[boozcool]

Recently, I've heard some people say that, for the most part, mid-range home/desktop amps offer superior SQ over high-end portable amps. Obviously, it's not fair to compare a $1000 amp (ex. B22) to an iBasso D3, but comparing the Meier Corda Headfive (~$200), for example, to portable amps in the $200-$400 range, would you see better performance from the H5? Or more generally, with portable vs. desktop, are you sacrificing sound quality for portability?

 

[boozcool]

I'm sure the choice of headphones make a difference, so would using a 'portable' headphone such as the ESW9 or ESW10 see differences in SQ between using portable amps and the H5?
How about full-size cans (ex. Denon D2000, HD600, etc.)

 

[Drag0n]

Oh sure....Now ya did it!!!

Youre going to get a million different answers now.

Some home amps are just portables in a home box, with a power supply.
Some home amps are really home amps.
Some headphones do fine on portables.
Sometimes a portable might just have good synergy and youd like it better than some home amps.

On full-size phones that are hard to drive, a real home amp should sound better.
I dont see anything in your signature that should cause this worry.

My little Koss KSC75 sounds better through my Realistic STA-2100D recievers HP jack with a home CD player, than it does on my PC using my Alien Dac and SS Millet Hybrid amp. It rivals my Grado SR80 and makes me wonder why i spent the extra money.

It all depends. You have to experiment.

 

[honmashinsei]

I'd also really like to know what's the best to do. I have a pair of Alessandro MS-1i's, and maybe will get D2000's in the future. Both are easy to drive. I'm in doubt of getting an iBasso D4 / D10, or maybe invest in a desktop solution (like Musiland Monitor 02US and a nice little desktop amp).

 

[brendon]

As people said it depends on the headphones used. With my 150 ohm IEM - RE1, the SQ from my Amp3 plus Ibasso P3+ sounds almost as good as my udac + Audio-GD Compass + Taurus T100 Mosfet home amp combo.

However with the HD650, the home amp combo sounds MUCH better than with the Amp3 + P3+ combo.

Please note that the home combo is a pretty inexpensive one and the P3+ is maxed out with a HiFlight Top-kit.

 

[boozcool]

Interesting to hear
At least with full size cans, it seems that you can usually achieve equal or better sound quality from a home amp at the same price than a portable amp. Which is why value-wise, one might assume that you often sacrifice SQ for portability when using portable amps

 

[Robn13]

WOW!! 

 I can't believe this thread died so quickly. I googled the same question and it brought me here.
 
It is an EXCELLENT question. In an age of minaturization and with all the hype on their websites about the quality of their $500-1000 PORTABLE units, it seem to me they SHOULD be damn well able to drive a 40-50mm driver, at least the sub 600 Ohm ones, with a VERY high degree of competency and SQ. I think with the price of some of these home units, the purchase involves having more money than brains! I'm with the nwavguy. We are talking about relatively small drivers and these high priced home units are more about snobbery/wishful thinking/bias than true audio performance.
 
It does bother me that virtually all of the portable units only operate on usb/battery power. I know that on my high powered/high priced home gear power supply/amperage makes a huge difference. The caps on my Adcom amps hold so much energy that I can pull the plug out of the wall and they will continue to play at substantial volume levels for 15-30 seconds. Power DOES matter.
 
Come on guys, wade in on this one. Are we suckers for not demanding more from an RSA or Pico as opposed to a Fiio?
 
Thanks! Cheers!

 

[justin w.]

Quote:

 
It does bother me that virtually all of the portable units only operate on usb/battery power. I know that on my high powered/high priced home gear power supply/amperage makes a huge difference. The caps on my Adcom amps hold so much energy that I can pull the plug out of the wall and they will continue to play at substantial volume levels for 15-30 seconds. Power DOES matter.
 
Come on guys, wade in on this one. Are we suckers for not demanding more from an RSA or Pico as opposed to a Fiio?
 
Thanks! Cheers!

Most portable amps do have DC adapters, so there's the source of wall power.  As for capacitors..the impedance of lithium polymer batteries is so low that it's really useless to add big power supply capacitors and there's no noise to filter.  without those, portable amps can be pretty small.  
 

 

[proton007]

As far as I can see, portable amps are mostly single purpose.
Desktop amps can have more features. Audio wise maybe not that different, but you have to compare apples to apples.

 

[Communism]

I think the main difference is their ability to drive full size cans like the HD600?
I've tried listening to the HD600 on the ibasso d12 and it just does not work out because of the lack of power, the headphones just sound weak and soft.