Highest-end rational amp for ipod?

[pufftissue]

Hello,

What is the highest-end, yet still sane choice if I'm married to the ipod?
Many of the serious listeners seem to diss the ipod's sound quality. My problem is that I must have the ipod as my source b/c I won't carry around a bunch of cds, and my mp3's are 192 kpbs on average. I'm not going to change that. So, given this starting point, at what point does my ipod become the bottleneck in my listening experience?
I don't want to underbuy, but I don't also want to go overboard if my source is "only" the ipod. I want to buy once and get it right (famous last words), so I'll pony up for the SR-71 if that's what it takes. But would that be overkill? Would the go-vibe be all I need?

I have the SR-225 and like it (it seems to drive well without an amp to me), so I don't know how much an amp will help. I am also going to get the Sennheiser hd-600 or hd-650 I hope, unless you guys tell me that if I must use the ipod, there is no point in getting such a nice headphone. Is the hd-650 significantly better than my already high-end SR-225?

 

[ampgalore]

Pimeta.

 

[Wmcmanus]

pufftissue, there are several threads about this same subject. A lot of people are wondering if the SR-71 is overkill because: a) the headphones they use for portable purposes are not of the same quality, or b) more often, the source they use is not of the same quality. It will be interesting to see what people who have compared the go-vibe to the SR-71 say, especially when used with an iPod.

My impressions (based on listening at a couple of meets) is that the SR-71 is really an incredible little amp, and well worth the asking price. You could know with absolute certainty that this would never be a weak link in your portable rig. Yet, would the SR-71 outclass the rest of your portable rig so badly that it doesn't get a chance to really shine? That's a much tougher question, but I think the answer is "no" because it will improve whatever portable system you now have.

 

[bahamaman]

I had precisely the same issue last week. I use an iPod, with CDs ripped at 192 and was shopping for a portable amp. I dearly wanted the SR-71 and was doing all I could to justify the expenditure, but ultimately, I chose an alternate path. Here's the story of how that happened.

I first did an experiment. I ripped a song I knew well using three bit rates: the default (128), 192 and Apple lossless. For the 192 version, I gave it the song's standard name. For 128, I added a minus to the end and for the lossless I added a plus. This way, all three showed up next door to one another on the iPod and I could easily shuffle among them. While there were a couple of times I thought I could distinguish among the three, I am disappointed to report that generally I could not. This tells me that I lack true golden ears and am probably a mid-fi sort of guy.

I then re-read Tuberoller's review of the SR-71 and noted how source-dependent he believed it to be. I then reasoned that if I could scarcely distinguish between good and average sources, the excellence of that amp would, in all likelihood, be lost on me.

Bottom line, I just purchased (and am awaiting receipt of) a $40 cmoy I purchased from a fellow head-fi'er, Ivan.

Even if my ability to appreciate higher quality improves to the point that I could eventually justify the SR-71, what will I have lost by going the cheaper route? I could doubtless sell it here and be out a total of 15 or 20 bucks.

 

[Jahn]

I've searched extensively too, and considering that my source and my cans aren't going to justify a "level 3" PPA/SR-71/(Supermono?) level amp purchase, the highest I would go would be the "level 2" combo of Pimeta/Total Airhead 2004/Superdual. Of course, right now I'm at the "level 1" Cmoy/Go-Vibe/Supermini level, but upgrading is imminent - It' just nice to know that I won't have to upgrade the amp anymore until the cans/source get better (working on it...)

So for now, stick with "level 1" amps - you'll find them popping up in the sale forums (including mine right now!) and "level 2" is probably about as far as you'll need to go, so it's up to you to decide if you are willing to jump ahead and pay the $100-$150 premium to do so.

 

[Jonathan Griffin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pufftissue Hello, What is the highest-end, yet still sane choice if I'm married to the ipod? Many of the serious listeners seem to diss the ipod's sound quality. My problem is that I must have the ipod as my source b/c I won't carry around a bunch of cds, and my mp3's are 192 kpbs on average. I'm not going to change that. So, given this starting point, at what point does my ipod become the bottleneck in my listening experience? I don't want to underbuy, but I don't also want to go overboard if my source is "only" the ipod. I want to buy once and get it right (famous last words), so I'll pony up for the SR-71 if that's what it takes. But would that be overkill? Would the go-vibe be all I need? I have the SR-225 and like it (it seems to drive well without an amp to me), so I don't know how much an amp will help. I am also going to get the Sennheiser hd-600 or hd-650 I hope, unless you guys tell me that if I must use the ipod, there is no point in getting such a nice headphone. Is the hd-650 significantly better than my already high-end SR-225?

A good amp and good headphones _will_ make the ipod sound a lot better. I've got HD600's and two nice amps (Chiarra & Solo), and as I've been moving around a lot over the past few months I've been using the ipod to drive them quite often, with 192 kbs AAC music. It can be very enjoyable and you need the amp to get the best out of the Sennheisers.

OTOH, the ipod is not a terribly high quality source, so you won't get the best out of top class headphones and a really good amp with it. My old Rega Planet CD player gives vastly better sound through the same kit than the ipod does. So whether the improvement is worth the money is up to you. I haven't used any cheaper amps, so I don't know where the improvements start to run out.

By all accounts the SR-71 is a lovely amp and good enough to be part of a home audio system. Would you consider it and the Sennheisers as an investment in that context? I love the convenience of the ipod over stacks of CDs, which is why I'm planning to rip them all to disk in lossless format, and buy a Squeezebox and a good DAC for my home system, and keep the ipod for portable only.

Cheers,
Jonathan.

 

[sbulack]

When I was using an iRiver SlimX-350 PCDP/MP3 Player as my source with SR225 phones, I bought a PPA as my amp with them. I thought that the increase in the sound quality with that system was worth the price of the PPA. With a subsequent source upgrade, the sound got even better. But, I remember quite clearly thinking and saying that, with the SR225 and the SlimX-350, the sound quality increase I got with the PPA made it worth the price of the amp (about $400).