[oldmantone]

What's the best way to use an amp using headphone output? I have an iPod connected to the nuforce Icon mobile using head 1/8" connector. Intuitively, I think I should turn the iPod volume to max and use the volume control on the Icon. But does that drain my battery quicker? What are the best practices?

 

[I3eyond]

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldmantone /img/forum/go_quote.gif What's the best way to use an amp using headphone output? I have an iPod connected to the nuforce Icon mobile using head 1/8" connector. Intuitively, I think I should turn the iPod volume to max and use the volume control on the Icon. But does that drain my battery quicker? What are the best practices?

iPod @ 60%

 

[jc9394]

I usually set my around 60-75%

 

[boomy3555]

Source volume at 60% to 90%

 

[krmathis]

Yeah, 60-70% seems about right.
Not pushing the built in amplifier too much, and hence no clipping.

 

[paulybatz]

Get an LOD

 

[boomy3555]

The only problem with an LOD is that you'll loose the ability to EQ and I believe that sometimes you just have to EQ a song.
Especially if you use different cans with your rig.

 

[iareConfusE]

60-70% seems like it would drain quite a bit of the source's battery :-/

What I do is turn my amp and source on without music playing first, then listen for hiss. I turn the amp up to a level where there is as little tolerable hiss as possible, then turn my mp3 player up from there on. So in the end it turns out to be like, 50-60% amp, and only 20% source.

I could just be doing this totally "wrong" though, but this is how I've been doing it.

 

[billybob_jcv]

I prefer the LOD and just forget the EQ. IMHO the iPOD EQ is too coarse - it hurts as much as it helps.

 

[Young Spade]

I have heard that if you go above 70, you get audio degration from the headphone out jack.

I haven't tested this because I use a lod, but maybe you should try to keep it around 70% and adjusting the amp from there.

 

[chef8489]

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulybatz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Get an LOD

+1 much better sound out of an lod.

 

[paulybatz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by billybob_jcv /img/forum/go_quote.gif I prefer the LOD and just forget the EQ. IMHO the iPOD EQ is too coarse - it hurts as much as it helps.

To each his own, I think that most want "pure"est sound...and allow the phones to add colour. A nice dead soft silver LOD is profound...I have a qables silvercab pro (from sacd-man), very very nice!

 

[patwrik]

I don't mean to thread jack...but just for informational sake...

What if the source is not an IPOD. Everyone seems just to avoid the question and say, "JUST GET AN LOD."

what if the source you have does not have a "line out" option. For example a cowon d2 or sansa clip/fuze/etc.

Is there proven method that we can settle on as the correct way of using the headphone out with an amp?

 

[sidtai]

I'm interested in knowing the "line"-matching volume on the Zune 80. Any ideas?

 

[sadhanaputra]

Yeah. I've been using a laptop myself and I've been wondering how I should balance the volume levels on the laptop, the player software, and the amp..

Changing the volume on my laptop seems to only change the volume level of the operating system. So it's on a software level still.

How do I change the volume level of the hardware/sound card?
And what level should I use with an amp?