[TobaccoRoad]

lol this thread is still alive? I guess some do take portable rigs seriously. to each their own..

 

[K.I. Unlimited]

Everybody is entitled to their own opinion...
 
As people have reasons why they go for home audio (speaker/headphone), because they have the time, they like less wastage of good money, etc...there are also reasons why people go for portable.
 
I don't see the reason why some people get riled up when people start saying portable hi-fi is okay...or when home hi-fi is okay.
 
C'mon, it's as subjective a hobby as many others, respect each other's viewpoints, circumstances and such. Bad enough to tell those that adore the iBuds off, no need to chase away the porta-philes too.
 
As for me, I will list some reasons why I stick to what I think contributes to my lovely music(some of them silly):
 
1)I'm still living in a family house. Even a full porta-amp + crazy caps set-up is easier to hide than one *BOOM* Marantz CD5001 + Graham Slee Novo.  Or Audio-g d C-2C amp. My 'big' Voyager is hardly seen by my parents who grumble whenever I buy stuff, cheap or no.
 
2)My Voyager contributes significantly to great sound, even if more and more people slam the use of 'Contour'. Hey, I have enough things to do without fiddling with all sorts of EQ.
 
3)My Voyager works well with a small GoVibe DAC and a laptop powered by Songbird music player. Nobody tells me otherwise.
 
4)Portable means it's easier for me to share good music with other people.
 
5)Experimenting to find my beloved portable set-up already takes up enough time, money, and luck. Finding a home audio combo is going to drive me insane.
 
And maybe more...
 
Anyhow, I thought it should be understand fairly enough that good sound is meant to be shared whenever possible. Sure, lugging a desktop rig is still fairly possible; but I invite you to lug your preamps, power amps, tower speakers, long ICs, etc. Not *just* for the occasional CanJam or meet-up - how about anytime, anywhere? A portable set-up is a good introduction...even if little.
 
And most of the time, I found that if a person can't appreciate great music in small size, they can't appreciate music from a CD player, or from a couple of well-planted Klipsch Palladium's.
 
Oh yeah, one more thing - everytime I get a break between polytechnic lessons, I take less than a minute to set up my rig. How long do you take?

 

[mrarroyo]

Nice post K.I.!

 

[Blasto_Brandino]

This essentially is my (Trans) portable rig (when I walk around I'll choose different cans)
HD800's W/ Custom MarkL Adreniline cable (200 owed, paid off month after next)
Lisa III XP W/ Zebra wood faceplates (I sent them out to be piano laquered w/ clear laquer)
Sony X1061 w/ custom LOD (cable needs to be terminated w/ Jena copperbullet RCA's Markl is handling that as well)
Total Cost?
HD800 - $1,400 B&H Photo
LISA III - $700 Triad Audio
X1061 - $311 Sonystyle
Markl Adreniline - $460 Lawson Audio
Custom LOD - $80
$2,951 of portable gear over two months ( I used the case the HD800's came in to bury my dead wallet, I really should've spent that money on upgrading my Talon Khorus speakers to Khorus X II's), and I'm not rich I only make 20k a year. Now does this rig look like a hassle to carry around?


How long to set this rig up? less than a minute as well, My home rig? For cd's under a minute, for the computer 3-5min, for vinyl 3-5min on a pretreated record 15min on a new record (gotta clean preserve, blah blah blah)
Speaking of my home rig - NEW COMPONENT RACK! I BEAMS FOR THE WIN!!!

 

[HiWire]

My portable rig is a 3G iPod shuffle with stock earbuds. The earbuds piss me off when they fall out of my ears, but I can carry this thing anywhere.

 

[Jaunty]

Quote:

My portable rig is a 3G iPod shuffle with stock earbuds. The earbuds piss me off when they fall out of my ears, but I can carry this thing anywhere.

I would have thought you could get some IEMs for not a lot of money that don't fall out of your ears and improve on the stock earbuds. Go on, treat yourself.

 

[jamato8]

Quote:

This essentially is my (Trans) portable rig (when I walk around I'll choose different cans)
HD800's W/ Custom MarkL Adreniline cable (200 owed, paid off month after next)
Lisa III XP W/ Zebra wood faceplates (I sent them out to be piano laquered w/ clear laquer)
Sony X1061 w/ custom LOD (cable needs to be terminated w/ Jena copperbullet RCA's Markl is handling that as well)
Total Cost?
HD800 - $1,400 B&H Photo
LISA III - $700 Triad Audio
X1061 - $311 Sonystyle
Markl Adreniline - $460 Lawson Audio
Custom LOD - $80
$2,951 of portable gear over two months ( I used the case the HD800's came in to bury my dead wallet, I really should've spent that money on upgrading my Talon Khorus speakers to Khorus X II's), and I'm not rich I only make 20k a year. Now does this rig look like a hassle to carry around?
 
 
How long to set this rig up? less than a minute as well, My home rig? For cd's under a minute, for the computer 3-5min, for vinyl 3-5min on a pretreated record 15min on a new record (gotta clean preserve, blah blah blah)
Speaking of my home rig - NEW COMPONENT RACK! I BEAMS FOR THE WIN!!!
 

 
Nice equipment. I am not sure how you do it on 20K but I am sure it is worth the enjoyment. 
 

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Well, the HiFiMan HM-801 is so good that I finally sold my iMod.  The iMod with portable Vcap Dock and Protector or Pico Slim was more bulky than the 801, and it can't get the full detail out of my 24/96 albums.  I like driving my ES3X right out of the built-in amp, but it also sounds very good with HD800 while vegging on the couch.  
 
It's also taken over the roll as source for my modded SR-001 Mk2 at the bedside, where before I was using an iRiver optical out into Headroom Micro DAC (and Micro Amp for dynamic phones).
 
If I need a tiny portable rig I grab the 5G Nano with pico slim now.

 

[wuwhere]

 
Quote:

This essentially is my (Trans) portable rig (when I walk around I'll choose different cans)
HD800's W/ Custom MarkL Adreniline cable (200 owed, paid off month after next)
Lisa III XP W/ Zebra wood faceplates (I sent them out to be piano laquered w/ clear laquer)
Sony X1061 w/ custom LOD (cable needs to be terminated w/ Jena copperbullet RCA's Markl is handling that as well)
Total Cost?
HD800 - $1,400 B&H Photo
LISA III - $700 Triad Audio
X1061 - $311 Sonystyle
Markl Adreniline - $460 Lawson Audio
Custom LOD - $80
$2,951 of portable gear over two months ( I used the case the HD800's came in to bury my dead wallet, I really should've spent that money on upgrading my Talon Khorus speakers to Khorus X II's), and I'm not rich I only make 20k a year. Now does this rig look like a hassle to carry around?
How long to set this rig up? less than a minute as well, My home rig? For cd's under a minute, for the computer 3-5min, for vinyl 3-5min on a pretreated record 15min on a new record (gotta clean preserve, blah blah blah)
Speaking of my home rig - NEW COMPONENT RACK! I BEAMS FOR THE WIN!!!
 

 
Nice VPI TNT LP spinner with a missing tonearm.

 

[mrarroyo]

Larry, the HM-801 is that good and I get goose bumps listening to it via the ATH ESW9.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Larry, the HM-801 is that good and I get goose bumps listening to it via the ATH ESW9.

Yeah, rub it in on the ESW9 some more...
 
I probably would like my ESW10 JPN more anyways...  

 

[mrarroyo]

Larry, you know you are #1 on the list should I decide to ... 

 

[swbf2cheater]

Those types of setups are not portable, they are meant for you to sit in your house or somewhere and enjoy your music via your mp3 player instead of a system.  To get the best out of it you likely to need an LOD and a good amp
 
for actual portable, get a cmoy bb 2.02 and enjoy?  I enjoy it better than my python :\

 

[qusp]

Quote:

Those types of setups are not portable, they are meant for you to sit in your house or somewhere and enjoy your music via your mp3 player instead of a system.  To get the best out of it you likely to need an LOD and a good amp
 
for actual portable, get a cmoy bb 2.02 and enjoy?  I enjoy it better than my python :\

is that right? so the people actually using them portable are dreaming?

 

[3X0]

Quote:

for actual portable, get a cmoy bb 2.02 and enjoy?  I enjoy it better than my python :\

What about ditching the amplifier and using the player itself? The only audio products I can think of that offer less value than portable amplifiers are cable upgrades and treatments (e.g. ERS paper). (N.B. the value of units with a decent enough in-built DAC component is of course much higher)