[Ari]

Hello Every One !!

Let's make a survey here...

What are your 3 best PORTABLE headphone AMPs?

1

2

3

 

[fiddler]

Well I only own one at the moment, so I guess it's my best one!
It's a self-built CMOY (18 V) housed in an Altoids tin.

For my second portable amp, I'm thinking of building a META42 with Meier crossfeed.

 

[eric343]

1. (M)ETA42 with AD8610
2. META42 with AD823

(insert approximately 6 feet here)

3. Hansen board with OPA2228

 

[Driftwood]

hmm, I have three amps, so here goes
1. Stax SRM-001 (when used with the S-001

)
2. Headroom Airhead
3. Melos SHA-1 (third, because it isn't really portable in any way)

Driftwood

 

[fiddler]

He did say portable, ladies and gentlemen.

Eric, is that ETA42 the one in the big Hammond box? It must be a pain to have to tote around a screwdriver with your amp just so you can swap the batteries.

I guess the my Corda is portable too because it fits in my backpack?

 

[eric343]

Yep, that's the one. It's since been upgraded a bit (to a Neutrik locking jack)... It *IS* portable, by the way, since it doesn't need AC power. And it's not a pain to change batteries (every few weeks), since I carry a screwdriver (among other things) on my keychain...

But the META42 is in a Pac Tec HML case, so it's *definitely* portable (but butt-ugly; I made it in about half a day before I left for France so I'd have an amp to take along that didn't need a big Motorola lead-acid battery!).

 

[Taphil]

I've only tried 2 amps:

1. META42 - Tangent-built, AD823, 9V, clear blue Serpac H-65 case

(2. META42 - same amp as above, except waiting for delivery of a AD845 drop-in, rated #2 instead of #1 because of expected short battery life)

3. TAH 4.5V - purchased from someone here, sold it 2 weeks later after receiving and listening to the META42 for 5 mins

 

[Ari]

Thanks folks!

Where to look to META amps info? Any site?

 

[Ari]

It have been great suprise here...

 

[acs236]

Taphil,
I have a META42 with the AD845... if you could, I'd like to hear your comments comparing the AD823 to the 845 in your setup -- when you recive the 845, of course.

Quote:

Originally posted by Taphil I've only tried 2 amps: 1. META42 - Tangent-built, AD823, 9V, clear blue Serpac H-65 case (2. META42 - same amp as above, except waiting for delivery of a AD845 drop-in, rated #2 instead of #1 because of expected short battery life) 3. TAH 4.5V - purchased from someone here, sold it 2 weeks later after receiving and listening to the META42 for 5 mins

 

[joelongwood]

I have quite a few, but I would rank the top three in the following order:

1. META42— JMT-built dual 9V in larger Pactec Case. Waiting
on arrival of META42 in smaller Pactec case for greater
portability. Works wonderfully with Grados.

2. CHA47— JMT-built single 9V in Penguin tin. Very dynamic
sound in a small package. Great match for ETY 4S.

3. Grado RA-1— hasn't seen much use in quite awhile......but it
looks great! A bit large for real portability.

 

[Nezer]

1. Cosmic Reference (Never owned, only heard)

2. Porta Corda

3. TAH

I have the Meta42 board and a few parts but haven't had the time to complete yet. I'm betting it smokes the PC and will probably give a Cosmic a run for the money on batteries.

 

[DeanA]

I've only tried two portables:

1) Cosmic Reference

2) TAH, 4.5v

 

[eric343]

Ari: For information on the META42, I highly reccommend Tangent's excellent META42 Pages.

If you're looking to get one built, you have three options:
1. Send a PM/email to Head-Fi member JMT.
2. Fill out the
Amplifier Quotation form and order a META42 from Tangent.
3. Visit my page and send an email to eric343(at)2alpha(dot)com, and I'll build one for you.

 

[ninoe99]

1. Headroom Cosmic
2. Grado RA1
3. Meier's PortaCorda