[oneeyedhobbit]

My friend Danny owns a Creative Nomad mp3 player. He refuses to upgrade from here and his trusty Beyerdynamic DT 250 80, as portability is a premium to him. But, after hearing his Beyers in my setup, we both agree that through his Nomad, they are a bit muddy. Further, the big problem is they are underpowered--when he cranks the volume, it is still a bit quiet for his tastes with the Beyers. I was thinking for his budget a CMoy may be just the ticket. But, I'm worried that coming out of a headphone jack (his Nomad doesn't have a line out) it won't be able to clean up the muddiness. Thoughs? Getting things crisper and clearer, as well as louder, are his main objectives.

Oh, P.S. He listens to mostly rap and hard rock, with some classical and big band. Should he go for a CMoy, any op-amp recommendations?

 

[raif]

I just built a cmoy for my m-audio transit at work and it sounds just fine. I was actually exprecting a much crappier sound because of the way people talk about it online, but it actually makes my v6s sound a lot fuller.

For rap and rock it would probably not sound bad at all.
If your friend wants I can build him one for the cost of the parts.(I think like $30 bucks)

 

[oneeyedhobbit]

Surely someone else can give me some input on how this would affect the sound...

Raif, can you give me an idea of what a $30 CMoy has for components? I'm also curious as to op amp choices and what results they have on final sound...Feel free to pm me.

 

[raif]

I really couldn't go in to detail about the subtle differences between various opamps as far as the cmoy is concerned. I personally feel that the average cmoy lacks the refinement to warrant such a discussion but, you should try reposting a thread in the DIY forum. They are quite knowledgeable.

The $30 dollar is what I would charge you, but I would probably spend closer to $50 on the parts. For that you would get switchcraft jacks, panasonic pot, panasonic caps, vishay-dale resistors(cause they really aren't that much more expensive), and most likely the OPA2132PA. I also would put in a DIP socket so if you want to roll opamps you could.

 

[slindeman]

Did you hook up his nomad to your amp or did you just try his headphones with your entire setup? If your amp improved the sound out of his nomad then I bet a decent cmoy or a47 will also.

Quote:

But, I'm worried that coming out of a headphone jack (his Nomad doesn't have a line out) it won't be able to clean up the muddiness. Thoughs? Getting things crisper and clearer, as well as louder, are his main objectives.

I've found it depends entirely on the headphone jack and headphone in question. If I stick a headphone amp onto the heapdhone jack of my wife's mp3 player and use it with A500 I'm hard pressed to notice any difference, but with my AKG K240S the difference is noticeable. So it would be best if you could test his source and headphones with your amp to see if its worth bothering going down that path.

 

[oneeyedhobbit]

Did you hook up his nomad to your amp or did you just try his headphones with your entire setup? If your amp improved the sound out of his nomad then I bet a decent cmoy or a47 will also.

We hooked up his cans to my set up. I don't have a mini to RCA to hook his Nomad up to my set up. Raif, I'm filling him in on what people have told me for CMoys, I'll be in touch

 

[goto2003]

I am using Nomad NX 20G MP3 and it has no line-out. I just use the headphone output to my amp, Xin Superdual, and then to my HD600/Mx500. The difference is obvious. The sound is more defined and full. I can feel the image is clearer and the sound stage is better. I assume the line-out would be better, but never tried it.