[ry_goody]

I'm thinking about buying the mint vibe, for portable use of course, but then running a 9 volt battery adapter to it and using it to add some power to my soundblaster Live! to run my ATH a500's. Can anyone give me some input on this as I am a complete noob to amps. Is the mint vibe good? I was also wondering how does the mint vibe compare to the Headroom airhead, or total airhead, or any of the other cheaper amps? And would the home-vibe make a noticable difference?

and heres the link to the site just in case
http://headsave.com/vibe.html

 

[dhelm]

Im curious to see responses, seeing as i dont see a ton of talk about these lower end amps. If only the search feature worked. But yes, I own a pair of HD580s and a iRiver SlimX550 for portable use. My soundcard for home use is a lovely Echo Layla 24, but I can't afford an amp for it yet, so Im needing one to use mainly on portable. Any suggestions?

 

[sbulack]

The portable vibe, in fact, the entire vibe line, has been discussed in a lot of detail in this thread:

http://www5.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=73734

 

[plainsong]

Actually not much was said about the mint vibe in that thread. I just searched through all the pages and found the word Mint only a few times, and nothing was said about the sound. I'm curious about how much I would use a portable amp, so instead of jumping in with both feet and getting the SD, I think I'll try a mint vibe instead.

I emailed Norm about what I planned to use it with and such, so I'll see what he says to get the ball rolling.

 

[dhelm]

Thanks for the thread. And here is what Norm said when I asked.
"There is no performance difference between the Mint-Vibe and Go-Vibe so either one would work well with the HD580s. The choice comes down to a matter of which case you prefer."
So there ya go.
-Dan

 

[plainsong]

Well my mint is ordered and has roughly a two week turn-around time. I got it for use with low impedence cans like ath-ew9, ety4p, perhaps some future IEM's, and ms-1s. Norm is a big fan of the ms-1 as well, so he'll add enough gain for them.

I chose the Wintergreen Altoid tin so that it will better match my Vaja case (green and blue) for the ipod.

A got the blue led, silver knob, plainview, and 6" custom mini-mini right angle plug.

Now all I need is the Timbuk2 poutch that straps to the bag strap of my mini metro bag of the same brand to hold ipod and amp.

This should match not only my ipod case, but my ipaq case and Vaja Euro wallet as well... I'll have to take a picture of all this once the wallet gets here.

If you're going to be a geek, then at least accessorize correctly!

 

[sbulack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by plainsong Actually not much was said about the mint vibe in that thread. I just searched through all the pages and found the word Mint only a few times, and nothing was said about the sound. I'm curious about how much I would use a portable amp, so instead of jumping in with both feet and getting the SD, I think I'll try a mint vibe instead. I emailed Norm about what I planned to use it with and such, so I'll see what he says to get the ball rolling.

The mint vibe is the same as the Go-Vibe in a mint tin instead of an ABS Hammond case. The specs of the two on the Headsave website are the same except for the enclosure. So, in the thread to which the link was provided above, the detailed descriptions of the performance and sound of the Go-Vibe apply to the mint vibe as well.

 

[plainsong]

Yeah, I saw that, that's why I ordered. I figured it was a good deal especially for the price.

 

[Earwax]

Plainsong, let us know when you get your Vibe. It will be interesting to know how it compares to a Pimeta, especially since two people here have favorably compared the Vibe to a Meta42.

 

[Lisa]

Plainsong,

What charger are you going to use for that plainview?
I chose a 8.4V rechargeable for my Mint because of the fact that I couldn't find a suitable charger in Europe.

 

[plainsong]

I found one that goes up to 9.6V for NiMH batteries. Plainview's site is down, but I'm pretty sure this should work:

I found it at http://www.elfa.se

Ansmann Powerline type 2 model #69-361-08

Input voltage:
230 Vac, 50 Hz

Charging current:
75 mA

Capacity:
100–200 mAh

Charging time:
2–4 h

Dimensions:
70×120×81 mm

Weight:
250 g

edit - They seem to do shipping across Europe. Before shipping it's roughly €35, but after shipping and COD charges it gets closers to €50.00. They only do COD for the Nordic countries, so everyone else will have to use bank transfer, which should keep down the cost a bit. It never asked for my email address, so print the order form just in case. I was able to order mine COD, so if they don't deliver I haven't lost anything but time.

 

[Lisa]

Oh crap!

I actually looked at the ansmann chargers (mainly the "Energy 8" so I can charge all sizes batteries) and they claimed to charge with 10.15V and it said nothing about 9.6V batteries.
According to thomas-distributing.com the plainviews couldn't be charged with less than 10.5V or bad things would happen.They don't sell plainviews anymore so I can't link to what bad things exactly, I think damage to the charger among other things. So I thought the Ansmann Energy 8 charger was out.

I found a 4 times cheaper charger with simular capabilities (OK, a bit less but still.) so I bought that one.

Now I look at the ansmann website a bit further and they say a lot of their charger CAN charge 9.6V. Even though their specs say it charges with less then 10.5V (10V and 10.15V).
I don't know who is right but Ansmann wouldn't claim that their chargers could handle 9.6V if it damaged the chargers.

But getting a new charger + shipping and plainviews + shipping would be a very costly upgrade. I'd be better off saving my money for a better amp/headpone.

see edit
Anyway, I compared a fresh alkaline battery to my half depleted rechargeable and the rechargeable made the amp sound better. Smoother, less harsch (is that the same?) and gave better bass. I guess the lower inner resistance of the NiMH battery is more important than a bit more voltage with low impedance headphones.

-edit- The fresh alkaline turned out to be an old alkaline. Someone put it back with new batteries. So ignore those comments.

 

[plainsong]

Yeah, it's confusing considering I can't get any decent info on the Plainviews. I don't think Ansmann would lie either, but then the one I ordered goes up to 10V and the Accufresh 4plus goes to 10.15V and is cheaper. Hmmm... I'm so confused.

The only way I'm going to know is to try it I guess.

 

[Lisa]

I'll try the link in a new post, couldn't get it editted right in the other post .

http://www.google.nl/search?q=cache:...iew+9.6v&hl=nl

It says severe damage. That scared me off. But Ansmann says it can handle them...

 

[plainsong]

The only thing for it is to give it a go. The chargers linked there at Thomson don't appear all that different in price or appearence than the ones that Ansmann has. What's the worse that can happen?

If you see me saying OUUUUUUCCCCHHH! then it didn't go well.