[Yoloni]

I've bought the best IEM's I could manage to buy with my money: the TF-10's.
I'm using the IEM's with my 4th gen iPod touch 32GB with a growing library of Apple Lossless music.
 
I was wondering if a Portable Amp through a LOD would be worth the money.
 
Will it give me another 'wow' that I got after listening with some other IEM after the Triple.fi's? Or is spending more than $100 on amps ridiculous?  
 
I was thinking about getting the iBasso T3 and making my own LOD cable, but I'm really thinking if it's worth spending another $100 on audio gear.

 

[ExpatinJapan]

I have the same set up. 
 
You don`t really need a portable amp (although I have three haha).
 
Try the EQu or Equalizer app. That may give you that extra tweak you are looking for.
 

 

[Yoloni]

Did those portable amps give you better sound?
 
I tried using EQu, but I've never messed with EQ settings before, so I don't really know how to get the right sound. (Sometimes I'm able to tune it to my preference, but it's different for each genre of music...)
 
Do you know any guides to EQing?

 

[ExpatinJapan]

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/545503/equ-equalizer-users-let-s-see-your-curves Try that thread.
 
I just do it to suit my own personal tastes. no rules to it.
 
I do like my ibasso T3 /LOD, but IEMs don`t reeeally need an amp imho.
 

 

[Yoloni]

Thanks for the tip. I guess I'll skip the amp for now. I might make my own cable for TF-10's after the original ones break...

 

[ExpatinJapan]

Yeah mine are recabled with a NULL audio cable.
 

 

[scompton]

I've always found a portable amp to be more trouble than they're worth.  Most have to much gain for extended listening, ie they're too loud at minimum volume setting.  It's also too easy to accidentally bump the volume knob and really pump up the volume.  I've owned 4 or 5 and auditioned a few more so my experience isn't very wide.  I just gave up after trying that many that were supposed to not play too loud.  I still have one that I really use occasionally when I travel, but only with full sized headphones that do require an amp.

 

[NewAKGGuy]

Have to disagree with the direction of the replys thus far.  I have recently joined the TF10 club, and while I have been very satisfied with my upgrade from SF5Pros and SF5EBs, I could also understand the common TF10 complaints of recessed mids leading to a V sound signature.  Then I tried them with my iBasso P3+ and RSA Hornet.  Different world.  IMO the TF10s benefit massively from quality amplification.  Both amps have brought the mids forward a little and now the TF10s are wonderfully balanced, though still slightly on the warm side of things.  Each instrument and voice has much better separation, air and dimensionality.  Tonality is significantly improved and overall they are much more transparent to the source and recording when well amped.  As of today, I'm really almost sorry I started amping the TF10 because now it's difficult to listen to them driven out of my iPhone HP output (which is what I bought them for in the first place).  That being said, I'd be skeptical on the iBasso T3.  I've not heard it, but if it's anything like the NuForce Icon Mobile that I have (and with which it shares both a form factor and price range) it won't improve iPod/IPhone sound quality much other than reducing distortion if you play them LOUD, and that shouldn't be a problem for any IEM, much less this one.
 
I've also found that any PMP digital processing (EQ, sound check, etc) destroys sound quality like big government destroys personal liberty; it just absolutely KRUSHES it.  I think you'll be much better off adding a good amp in your quest for the next "wow" than you would be by playing with an EQ. 

 

[ExpatinJapan]

As an actual owner of the ibasso T3 i have found it complemented all three of my ipods beautifully.
 
Amping out of the headphone out/HO double amps the sound-which can produce distortion etc, a LOD will bypass the ipod amp giving a better sound.
 
Have you tried Equalizer app or EQu app? Very different to the set ipod inbuilt equalizers. Equalizer is more clean and accurate imho.
 

 

[NewAKGGuy]

Quote:

As an actual owner of the ibasso T3 i have found it complemented all three of my ipods beautifully.
 
Amping out of the headphone out/HO double amps the sound-which can produce distortion etc, a LOD will bypass the ipod amp giving a better sound.
 
Have you tried Equalizer app or EQu app? Very different to the set ipod inbuilt equalizers. Equalizer is more clean and accurate imho.
 

That's good news Mr./Ms. Gaikokujin!  Maybe I'll see if I can swap my Icon Mobile for a T3, as I really like iBasso I've already got.  Are you finding that the T3 radically improves the SQ with the TF10s?
 
And yes one should always amp iPods/iPhones from an LOD.  For clarity's sake I was not referring to external amping out of the HP output, I was just suggesting that it's hard for me to listen to the TF10 now powered via the iPod/iPhone internal headphone amps.  When I do that I find myself wishing I had brought an amp.
 
Will download and try those apps now, but in my 25 years of home audio wing-nuttiness I've never heard an EQ that actually improves the SQ.  I'm very much in the purist camp.  Maybe it's different in this world of portable audio wing-nuttiness, I'll give it another listen.
 

 

[ExpatinJapan]

You Sir are a scholar and a gentleman.
 
 
Tell us how you found those apps. (EQu is basic, Equalizer is more accurate).
 

 

[Achmedisdead]

Quote:

You Sir are a scholar and a gentleman.
 
 
Tell us how you found those apps. (EQu is basic, Equalizer is more accurate).
 

I also prefer Equalizer.
 

 

[NewAKGGuy]

Appreciate the compliment Expat, but don't be fooled by my barely passable pretensions to being either.
 
I also appreciate the app recommendations and I spent most of yesterday playing around with both EQu and Equalizer.
 
My hasty conclusions are that all of you (Expat, Achmed, and Smilelizzy) are correct in having a preference for Equalizer's accuracy.  I definitely found it to be less damaging than EQu, but I did prefer EQu's interface.  However, I'm left feeling the same about EQ overall, which is to say:
 
The EQu and Equalizer apps for iPhone do exactly what I would expect a half decent EQ to do in that they give the user a tool to modify the frequency response of his/her entire setup, which is an interesting diversion, but does not really improve SQ in my view.  More or less bass, mids, or treble can certainly "smooth over" poor recordings or even ameliorate either gross deficiency or gross profligacy in an IEMs frequency response curve, but for me these adjustments don't really amount to an improvement in SQ.  For me SQ is the sum of those elements that make the playback sound real, that make me turn my head to the left to see the palmista who shouts "Allez" (or it's Spanish equivalent) 42 seconds into Estrella Morente's Bulerias de la Bolla on "Mi Cante y Un Poema."  Assuming that you are starting with a decent recording and playing it back through a decent rig, EQ never helps bring that moment alive in my experience and, in fact, usually dulls that moment anywhere from just a smidgen (with the best EQ) to massively (with Apple stock EQ).  Good amplification on the other hand makes the TF10 go from painting the cry in starkish relief (via iPod/iPhone HP out) to actually making me turn my head to look for the palmista (via RSA Hornet).
 
 

 

[calipilot227]

I found that the TF10 pairs very well with the PA2V2 (which also has adjustable gain, useful if you don't want to lose your hearing!). An LOD will help things significantly (as it will be delivering an unamplified signal to the amp).