[novacav]

Hi people! I've been reading head fi for a good while now and finally decided to join. Anyways, I have a good idea of what I eventually want my portable rig to be. However, I am not sure which part I should upgrade right now... I'm currently using a 6th gen ipod classic with an RSA Shadow. I use ER4S's but also have a pair of AD700s for full size cans. What I'm trying to figure out it what the "weakest" link of my setup is... I can only afford one major upgrade in the next 6 months or so and can't seem to choose what would be best.

I know that my next source upgrade will be an imod, my next amp will probably be an rsa protector, and my next pair of cans will probly be denon d2000s (maybe markl modded we'll see

)

As I said I can currently afford ONE of these things. Any suggestions? (i realize this isn't strictly about portable amps... if anyone has a suggestion of where i ought to have posted this instead of here let me know)

 

[LeeMark]

Headphones, get JH 13s. Works great with the rig. All the other upgrades are incremental to the difference better phones would give you. I had the same setup.

 

[Jalo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeeMark /img/forum/go_quote.gif Headphones, get JH 13s. Works great with the rig. All the other upgrades are incremental to the difference better phones would give you. I had the same setup.

Totally agree. Upgrade your phone first. But I may choose the JH16 over JH13 though. I have the JH13 and it sounds great. But with 4 bass drivers, you will never complaint about not having enough bass. Seems like if there is any complaints or wishes that people have for the 13, it is more bass. Good luck.

 

[erikzen]

Welcome to Head-Fi, novacav

The first thing you should ask yourself is what is it about your current rig that you don't like?

What are you using it for? Is it an on the go rig, or do you use it sometimes to just sit and chill out or do some critical listening?

I wonder about the ER4S and the Shadow. Checking the RSA site, it says the Shadow is for low impedence IEMs. The ER4S is 100 ohms. You might want to check with Ray on whether he thinks the amp can drive those. You might be better off with a different IEM for that amp. The ER4P is the low impedence version but there are lots of others out there these days. Or you might be better off with a different amp. It depends also on what it is you want to change about the sound.

You also will want to take a look at your source. To me, the weakest link in a portable setup is always the source. If you're going to stay in the portable world, I'd look into an iMod for sure. What kind of files are you playing now and how were they encoded?

 

[novacav]

As much as I'd love to get the jh13s i'm not sure i can afford them now. would you still recommend headphones as the thing to upgrade even if i were to get something else? what do you think of denons with my current rig?

 

[Jarmel]

Considering I've owned the Imod and the Protector, I would recommend the JH-13s over both. Biggest sound upgrade I've noticed not to mention flexibility in use.

 

[novacav]

thanks for the reply erikzen. glad to finally be a headfi member

i use this rig for practically all of my listening, i'm on the go a lot so the odds of me beginning to build a home setup anytime soon are pretty slim (i'm a college student living in a dorm room). so at this point, my goal would be to build the best portable rig possible rather than say "okay i only need a certain level of quality on the go because i have a setup at home." so in that case would you say the source is the first problem to try and solve?

also i have thought about the er4s's with the shadow, i will ask ray at some point. i got the amp when it came out and it's fully burned in so i wouldn't have much trouble selling it i don't think, if it came to that.

oh also, the vast majority of my music is encoded in apple lossless

 

[TouchOfEvil]

not trying to thread jack but if you don't mind me asking what is a imod?"noob here."

 

[novacav]

no worries haha i didnt know what it was just a little while ago. this will explain it.
Products > iMod - Red Wine Audio

 

[ClieOS]

Gonna go against the tide and say your portable rig is actually quite good and doesn't really need 'upgrading' as much as 'sidestepping'. I know I would be pretty happy for the same set of rig. Unless you have some major unsatisfying issue with the current rig, there will be easier and cost efficient to save toward your dream rig, instead of all the intermediate upgrading which might turn out to cost more.

 

[novacav]

Hmm, i hadn't thought of that clieos. i suppose my dream portable rig would probably be

imod OR a portable source with digital output(obviously i'd need a dac too in this case)
rsa protector
lawton audio la 2000

if i were to go with clieos's advice and start saving for said "dream rig," which of those things i just mentioned should i save up for first? i'm still not for sure ruling out "intermediate upgrades," just curious what you guys think.

ps i know it will come down to my choice based on my ears in the end but still all the feedback helps