[estreeter]

Quote:

 
We're not talking about computers or cell phones here. How many meaningful technological improvements do you really think audio equipment endure over their lifetimes?

 
I'd like you to grab your diary and write the following in the entry for today : 'What the hell is up with this Bruno Putzeys guy ?'
 
I hope you and I can have this discussion in another 12-18 months. 

 

[3X0]

Quote:

 
I hope you and I can have this discussion in another 12-18 months. 

That's precisely what I'm saying. The pinnacle has been reached for the past several decades, and the only "stops" on the portable side of things are driving power and output level, either of which are in abundance for the vast majority of loads being driven.
 
Of course, there's always money to be made in solving problems that don't really exist. Or even solving an inaudible problem while introducing an audible one (e.g. non-oversampling DACs).

 

[grokit]

The latest and the greatest, can be yours for only $1,500.00 (not including iPod)

 

[estreeter]

Quote:

The latest and the greatest, can be yours for only $1,500.00 (not including iPod)

 
And the fully-balanced Mjolnir / Gungnir combination will set you back almost 2K AUD in my neck of  the woods - horses for courses. 
 
http://www.addictedtoaudio.com.au/Schiit-Audio-Gungnir-DAC-USB-Schiit-Audio-Mjolnir-Amplifier
 
As a bedside rig. it may be that  the CLAS/ALO stack makes more sense : what we need is a cashed-up Head-Fier like yourself to buy all of the above and get back to us with a full report !  

 

[BBBS]

I agree with him. Most of the portable amps are trash, it's a lot of delicate equipment to carry, and in my case some HD229 do the trick. Besides, any degree of isolation is either dangerous or just plain unsettling, depending on the time and place. I don't really need to walking about in the 2a.m. traffic, completely oblivious to cars and people.



These were something like £12. I use them to replace some Portapro with damaged wiring.

 

[Lock]

Quote:

 
Instead of mocking honest people, do the experiment yourself.

Get two sets of Audio-Technica ATH-M50. Should set you back something like $340 or more, but hey, you insist on blind denial. That costs.

Then get the following:

AWG 26, 30, 32 silver-plated copper twisted pair wire; in my case the AWG 26 was cheap as there're spools of the stuff lying around for studio wiring, but, it shouldn't be too expensive off EBay either. That might cost some $30-35.

Techflex jacket for the cable - should be something like $7-10, shipping included;

A 3.5 mm. plug - Neutrik/REAN NYS231 is standard and cheap, likely around $1-1.5;

A pack of Blu-Tack - really cheap, maybe $5 at most.

Assuming you're not an empty-handed critic, there must be a soldering iron and solder lying around. Also screwdrivers.

And spend a day or two modding one set of ATH-M50.

Then use a standard player like the IPhone or IPod Touch for two days of testing - one day with the stock ATH-M50, another with the modded set. Just walk around with the player on for a couple days. See which one you like the most.

About low-res formats like CD audio: detail limit for sampled signals is signal frequency*8. That leaves 4 sampling nodes per half-cycle, which is what's needed to properly draw a waveform. Likewise, 16-bit only leaves 4096 voltage levels at -24 dB. At -30 there're 2048, -36 1024, etc. It's all lame, dull and cold and hollow.
 
True hi-fi requires at least 160 KHz/24-bit (20 KHz*8).

I have a pair of sennheiser HD-25-1 ii.  renowned for durability and honest sound reproduction, hence their use in a lot of studios.   I bought some pure copper silver plated cable, kevlar tech flex from a place in NW London, and bough a neutrik plug and also some cardas connectors.  I used silver solder and made up a set of cables.  The cable did make the phones sound a bit better (imo) it's true, and it was well worth the  <£25 I paid.  However, these are not digital cables, which was my point.  I also asked my mate at uni, he is a Masters student in electrical engineering to test the cable.  He measured the signal response (it's all technical so I can't explain all of what he did with the oscilloscope, because I don't understand it myself), what he did say was there was no measurable difference between the new cable and the original steel Sennheiser cable measured between frequencies of 18Hz and 22KHz, I believe he did this test at various levels of current.  He also pointed out there was, although measurable, only negligible difference between these cables and a paper clip under the same test.  I will post a pic of me cable, it does 'look' sweet.
 
recabling headphones is clearly of benefit imo anyway, buying an HDMI cable for more than £10 that is doing a short run is completely insane, and anyone who says it affects the audio or video 'quality' is completely full of ****.  If the cable doesn't work, or you live under a power sub station and the EM field actually causes the cable to drop data, then MAYBE a shielded cable is in order, but provided the cable is working, it cannot affect picture quality.  fact.   This was why I was sarcastic about people spending loads on DIGITAL cables is all.

 

[Angular Mo]

Once I heard my HRT iStreamer and IBasso Warbler P4 through Beyer DT770-80s, my audio life has never been the same.
I have now been on a quest to replicate that experience in a more portable manner; something I can carry in a coat pocket.
So, I bought an E7, E17, basic LOD... not even close to the iStreamer. 
 
Maybe I ought to just give up on the coat aspect, and power the iStreamer with a TekCharge™ MP1860A
 
It is just that the 24-bit thread appeals to by Gear Acquisition Syndrome...
 
-Mo.

 

[estreeter]

Quote:

Once I heard my HRT iStreamer and IBasso Warbler P4 through Beyer DT770-80s, my audio life has never been the same.

 
The P4 is very underrated here. I spent a few hours listening to music last night (HRT MSII -> EHP-O2 -> AD900) and it wasnt the first time that I've missed the glorious mids on the P4. The O2 might have better measurements - never seen anything to confirm or deny that - but the P4 remains a very special little pocket rocket for remarkably few bucks.

 

[Angular Mo]

Quote:

 
The P4 is very underrated here. I spent a few hours listening to music last night (HRT MSII -> EHP-O2 -> AD900) and it wasnt the first time that I've missed the glorious mids on the P4. The O2 might have better measurements - never seen anything to confirm or deny that - but the P4 remains a very special little pocket rocket for remarkably few bucks.

estreeter,
Thank you for the post. I am inexperienced, so another's opinion helps me to appreciate what I hear.
-Mo.

 

[Currawong]

FYI, discussion of the "seriously modded M50s", headphone, optical and other cables has been split to a new thread here: http://www.head-fi.org/t/635028/seriously-modded-re-cabled-ath-m50-and-cable-discussion-split-from-leaving-portable-hi-fi-thread

 

[qusp]

portable hifi isnt silly, it just needs the right brand of commitment =) this is home hifi that just happens to be transportable, performance is closer than I would like to my home rig. power to burn, clean as a whistle, 40bit digital volume control (by directly controlling the dac), impedance controlled digital interconnections, transformer coupled spdif inputs, handles up to 32/384kHz (in fact handles DSD with an addition i'm working on), balanced signal path all the way.

es9018 dac with shunt regulation on analogue stages, 2300mah A123 LiFePO4 batteries giving about 7hrs playback. ridiculously low output impedance (0.05mOhms), around 2.5Wpch in the amp section (total output capability) UPOCC pure silver wiring for everything including power (except main +/- power battery output wires, which are 16awg UPOCC copper, with 14awg silver center tap/ground). a single Zfoil resistor per signal line in the analogue output stages, (just in case ) capable of ~ -116dB THD+N (actual output, not just quoted from datasheet) the amp section is capable of much better by itself




not small, but smaller than some of the triplestacks i've seen, it was my aim to easily beat the performance of what I was carrying around already, there is no comparison.

completely DIY, not for sale

 

[nc8000]

So that's what the monster looks like.

I'm slightly less extreme but certainly love this rig for my 100+ annual hotel nights

 

[qusp]

yep, its just a temporary case so wont look like this for long, but i'm pretty much done with the current design. its a mix of very high objective spec (kills ODAC+O2) as well as some audiophile overkill for good measure.

will be auditioning new transports for it in the coming months. will start with the Fiio X3 (so disappointed with the iriver AX100) but have some other ideas of my own

 

[WiR3D]

Quote:

portable hifi isnt silly, it just needs the right brand of commitment =) this is home hifi that just happens to be transportable, performance is closer than I would like to my home rig. power to burn, clean as a whistle, 40bit digital volume control (by directly controlling the dac), impedance controlled digital interconnections, transformer coupled spdif inputs, handles up to 32/384kHz (in fact handles DSD with an addition i'm working on), balanced signal path all the way.
es9018 dac with shunt regulation on analogue stages, 2300mah A123 LiFePO4 batteries giving about 7hrs playback. ridiculously low output impedance (0.05mOhms), around 2.5Wpch in the amp section (total output capability) UPOCC pure silver wiring for everything including power (except main +/- power battery output wires, which are 16awg UPOCC copper, with 14awg silver center tap/ground). a single Zfoil resistor per signal line in the analogue output stages, (just in case

) capable of ~ -116dB THD+N (actual output, not just quoted from datasheet) the amp section is capable of much better by itself

not small, but smaller than some of the triplestacks i've seen, it was my aim to easily beat the performance of what I was carrying around already, there is no comparison.
completely DIY, not for sale

This isn't the first thing you have created that I have drooled over. I would actually put his on my short list if I could buy this off the shelf or a kit and build it myself if its not too complex and well documented. 
 
Its a shame I only get to look at the pictures, but well done. It really is a masterpiece.

 

[qusp]

thanks yeah well maybe look for something in the not too distant future...., but not this exactly. this contains others IP that I dont have the right to sell. Shout outs go to the Twisted Pear Crew for the buffalo II (somewhat modified =P), which is a far more suitable dac for this project than the BIII, opc for 'the wire' bal-bal pcbs, Tom for his help realizing the custom volume control/PSU/IO/Battery monitor PCB (nerve center in other words) and last but not least Chris, the only other person to get one of these, as he helped support this project from back in my conceptual stages, not long now mate if youre reading.