[Hero Kid]

Quote:

well if that were the case I would guess 2 in and 2 out, but being there is a rail splitter in there I would say these are just power supply caps the schematic shows no signal caps at all, but it does appear to be simplified, so would probably just have a pair of them to get rid of the offset from the split supply

 
Anyone elses brain just melt?

 

[gebbss]

Quote:

@gebbss: You bet! On the iPod the LOD is a must. The sound is absolutely horrendous otherwise. The LOD negates the gripes everyone has with the SQ of the iPod, I would think. And the amp has noticeable differences, aside from the benefit that using it allows you to use the line-out function on the iPod.

 
Exactly what I wanted to hear.

Once I've gathered some money, I'm planning on getting an iPod > LOD > Headstage Arrow 12HE combo; a sexy iPod with proper sound quality.. seems almost too fine.

 

[Nightslayer]

Quote:

well if that were the case I would guess 2 in and 2 out, but being there is a rail splitter in there I would say these are just power supply caps the schematic shows no signal caps at all, but it does appear to be simplified, so would probably just have a pair of them to get rid of the offset from the split supply

Mind explaining that whole chunk? My knowledge of electronic circuitry is mediocre at best, I was judging from looking at the pic alone rather than the schematic. Might have made a mistake
 
@gebbs: But then again I've never heard the more well-reputed DAPs over on head-fi, in Singapore just about everyone uses Apple, so I wouldn't go around making iPod+LOD comparisons to other DAPs. But what I do know is that the separation improves, or rather the lack-of-separation goes away, the previously-capped bass suddenly appears, and the sound gains the teeniest bit of body, to name the noticeable differences. Do keep in mind the lack of an EQ feature on the Apple though.

 

[ext23]

Quote:

Anyone elses brain just melt?

yep, and it's my amp he's talking about! i will have to get some tech specs off my brother to put head-fi's collective mind at ease.

 

[Nightslayer]

Quote:

yep, and it's my amp he's talking about! i will have to get some tech specs off my brother to put head-fi's collective mind at ease.

The tech specs are printed on the amp, my friend.

 

[Dreamnine]

This, and the Clip+ are what I listen to the most.
 
 

 
 

 

[Nanashi]

Though I'd finally post up my portable rig..... Cowon J3, iBasso T3, CB06 3.5 to 3.5 and some IE8's
 

 

 

[Achmedisdead]

 
Quote:

This, and the Clip+ are what I listen to the most.
 
 

 
 

Over here in the USA, we can only get the 2GB version of the U5, not the 4GB....I thought about picking one up a while back until I found that out.

 

[Dreamnine]

That's strange as it's been out for a while now.. 2Gb isn't really enough.

 

[joev789]

 
Quote:

Though I'd finally post up my portable rig..... Cowon J3, iBasso T3, CB06 3.5 to 3.5 and some IE8's
 

 

Hey man, how highly do you rate the j3 case? Worth the money and does it do a good job?
 

 

[Botanique]

Greetings from Siberia, HeadFi.
1st image - HiFiMan HM-801 with Earsonics SM3
2nd image - aleXmod with HiFiMan ReZero. Details here http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/484660/alexmod-dap-vs-pico-dac-amp-vs-clip-vs-ipod-vs-iphone. Actually the same sound level as HiFiMan-801.
3rd image - aleXmod additional battery
4th image - pcdp sony d350 with monster turbine pro gold
5th image - pcdp sony d350 with monster turbine pro gold
 

 

[qusp]

Quote:

Mind explaining that whole chunk? My knowledge of electronic circuitry is mediocre at best, I was judging from looking at the pic alone rather than the schematic. Might have made a mistake
 
 

ok i'll do what I can to simplify it without going toooooo far off topic. hey actualy i'll put the answer in a spoiler, that way anyone who doesnt want to read it doesnt have it cluttering up the thread.
 
 
 

Spoiler

hard to see much of the amp, but going buy the parts list on the inside of the tin, my knowledge of battery supplies and what I can see, I made a couple educated guesses. the schematic appears to be simplified somewhat, because it doesnt show any caps in signal at all and that doesnt seem to fit with the parts choice (cant see the rail splitter there) marked on the tin there are clearly several caps and we can see at least 4 of them and they are really too big to be signal caps and you NEED power supply caps; plus the TLE2426 'rail splitter'.
 
some opamps (the good ones) require a bipolar supply + / 'G' / - rather than a single supply + and Ground, both of these look the same to the opamp, but lets not go there. a bipolar power supply is the positive rail +, a ground reference of some sort G/0 and the negative rail -. batteries are a single polarity mostly and many battery operated devices lack access to a real ground. to generate a bipolar supply from the single supply a rail splitter is used to create and drive a ground reference, or middle point. this middle point is then used as the 'virtual ground'. for instance, an amp with a single 9v (normally 8.4v) battery, you would end up with
-4.5v / 0 / +4.5v but not really, really you still have 0v / 4.5v / 9v; but the opamp doesnt know this as its 'floating' inside the tin. with nothing to tell it otherwise 0v is 4.5v less than 4.5v thus -4.5, the reference 4.5v is deemed 0 and 9v is 4.5v above the middle, thus +4.5v. 
 
this works great inside the amp, but once this clashes with a real zeroed ground reference outside the amp, the 4.5v DC offset that is now in the signal (because ground isnt where it should be) can damage equipment and has to be gotten rid of. headphones and speakers are designed to run off AC power and DC current is NOT GOOD. easiest, but not the best sounding way to get rid of it, like with IMODs and DIYMODs is with some caps at the outputs, DC cannot pass through a capacitor, only AC can. there are other methods for getting rid of DC and there are other methods of creating a split supply, but I spotted the rail splitter in the parts list

 

 
Quote:

yep, and it's my amp he's talking about! i will have to get some tech specs off my brother to put head-fi's collective mind at ease.

 
 
hehe, yeah no need for that mate, its a pretty standard split supply CMOY


 
Quote:

The tech specs are printed on the amp, my friend.

indeed they are

 

 
Anyone elses brain just melt?

 
 
 

haha sorry bout that man; I was holding back too. I spend a lot of time at DIYA these days too and I sometimes forget i'm speaking another language

 

[buffalowings]

not "portable" in the portable sense, but it can be called for duty if ever required...

 

[Nanashi]

Quote:

 
Hey man, how highly do you rate the j3 case? Worth the money and does it do a good job?
 

J3 case is great, once its in there it hang on tight.
 
The only issue would be if you want to use the external speaker ( I don't, but it was surprisingly good when I did.) The sound gets muffled out unless you lift the J3 from the bottom a bit.
 
If the speaker isn't a concern than I'd say go right on ahead and get one. The controls have easy access, the screen is protected (one of my main concerns) and to top it off the case looks pretty sexy.
 
As a side note, if you haven't bought the J3 already than it's best to get through Jetmall, it actually comes with the case for free...wish I would have known that beforehand.
Besides, not a whole lot of options out there and I say, better some protection than no protection, ask me how I know lol.

 

[Hero Kid]

Quote:

Greetings from Siberia, HeadFi.
1st image - HiFiMan HM-801 with Earsonics SM3

 
What do you think of the HM-801 and the SM3 together?