[wayne1983]

Hi all,

i'm going to get my ordered shure e4 soon, so i'm planning to get a headphone amp for my portable source, an old panasonic cd-player(abt 7 year-old i think) and the psp. The budget for the amp is under $100 shipped internationally, is the PA2v2 or cmoy a good choice? or i can get even better with my budget?
thanks a lot

 

[aseltzer144]

I don't know your gear specifically, but generally speaking, either a PA2V2 or Cmoy will enhance your listening.

I have not yet heard the E4c. I do have the E2's which may or may not have a Shure signature sound to them. With a PA2V2, I find that the rolled off high end seems somewhat recovered. In other words, through amplification, I hear some improvements to the high end and get better tonal balance in general without muddiness being added to the bass or the midrange clarity being affected.

Subjective audio qualities aside, the PA2V2 is a closed end black box. I find that it does improve somewhat from burn-in but it will stablize and sound the sound throughout its usable lifetime. As the PA2 is generally a good amp for the price, that's not a problem and when you factor in its ability to use low cost NiMH AA's and its ability to recharge them in the amp itself, there's good value there.

The cmoys are good amps as well and have spawned many derivative as well by numerous vendors. With the generic cmoy available, it is hard to say what the quality will be as cmoy is not so much a product as a design specification and you need to have some sense for a builder's reputation to know how well the amp may be built. Cmoys generally leave the opamp(s) socketed, thus allowed and intending for that critical IC to be user interchangeable. Apart from how well the circuitry is implemented every cmoy will sound a bit different dependent on the opamp inside. Given the plethora of compatible opamps available, the likelihood of finding an opamp well suited to the E4s is very high, so you have that flexibility there. At the $100 level there are some commercial cmoy derivatives to consider. One that I have is the Headsave Go-Vibe which I can also recommend. Another I know of but have no experience with is the Super Mini-moy. You can search the threads for this as well as the PA2V2, cmoy, and Go-Vibe and you will have enough information to make your head spin.

In general, all will provide audio quality beyond what the amp section of most portable devices can provide.

 

[kramer5150]

Im finishing a guzzler G-moy build... I'll be able to compare it to my PA2 in the next week or so.

Garrett

 

[Svperstar]

Listening too Billy Corgan's new cd streaming from his MySpace at work on my PAV2.

Let me say this thing is built like a tank, I have dropped it off my desk a few times now and it still works just fine, I use this amp every day here @ work and I like it more all the time.

 

[wayne1983]

thanks for all of your replies

after performaning a search for pa2v2 and cmoy, i find that the pa2v2 is equipped with a LM880 amp and the cmoy is with the OP2227AMP which is more famous, does it mean that the cmoy will have a better performance?
and i also heard from my friend that there is a META42 which is also within my budget, but i cannot find any product of it in ebay, do i need to do it myself?

happy listening

 

[xchagg]

I got a Go-Vibe and a few extra opamps to play with heh.

I didn't like the sound of the OPA2227 in the Go-Vibe. Something just didn't sound right, as if the opamp added a kind of artificial harshness to the sound. So i swapped it out for an AD8620, which sounded way better to me, except on some brighter recordings ugh.

An opamp maybe be 'more famous' as you put it, but you may not like it's sound signature. It all depends on your personal preference. (e.g. you may love the 2227 but hate the 8620 lol)

No experience with the PAv2, but I chose the Go-Vibe over it because of the opamp rolling ability. (Most CMOYs should have it too)

 

[wayne1983]

Quote:

Originally Posted by xchagg I got a Go-Vibe and a few extra opamps to play with heh. I didn't like the sound of the OPA2227 in the Go-Vibe. Something just didn't sound right, as if the opamp added a kind of artificial harshness to the sound. So i swapped it out for an AD8620, which sounded way better to me, except on some brighter recordings ugh. An opamp maybe be 'more famous' as you put it, but you may not like it's sound signature. It all depends on your personal preference. (e.g. you may love the 2227 but hate the 8620 lol) No experience with the PAv2, but I chose the Go-Vibe over it because of the opamp rolling ability. (Most CMOYs should have it too)

thanks for your reply
but can i have a more clear idea about how they sound with different amp chips? it is my first amp and i wanna know more about it
thanks alot