[Antonio Machado]

Hello there:

My name is Antonio Machado, 50, audiophile, New York. A few days ago I post a message asking for your opinions/suggestions/comments about the best high-end portable system I could buy, and I got a lot of information and good ideas; since then I've been in contact with www.headroom.com and now I am ready to buy my system this week. My two requirements are (1) high sound quality and (2) the best isolation available, since I use 2-3 hours each day in the subway of New York, which is very "very" noisy. So, based on your suggestions I've defined my system with this components:
- Etymotic earphones ER 4S aprox. $ 270.00
- Cosmic amplifier aprox. $ 600.00
- Traveler bag aprox. $ 129.00
- Panasonic SL-SW860 cd player aprox. $ 150.00 (does it have G-protection? otherwise, which is the best model I could get with G-protection?)
- Etymotic black foam eartips aprox. $ 15.00 (are they the same customized earmolds you highly recommended me?)
- Total cost aprox. $ 1.200.--

My questions are: what else do I need? a 4D cell battery holder? interconnect cables? any other last suggestion/comment/idea? thanks in advance for your help, I am making this decision based on your answers to my post, I am sure I can't go wrong, something else, please, to get the best for my hard-earned money? thanks, best regards, Antonio Machado.

 

[DanG]

Hi Antonio,

If you absolutely must get a Headroom package, I suggest you just buy their traveler system with the Ety 4S. It includes the bag, CDP, interconnects, headphones, and amp.

Wait a second... I just checked their website and the traveler systems are no longer offered. What happened, Todd and Tyll?

Anyway, I think that package is not worth $1,200... I'd consider the Grado RA-1 instead of the Cosmic, considering the RA-1 costs half as much (about $300), doesn't have a big heavy red plastic battery holder attached by a string, and can drive your 4S just fine (at least Vka says so). For a CD player, you don't need G-Protection. Getting a good old Panasonic SL-CT570 (~$130) should be enough -- it has 40 seconds anti-shock protection. I believe you get plenty of foam and rubber tips with your ER-4S and the Cosmic, if you do choose it, does come with the attachable (but poorly-designed) battery case.

For interconnects, Headroom does have a mini-to-RCA cable, which goes for $20 for the 1/2 meter flavor.

Altogether, that should come to about $720. Much less than you would have spent on your package. I think you could just carry around a little bag with you to hold your amp and CD player; that should be enough, and much less expensive than the Traveler Bag.

Hope this helped!

Dan

 

[thomas]

i haven't used either the cosmic or the RA-1, but most of the DIY people here think the RA1 is not worth what they charge, with its VERY simple design, and assumibly cheap parts since they're all potted away. The cosmic certainly looks a lot better based on the parts quality, can't get much better than it. But its the sound/price that matters, so i'd recommend auditioning both before buying.

 

[bootman]

Quote:

but most of the DIY people here think the RA1 is not worth what they charge, with its VERY simple design, and assumibly cheap parts since they're all potted away.

Every time I hear this argument over the RA-1, I have to wonder how many of the DIYers actually sat down and really heard the RA-1 against one of the DIY amps made for Grados. (CHA-47)

I have, and to be honest it wasn't even close in terms of how musical both amps sounded. I thought the CHA-47 sounded great to me (I still do!) and things couldn’t get that much better, but that was until I listened to both head to head. Now I don't mean this to be a full blown review. I own a CHA-47 but not the RA-1 but I have spent some time with a RA-1 and listened to both amps at the same time. I thought the CHA-47 had great dynamics (the one I have is the 16AA model) but to me it sounded a bit dry and lifeless compared to the RA-1. With big orchestral pieces, the RA-1 just plain sang! Every instrument was easily identifiable and the sound staging was excellent. The CHA-47 seemed to have a, for lack of a better word, a compressed sound compared to the RA-1 when things started to get complicated. The soundstage was not as large and when things got really busy, it was harder to pick out details. Now with simpler pieces, (like classic rock) the differences were way smaller. But little things like, acoustic guitars, tended to sound more like electric ones. For example with the RA-1, I could actually hear the strings being plucked! With the CHA-47 I had a hard time doing that. (Actually, I never really noticed it before until I did the head to head!)

Now, don’t take this as bashing the CHA-47! I still own and love this amp and intend to keep it. It does sound good! But, it is not in the same league as the RA-1.

 

[chych]

No, the black foam tips are not the custom molds, I think you have to contact etymotic to figure out how to get them, I'm not sure... but the custom mold only fits your ear, the other tips fit anyone's.

G-protection is a sony thing I thought... well its just a fancy name for antiskip... well sort of...

 

[Gemul]

Bootman, where can I get info. for CHA-47?

 

[coolvij]

g-protection is sony's "cool feature name" that refers to how THEIR special skip protection can withstand several Gs of impact without skipping......joggers care about that.....i don't.

 

[Possum]

Gemul,





The CHA-47 is just Apheared's modification to the cmoy amp, built on a Hansen board. Since you did that awesome job building the cmoy amp on your own board, you almost definitely don't need to buy the Hansen board for this. The Apheared mod only calls for another IC and resistor(s) and different resistor/capacitor values. So if you build it, it'll just be a CA-47

You can find the info for this modification in the Apheared project scrapbook on HeadWize:



http://headwize.com/projects/apheared_prj.htm

 

[Neruda]

the panasonic SL-SW860 is a great player, I'd reccomend it. And don't ever worry about it skipping, because it won't. Do go ahead and get the cosmic, I'm sure there is controversy about whether it's worth the price, but you obviously seem to have the money and you might as well get the best thing that you can. Oh, and the cosmic comes with everything you need, so don't worry about a battery holder or interconects. The black tips are not the molds we were reccomending, and getting extra tips might not be necessary as etymotics come with them. the molds we were reccomending are custom molds you would get specially from a place like Westone Labs, and they cost around $150. Don't worry about them now though, etymotics will sound just fine without them. If you have many more questions, why don't you contact Todd at headroom? He'll tell you everything you need to know

.

 

[MacDEF]

Quote:

g-protection is sony's "cool feature name" that refers to how THEIR special skip protection can withstand several Gs of impact without skipping.

LOL! What a marketing ploy by Sony. *Any* portable music device on the market right now (CD, MD, MP3, etc.) that uses memory-based shock protection (i.e. music is played back from a cache of memory rather than directly from the media) can withstand "several Gs of impact without skipping." Basically, as long as the unit doesn't *break* from the impact, it won't skip

I can't believe Sony is actually using that as a marketing campaign...

 

[Gemul]

Possum,
Thanks a lot!

I'm going to buy 50 Hansen boards for Korean DIYers.
I may add one for me

 

[DanG]

The Cosmic doesn't come with interconnects, although it does come with the REALLY cheesy and flimsy and unwieldy and ugly red plastic battery case.

The RA-1, on the other hand, holds the batteries inside. So you don't have to worry about a dangling plastic box that weighs several pounds (4 D-cells).