[rsatmans]

Hey,
I am a Noob here just learning about this stuff. I have a diymod iPod 4g photo 60gb that is hooked into a fiio e5 then into my Westone 3. I wanted to know if a ibasso d2 or a nuforce would be a good buy over the fiio e5. I like the size of the nuforce and the fact that i can hook my laptop up to it, not to mention the price. I am willing to spend the money for the d2 just not sure the extra money and girth are worth it. Any suggestions?

 

[qusp]

A budget would be nice.

as long as you dint need RF shielding the D2 should make light work of the nuforce. but if you dint absolutely need a dac I would recommend the AMB mini^3 you could build it yourslef (assuming you have the tools) or get mister X to build it for you. should come out about $150USD. it punches well above its weight and should wipe the floor with the E5. IMO its a total waste to be using a DIYMOD with an E5 and W3. there are heaps of other options that I could give. I use a pico or lisa III with my DIYMOD->VCAP->insert amp of the day here->W3 with UM56 sounds wonderful.

 

[rsatmans]

Thanks for the reply.
I like the looks of this AMB mini^3 how is the bass. I am open to this if you can suggest a cheap usb dac to go along with it.

 

[qusp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rsatmans /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for the reply. I like the looks of this AMB mini^3 how is the bass. I am open to this if you can suggest a cheap usb dac to go along with it.

no problem; bass is great, not as great as lisa; but they are in a different weight class

. with the standard pana caps the bass is nice and clean with good weight to it. its an al-round good amp, especially for the moneyt. its so good that ALO have released their own hyped up version with a few upgraded caps (blackgates) for significantly more money.... typical. I would put it in the same class as amps that cost 200-350. a good dac for it would be the gamma1; also DIY and also by AMB labs. its a great dac (why do you need the dac to go with ipod?? or is it for your lappy??) its designed to go in the same size case as the mini^3 so a small stack or even one larger enclosure is no problem. the gamma1 (Y1) has USB and SPDIF on coax and optical inputs and mini jack out in the full build. but you can change the outputs to RCA if you wish. its a 24bit/96k/hz dac (the dac chip itself is capable of 192khz) sounds great IMO and again punches well above its weight and size category.

 

[imademymark]

i've tried the pico with the w3 and i think its very nice, just a tad better than predator imo and at least to my ears, quite significantly better than the p51s (which everyone seems to be recommending for the w3)

 

[rsatmans]

Thanks for all the help guys I think I'm going to pick up a AMB mini^3. Let the good times roll

I will report back with my listening impressions.

 

[qusp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by imademymark /img/forum/go_quote.gif i've tried the pico with the w3 and i think its very nice, just a tad better than predator imo and at least to my ears, quite significantly better than the p51s (which everyone seems to be recommending for the w3)

X2 I dont know what the fuss is about with the RSA amps; not a big fan me. the pico is superior to all of them to my ears