations with consumer-grade gear. They sounded identical to me in A/B tests.

I was VERY disappointed in how easy it was to skip the 470 with the antishock circuit turned off. Even touching it a bit too hard when adjusting the volume caused a brief stutter. Maybe it was just that particular sample.

The 570 seems more skip resistant even with antishock turned off. With the 10 second antishock, it's great.

I still say the 570, altoids or cmoy, and AKG K501 headphones would be a really nice setup for under $300. Get the K501s from headphone.com, and if you don't like them after a short trial, you can exchange them for the Sennheisers.

If the budget really isn't as tight as that, then get the porta corda/HD580 combo from Meier Audio, and the Panasonic 570. You still come in under the $450 budget, and you've basically got what you wanted in the first place.

 

[dgs]

Quote:

Originally posted by Joe Bloggs So the question is, how good is the 470's 'skip protection' with the antiskip off? Can it withstand small jolts like you get when you're sitting in a bus or can it play properly only when put on a table?

Not really. Without antiskip, the 470 tends to skip rather easily if jolted directly.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Um, yeah, well, I couldn't tell apart the portable and non-portable units there

they all looked pretty un-portable

 

[pigmode]

The new etys are well with your budget, with or without an amp, and you can still get the pcdp. Sounds like portabilty is an issue.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

And while I was typing up my reply in came two more

Quote:

Joe, why is it you seem reluctant to give an Altoids or CMOY amp a try?

Maybe because of the Boostaroo??

It made me feel that if I'm not going to get a *good* amp, I may as well get no amp at all

I suppose the Porta Corda would be 'good enough' since Sennheiser approves of pairing it with the HD580 in their x'mas promo

But then apparently Sennheiser once made a package that paired the HD580 with the DSP360

Arrrgh! Somebody post a Porta Corda amp review! Help! Help!

 

[slindeman]

The DIY amp I built, which I'm sure is very similar to those offered by JMT and others has absolutely zero noise/hiss even with the volume cranked to the maximum, sounds better than every other headphone jack I have at my disposal (1 home cd player, 3 portable units, 1 integrated amp, 1 mini-system), and gives probably 85% of the performance of the full Corda. The parts cost less than $60. Don't judge good DIY amps by the boostaroo.

Then again I wouldn't be surprised if the Porta-Corda sounds better than every commercial portable amp besides the Cosmic. Based on the pictures and comments by Jan it looks to have a very good power supply considering how small it is. It appears to have a great potentiometer, and comes with a good quality mini-mini interconnect. I wouldn't hesitate to buy if it suits your needs.

BTW the DSPs (360 and Pro) that Sennheiser sells are not headphone amps, in fact they are preamps (for use with speaker systems) and headphone buffers, and have no gain at all. They are surround sound decoders and virtualizers, with volume and (in the case of DSP Pro) tone control, nothing more. They use a buffer (0 gain) to drive the headphones, which is ok when the input is the standard 2V of a home CD/DVD/VCR. They are intended for Dolby Pro Logic Surround, not stereo music, so it is no surprise they do not compete with even the most basic DIY headphone amps.

 

[Russ Arcuri]

>> Maybe because of the Boostaroo??

What the heck is a Boosteroo? Whatever it is, I'm sure it has no bearing on the quality of the CHA 47 (Altoids) or CMOY amps.

>> It made me feel that if I'm not going to get a *good* amp,
>> I may as well get no amp at all

It seems pretty clear by all indications that the CHA 47 and CMOY amps ARE *good* amps. As I pointed out previously, they utilize good components and many people here have reported excellent performance with them. I'll give you a review myself in a couple weeks, if you still haven't decided. (My JMT Altoids amp is on the way and I'll be building a CMOY myself when all the parts arrive.)

>> I suppose the Porta Corda would be 'good enough' since...

Joe, please take this in the nicest possible way. Your method of determining what a good amp is -- by inference (If Sennheiser allows it to be bundled...), by association (well, the DIY amps must all suck because the "boosteroo" sucked), and by cost (if it's cheap it must stink) are all ridiculous. The best way to determine the quality of an amp is to listen to it yourself.

If that isn't possible, then you should seek opinions from people who's opinions you trust. Plenty of people here and on headwize have reported excellent performance from the CHA 47 and CMOY amps. NO ONE has reported on the performance of the porta corda yet, so your assumption (based on association with Sennheiser) that it's a "good" amp is possibly flawed. (NOTE: I'm not saying there's any reason to think the Porta Corda won't be excellent; I'm just pointing out that in the absence of actual listening tests, we can't say for sure.)

No one wants to spend their hard-earned cash on dud equipment. But you've posted three or four different questions here (maybe more?) related to your upcoming purchase, and still seem unwilling to accept the advice you've been given. At some point you just have to take your chances and make your choice. I feel VERY confident that either of the packages I've suggested to you will sound excellent, and fall well within your budget. Good luck.

Russ "The Peripatetic Audiophile"

 

[Tim D]

If you live in Hong Kong you don't NEED a 470...in fact you SHOULD have an incredible array of CHEAP portables at your disposal based on what I've heard and seen. Hell I know people that come back from HK with cheap portable MD's or CDP's so your selection should be wide. Also things show up there sooner than here, and things that aren't available here are available there. All you need to do is audition. The 470 wouldn't be my first pick at a PCDP...its was a headroom recommended choice because of its availability compared to the other crap thats available over here.

And the Boosteroo is crap. The Cmoy amps are probably a wide margin better than any built-in jacks you've heard. The Porta-Corda has even greater potential from the DIYer's I've asked. These are both high bang for the buck performance amps compared to a Boosteroo.

You said the EX-70's were some of the first phones you didn't feel necessary to EQ? Well in comparison to many higher-end phones its really still a turd IMO.

 

[dgs]

Quote:

Originally posted by Tim D The 470 wouldn't be my first pick at a PCDP...

Tim D:

Just curious, what would be?

dgs

 

[Gluegun]

Yea, boostaroo sucks (i compared it to my total airhead; someone brought one on a bus trip), and EX70's DO need a *lot* of EQ....bright, and bassy, they are, yes, too bright and too bassy...

 

[dgs]

Quote:

Originally posted by Gluegun EX70's DO need a *lot* of EQ....bright, and bassy, they are, yes, too bright and too bassy...

I really don't like these phones. I hope the new etys are awesome so that everyone will buy them, and the ex70 will just go away (tell us how you really feel)...