Question and assistance please -- amp for PDA?

[ms960]

Newbie here, so thanks for your indulgence, first of all

.

I'm looking for suggestions/advice for an amp for a PDA that I'd like to use for music. It's a Windows mobile device (Ipaq 210 to be exact), and it suffers from very poor audio output. First, the gain is very low. To hear it I have to really crank up the volume with headphones or in my vehicle. The bigger problem, however, is there is a serious amount of hissing generated by whatever cheapo amp is onboard this thing. In between songs, for example, the hissing is almost as loud as the music is, so the device is almost not usable as is.

Is there an inexpensive portable headphone amp that would both boost the sound AND reduce or clean up the signal? By inexpensive I'd talking under $100, and preferably less if possible. Portable is a must as I take this thing everywhere. My headphones are good, but not great, but I know they're not the problem because I can listen off my PC and there's no hissing or background noise.

Any and all suggestions appreciated!

 

[rei_yano]

first question should be is if there is a line out on it.

 

[ms960]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rei_yano /img/forum/go_quote.gif first question should be is if there is a line out on it.

Unfortunately, no. It's just got a headphone jack.

 

[deaf-nation]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ms960 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Unfortunately, no. It's just got a headphone jack.

Have you tried the free software media player, TCPMP ?

It helps my PDA, because it has a "preamp" booster setting, under the equalizer configuration page. This preamp slider adds a lot of gain to my pda. I have WM2003 on the PDA, a dell axim x50. It might help till you work out a hardware solution.

cheers..........

 

[ms960]

Quote:

Originally Posted by deaf-nation /img/forum/go_quote.gif Have you tried the free software media player, TCPMP ? It helps my PDA, because it has a "preamp" booster setting, under the equalizer configuration page. This preamp slider adds a lot of gain to my pda. I have WM2003 on the PDA, a dell axim x50. It might help till you work out a hardware solution. cheers..........

Yes I have, and changing the preamp booster in it does help the volume level. However, the horrible hiss is only amplified as well. I would very much like an amp that has a volume control and can filter out the background noise.

Cheers...

 

[ZarakiSan]

Don't bother. As they say **** in equals **** out, and it's hardly worth the trouble buying an amp. You can't polish a turd.

 

[G-man]

yeah, to be honest the only way i know of filtering out background noise is with a impedence adapter. so you would have to do:
pda>impedance adapter>mini to mini interconnect>amp. that, plus the fact that the source is not good would not provde good sq. better would be buy a new DAP.if you really, really want to use you pda, the above is the only thing i can think of.

 

[ms960]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZarakiSan /img/forum/go_quote.gif Don't bother. As they say **** in equals **** out, and it's hardly worth the trouble buying an amp. You can't polish a turd.

That makes sense, actually. I'm bummed, because I was hoping to reduce the number of devices I have to carry around, but from the sounds of it, if I can't improve the sound on my PDA, I'll forget about using it for music.

I do have an iPod which I guess I'll stick with now. Any suggestions on a decent, but inexpensive little amp for one of these?

Thanks for your continued help.

Cheers...

 

[G-man]

what earphones do you have?

 

[ms960]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gautam /img/forum/go_quote.gif what earphones do you have?

To be honest, they're not top of the line. I've found that I either lose them easily and/or am hard on them, besides I keep them at work and don't want them to walk off (I can slip the ipod in my pocket). So, i'm currently using probably something in the range of $20 earphones, for those reasons.

 

[rei_yano]

look into another source. unfortunately there is very little you can do to get anything that great out of that pda. itouch?

 

[ms960]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rei_yano /img/forum/go_quote.gif look into another source. unfortunately there is very little you can do to get anything that great out of that pda. itouch?

That's pretty much what I have gathered. I'll give up on the PDA.

No, my ipod is a 5G (video). I'm looking at buying a pair of Grado SR60's or SR80's and was also looking at the PA2V2 headphone amp. Would that be a decent, relatively inexpensive setup?

 

[Spadge]

I also have the same iPAQ 210 PDA as you.

I was hoping to use it as an iPOD replacement but gave up due to lack of decent software.

The audio quality wasn't too bad on mine (I used pocket player). Hiss was only heard with sensitive IEM's and cleared up with an impedance adaptor. Volume was heaps. Enough to power my Darth Beyers (80 ohm) to reasonable levels. Sound quality wasn't too bad at all. I was greatly surprised! Bass was a little muddy and highs were mashed together a bit... but certainly not bad to be listening to music in the background in a portable situation.

When paired with my SuperMini amp the hiss was completely gone and sound quality improved quite a bit.

Paul

 

[rei_yano]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ms960 /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's pretty much what I have gathered. I'll give up on the PDA. No, my ipod is a 5G (video). I'm looking at buying a pair of Grado SR60's or SR80's and was also looking at the PA2V2 headphone amp. Would that be a decent, relatively inexpensive setup?

Im not sure how they would sound amped but unamped they sound amazing for being so cheap