SONY PHA 1A AND IPOD CLASSIC

[hitman1]

Hello:

has anyone tried the new SONY PHA 1A and the IPOD CLASSIC together? Wondering will this make my IPOD CLASSIC sound better?

 

[TraneTime]

I think so.  It's a minor uptick but the real advantage is you can use a wider range of headphones as the PHA1 is more powerful.  However, even though Sony claims it can power headphones up to 600 ohms, it's not that powerful.  My Sennheiser HD650 is 300 ohms and it sounds weak even at high gain.  My AKG K712 sounds very good using the PHA1 and iPod Classic.  If you have high impedence phones you might want to try the PHA2.  It drives the HD650 very well.   

 

[hitman1]

Thanks.....I have been reading this forum. It seems the best is the IFI IDSD Micro. It cost more, but it will handle everything. The one thing I do not see is a balance port on the the AMP/DAC. Just trying to figure out should i do the IPOD CLASSIC OR IPOD TOUCH 128GB 6GENERATION.. If I am using the IFI does it matter about the IPOD TOUCH 6G capabilities? for $400 I can get a get IPOD CLASSIC with  256GB and better Batterie. 

 

[TraneTime]

  Thanks.....I have been reading this forum. It seems the best is the IFI IDSD Micro. It cost more, but it will handle everything. The one thing I do not see is a balance port on the the AMP/DAC. Just trying to figure out should i do the IPOD CLASSIC OR IPOD TOUCH 128GB 6GENERATION.. If I am using the IFI does it matter about the IPOD TOUCH 6G capabilities? for $400 I can get a get IPOD CLASSIC with  256GB and better Batterie. 

I have no experience with IFI.  I have both an iPod Classic and also an iPod Touch.  I really haven't heard much difference between the two but the opinion of most is that the Classic has better sound qualities.  With the Classic you will get much larger storage capacity while with the Touch you get Wifi, access to the internet, download apps and so on.  The PHA1 doesn't have balanced output and neither does the PHA2. The PHA3 does have balanced output but it costs a thousand bucks.  If you really want a balanced portable amp you might want to look at the Centrance Mini-M8.  It has an RSA balanced jack.