[coco]

Yes, fellow head-fiers, I am in the market for a portable amp. I have the HF-1s and want the full-monty from these babies. I listen almost exclusively through an ipod. What is the sweet spot in terms of $ for a portable amp, ie best value. I cannot afford a Hornet, in terms of cash or the impending emotional abuse from my wife! I have been told by a few people to get the Go-Vibe, but will it really make a difference with the Grados? Some people have said not to bother with an amp for the Grados. I want a cleaner, bigger soundstage, a more live sound. The HF-1s have all the bass I need. In a word, DYNAMIC!

 

[kramer5150]

I'm in the same boat as you.... Love the SR71, but just cant afford it. My suggestion would be govibe III or supermacro, maybe one of the older V1's. I like my older govibe, and little dot micro. The latter sounds less colored and a tiny bit warmer than the govibe. Not that the govibe is harsh in any way, but the govibe seems to have just a tiny bit more air and treble sparkle.... Its a VERY small difference, thats not noticeable in a portable environment.

Many rave about the ipod line out and how much better it sounds than amping the headphone out... might want to factor that in too.

 

[fewtch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by coco Yes, fellow head-fiers, I am in the market for a portable amp. I have the HF-1s and want the full-monty from these babies. I listen almost exclusively through an ipod. What is the sweet spot in terms of $ for a portable amp, ie best value. I cannot afford a Hornet, in terms of cash or the impending emotional abuse from my wife! I have been told by a few people to get the Go-Vibe, but will it really make a difference with the Grados?

For what it's worth, the builder (Norm) is a Grado guy. I'm not sure the go-vibe is the "sweet spot" however... there are so many amps, it's hard to pinpoint a sweet spot. The go-vibe is a real price-performance bargain, but so is a Pimeta and probably the Electric Avenues pocket amp. IMO these are all roughly in the same class of performance. The thing I like best about the go-vibe is its opamp rolling capability, but you can get this with Pimetas as well.

 

[Asr]

For under $100 there are a few really good units. The Little Dot Micro (transparent & neutral, brings out the highs), Xenos 0HA (relatively neutral), Z-Audio Epsilon. And of course the Go-Vibe V3.

 

[raisin]

With as many new amps as there are available right now, I'm sure there will be quite a few to choose from in the For Sale section. Patience and vigilance should net you a gem in velvet.

 

[mrarroyo]

I have always enjoyed the sound of the Grado cans amplified by the PAV2 (less than $100 limit).

 

[Kirosia]

IMO, an amp isn't really needed much in a portable setup. But if you use it sort of a transportable setup i.e. b/w home and work, I'd think something in the $200 or less range would be enough.

 

[RnB180]

Grados do benefit amplification, most portable musical players dont have enough juice to feed the Grados at peaks in the music. So the first thing you should hear with amplified grados are cleaner smoother playback on the demanding portions of a song.

In actuality, my 600 ohm senns have better fidelity unamped then the grados unamped out of my pc sound card. My 595 50 ohm cans also experienced drastic clipping unamped from my sound card.

So if there are can that actually require amping, Id say the low impedence ones are more required amped then the high impedence ones. Both however benefit.

So the rule of unamped goes like this

Low impedence, lower quality sound, higher volume gain
high impedence, higher quality sound, lower volume gain

both should experience other sonic benefits from amplification however.
Its a common misconception that a low impedence can will sound better then high impedence in an unamped situation. In actuality, its the opposite.

 

[coco]

Thanks RnB180. Of course, being a member of Head-Fi I am always looking for that final tweak. If I don't need the extra volume then, in your opinion, I won't hear a significant SQ gain with, say a GoVibe through the lineout, on the HF-1s. I mean, really, the sound already blows me away, I just want more of it! I also have to factor in carrying the damn amp around instead of jst sticking the ipod in my pocket! I would hope it would be a noticeble improvement. Thanks, All

 

[midlife]

Quote:

Originally Posted by coco Thanks RnB180. Of course, being a member of Head-Fi I am always looking for that final tweak. If I don't need the extra volume then, in your opinion, I won't hear a significant SQ gain with, say a GoVibe through the lineout, on the HF-1s. I mean, really, the sound already blows me away, I just want more of it! I also have to factor in carrying the damn amp around instead of jst sticking the ipod in my pocket! I would hope it would be a noticeble improvement. Thanks, All

I just purchased a govibe and there is definitely a difference with my Grado 325i's and a very noticable bass increase with ety ER6i's. The Grado's just sound more refined with the govibe.

 

[kugino]

i'll put a vote in for the go-vibe...plus, you canadians might like a canadian-made product. some say a pimeta is superior to the the go-vibe, especially because you can add buffers to a pimeta...however, the go-vibe is way more portable and is op-amp rollable as well.

 

[RnB180]

your Grados should sound cleaner amped.

 

[Fishy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by midlife I just purchased a govibe and there is definitely a difference with my Grado 325i's and a very noticable bass increase with ety ER6i's.

Have you noticed any hissing with the govibe+ ER6i's?

 

[saint.panda]

I don't think there's a real sweet spot since with every dollar spent you reduce the marginal utility on the road of diminishing returns, so just set yourself a "reasonable" budget limit and get the amp that's most to your liking (either according to reviews/impressions or your own ears if possible).

But since you're asking, I guess the ultimate sweet spot is no external amp since you get about 60-80% of the dedicated amp's performance at 0% cost. The performance/cost ratio converges towards infinity.

(And it's also more portable without an amp.)

Either way, the SR-71 is a great amp IMO.

 

[kugino]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fishy Have you noticed any hissing with the govibe+ ER6i's?

very minimal. it's not non-existent, but not audible when the music is playing. shouldn't be a problem.