Please help me with choosing a portable amp.

[Deckkie]

I am most probably going to buy a portable amp.
I am however using a V-moda M80, which does not need amping.

The reason I will still get one is because I will be using it a with a sansa fuze, and a line out will create better sound (from what I understand).

My problem arrises with choosing which amp to buy. I am thinking about the arrow 4g, but I am not sure if this will actually be worth the money. Will the extra EQ on the 4g be worth it? And does someone know if this will give me better sound quality compared to a fiio E6, even though I am using a low omh headphone.

Thanks!!

[CrowdAds]

[WalkGood]

Sound quality does not improve just because you put an amp into the equation. Read http://anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44202

Edit:

Originally Posted by Deckkie

I am most probably going to buy a portable amp. I am however using a V-moda M80, which does not need amping.

AFAIK you are correct, their impedance is only 28.5 Ohms so they shouldn’t be hard to drive, which would indicate that a amp is not needed for them.

Originally Posted by Deckkie

The reason I will still get one is because I will be using it a with a sansa fuze, and a line out will create better sound (from what I understand).

This may or may not be true, the fact is that on almost every player the headphone out is equal to and in some players better than line out.

Originally Posted by Deckkie

My problem arrises with choosing which amp to buy. I am thinking about the arrow 4g, but I am not sure if this will actually be worth the money.

dfkt wrote a review on the original arrow here but I wouldn’t know how that compares with their latest version. That said, I have read that wait times for the headstage arrow are completely unacceptable IMHO.

Originally Posted by Deckkie

Will the extra EQ on the 4g be worth it?

I don’t know and I haven’t read of any arrow users of their latest version here on abi.

Originally Posted by Deckkie

And does someone know if this will give me better sound quality compared to a fiio E6, even though I am using a low omh headphone.

I do not believe that any amp improves sound quality to a source but rather amplifies the signal to higher volumes. I am willing to bet that the arrow performs better than the E6 but I am not implying that it improves the sound. I mean that it will amp the signal cleaner rather than possibly introducing hiss or other artifact sounds.

Edit2:
If you are determined to buy a portable amp, you should list some points that you need to meet in order to proceed. For example; what is your budget? what features you would like from said amp? etc ...

[saratoga]

The line out and headphone output on the fuze is identical when fed into an amp.

[Deckkie]

Thanks for all the information.
Very, very appreciated!

[WalkGood]

Deckkie there's more info here and I'm wondering if you're still buying an amp? if so, what's your budget? What features do you want in the amp? Let us know what you end up doing ...

[Deckkie]

Hey WalkGood,

Your articles trully give great insight. I am not sure about buying a amp anymore. Maybe if I can find a amp that will give me "hardware" EQ instead of rockbox (if you know any, please tell), and that doesnt give me bad sound because of my low ohms. I also dont really have a budget. I guess that the bigger criterium is if the difference it gives me is relatively worth the money.

But for now it seems more logical to replace my pretty old sansa fuze. I guess this is a little off tupic, but if you know a good player that supports both great SQ and has audiobook support, please let me know.

[WalkGood]

I would read thru this this post and make a new thread requesting for player advice in this forum. This way all the members can make DAP recommendations to you. BTW you ask for a good EQ, have you tried to rockbox your player, rockbox has a 5 band parametric EQ which works great on the sansa's I own and the build for the fuze is fine. You can read more about rockbox via the link under my signature if you’re not familiar with it.


Edit: BTW I just noticed you are a new member, welcome to abi

Edit2: BTW I own two portable amps, full disclosure

[Deckkie]

Yes I do know rockbox. But I use my fuze for audiobooks as well. Although Rockbox does support audiobooks, I dont find it ideal. This is the major reason that I was thinking about a good amp in the first place.

And, greeat links + articles once again. Thank you.

[FreeZ5]

Originally Posted by Deckkie

But for now it seems more logical to replace my pretty old sansa fuze. I guess this is a little off tupic, but if you know a good player that supports both great SQ and has audiobook support, please let me know.

Pretty sure that the original Sansa Fuze meets you requirements.

More seriously, why do you want to replace the Fuze? There is another current thread underway where the Fuze is one of the recommendations to the poster. If you're worried about your Fuze failing, get a second one. Although your original post doesn't actually lead to that thought.

Steve

[Deckkie]

Originally Posted by FreeZ5

Pretty sure that the original Sansa Fuze meets you requirements.

More seriously, why do you want to replace the Fuze? There is another current thread underway where the Fuze is one of the recommendations to the poster. If you're worried about your Fuze failing, get a second one. Although your original post doesn't actually lead to that thought.

Steve

Didnt the Fuze stop production? Meaning that if I buy a new one now, can battery, and internal quality be a issue?

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by Deckkie

Didnt the Fuze stop production? Meaning that if I buy a new one now, can battery, and internal quality be a issue?

It did stop production. Assuming you do get one that is new, the battery will not be up to the par of one that was new back in the day....but everything else should work fine.

[WalkGood]

This just makes no sense, you guys are recommending a fuze when he hasn't even posted his requirements. While I think a fuze is fine in many instances, it might not be what he want's now since he already owns one. Besides this is a thread about portable amps in the headphone amp forum ...

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by WalkGood

This just makes no sense, you guys are recommending a fuze when he hasn't even posted his requirements. While I think a fuze is fine in many instances, it might not be what he want's now since he already owns one. Besides this is a thread about portable amps in the headphone amp forum ...

I didn't recommend the Fuze...I simply answered his question about what might happen if he was to buy another one.

I never recommend the Fuze, actually, because I prefer to have a dedicated volume control on my portable devices.

[Deckkie]

Yes, yes, sorry.

Seems like I wont need something new for my protible audio at this moment.
Thanks for everything.