[The Actual]

On page 088 of June's Wired they have a comparison of several portable amps.

They did rate the Xin SuperMacro-3 highly, but tying it with the Simpl A1? I haven't heard either, but from reviews this sounds way off. The HeadRoom Airhead was also mentioned pretty positively, and then the lowest rating went to the Boostaroo Revolution, which I had never heard of.


I couldn't find a link to the comparison online, but it is an interesting read. I have definitely started to like Wired less within the past three or four months.

 

[gratefulshrink]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Actual On page 088 of June's Wired they have a comparison of several portable amps. They did rate the Xin SuperMacro-3 highly, but tying it with the Simpl A1? I haven't heard either, but from reviews this sounds way off. The HeadRoom Airhead was also mentioned pretty positively, and then the lowest rating went to the Boostaroo Revolution, which I had never heard of. I couldn't find a link to the comparison online, but it is an interesting read. I have definitely started to like Wired less within the past three or four months.

Thanks for the tip on the article. Did they rate the portaphile or the SR-71?

I believe Boostaroo markets a few inexpensive, more mass-produced type amps.

 

[Pappucho]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gratefulshrink Thanks for the tip on the article. Did they rate the portaphile or the SR-71?

Only four amplifiers are mentioned: Simpl, SM3, Airhead, and the Boosteroo. It's not really a full review, just a short pros and cons with a potential 5 point rating. (Not one managed to pick up the full 5 points). The SM3 and Simpl tied with 4 points, the Airhead got 3.5 points, and the Boosteroo managed to get 2.

 

[Jahn]

dont dismiss the simpl A1 out of hand. folks have listened to it at a recent meet and liked it. i'd like a chance to listen to it at the NYC meet if anyone has one.

 

[BranMuffins]

Yeah, read the really quick review. Nothing really substantial there. Nice to see the SuperMacro and Airhead mentioned, but again the report had no substance there except for what has been mentioned before.

I love to see amps mentioned but it's about the best you could expect from a magazine like wired. (which I love). I was pleasently suprised to even see amps mentioned. An article on high end headphones would have been a nice complement to an amp article/comparision.

No source is mentioned but one cant expect that much. All I hope that comes from it is more business for Xin and Headroom.

 

[aseltzer144]

Its good to see portable amps getting a bit of the media attention they should, along with the overwhelming coverage of the portable source devices they enhance enjoyment of. However, but their choice of products reviewed is disappointingly limited and leaves a big gap in covering only a handful of more commercially distributed products. This would be expected in a mag such as Sound and Vision, but it is ironic that a publication like Wired would omit a Cmoy design from review as one would think its target audience consists of many Cmoy listeners and builders. I did not read the article, so if the Cmoy contribution was discussed I stand corrected.

Then again, for a more complete overview of the options available, this is why I come to Headfi.

 

[Beauregard]

I'm curious... which headphones did they use for the comparison?

 

[The Actual]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beauregard I'm curious... which headphones did they use for the comparison?

They did not say, although unless they were Bose, I doubt they cost more than one hundred dollars. From what I have read Wired does not seem to be super Hi-fi. After all, they seemed blown away by a three hundred dollar price tag on an amp.

Also, BranMuffins pretty accurately summed up my opinion on this issue.