[NewAKGGuy]

Seems as if I can only find 1 real thread on the P4 and there's no real review in that thread and only the briefest of statements about how it sounds.  There doesn't even appear to be a thread on P4 rolling.  What's up with this amp?
 
Anyone?
 

 

[estreeter]

I started to write a review and abandoned it :
 
- as you can see from the existing thread, a lot of the buzz around this amp revolved around the power on offer and the potential offered by various opamp/buffer combinations - you may have read of the P4+ with a full Watt (1000 mW) of power, for example. No-one seemed terribly interested in hearing what the amp sounded like stock.
 
- the first responses to almost every review on Head-Fi are 'how does it compare to the xxxxxx amp ?' and 'have you tried it with the xxxxxx phones ?'. That isnt a game I want to play - I would need to own almost every conceivable combination of amp/phones going.
 
- most HeadFiers want a 'Shazam !' moment where someone hypes the living crap out of a piece of kit and everyone starts foaming at the mouth about how great its going to be when they get it. Telling people that the P4 is a powerful portable with fantastic clarity, good low end punch and a generally 'forgiving' sound signature, its not going to satisfy those looking for the 'next big thing'. It WONT inject bass into cans that dont already have the ability to render 'slam', and that would seem to rule it out for a large majority on Head-Fi.
 
End of the day, anything I say about the P4's sound could easily be turned on its head by someone who has a different set of opamps installed. Read some of HeadphoneAddicts impressions of various iBasso amps over many months - he rolls opamps constantly and comes back with new rankings based on the improvements.

 

[NewAKGGuy]

Well, FWIW estreeter, I and probably at least a few others would appreciate your thoughts in review format.  No hype necessary, just an honest review.  I find them valuable (especially for amps).

 

[estreeter]

I'll give it some thought, but I'm not sure how many people want to read a 'review' which is just a thinly veiled attempt to crush lesser amps.