[tortie]

Hello. I have not been here for years and I am out of the loop with anything related to headphones. I have not done any searches or read up on anything. I know this looks lazy but please give an old-timer a break smily_headphones1.gif I currently listen to podcasts and music with my iphone. I just remembered I have an old HD600 here and wanted to pair it with a good portable amp preferably not bigger than my iphone and less than $200. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance and boy has this place grown!

 

[cel4145]

JDS Labs C5 is a very good portable amplifier. See the sub $200 portable amp shootout for how it's rated (rankings follow the reviews).

However, you need to bypass the headphone amp in your iPhone in order to make the best of the portable amp. Otherwise, you'll be double-amping the existing headphone amplifier. iPhone 5s required an apple lightning adapter DAC, because the connection on the bottom only has digital output. Older model iPhones have analog line level out from the bottom, so you need a simple Apple LOD cable.