[fuild]

Hi guys. As a portable setup, i'm using an iRiver imp-400 and senn px-200s. I should be upgrading again soon.

But for now i feel like getting a portable amp. However, I seem to recall reading somewhere about the imp-400 not having a true line-out, would that affect the "amp-ing" ? Also, is a CMOY amp inferior in sounds quality to a, say, supermini or porta corda?

 

[Lisa]

Yesterday I thought I'd listen to my PX100s again since I hadn't done that for a while and I now have a MINT amp.

I listened to an imp-150 both throught the headphone out and with the MINT throught the line-out.
About the iriver line-out not being a true lin-out, I don't know. I do know that the line-out doesn't sound the same as the headphone out. The volume is much lower and the soundsignature is different. You can listen for yourself by plugging your headphones in the line-out.

The px100 really improve a lot with the amp. Without it has too much bass and recessed mids and highs with a certain shrillness somewhere between the mids and highs.
With the MINT the bass was tamed considerably. The mids and highs were still a bit recessed but defenitely more upfront. And the shrillness was gone.
Since the MINT gives my grados more bass and less treble I can only conclude that amplification lets you hear your headphones the way they were meant to sound. Which to be honest is what I read all along but never experianced myself before.

The px100s improve more with an amp than the grados do.
So i guess, but cannot know for sure because I never tried, the px200s will too.
But don't expect to get headphoes that are twice as good. There will be improvement in every aspect of the headphones and you'll be able to hear them easily. But it's not like getting headphones twice as good. Just to give you an indication what to expect.

 

[zotjen]

I have the imp-350. When plugging headphones directly into the lineout, the volume is much lower than the regular headphone jack. If I raise the volume, the sound becomes somewhat distorted. Another interesting thing I noticed is that you don't hear much of a difference if you change the equalizer settings with the headphones directly in the lineout. If you change the settings when using an amp with the lineout, the change in settings is heard. Overall, my ER6's sound better with the lineout/amp combo than the headphone jack/amp combo. The lineout may not be a true lineout but it's certainly not a headphone amp either.

Tom