Share Your Portable Audio

[ericl]

I am a geek, i have a lot:

Work:
Headroom Micro Stack (separate USB DAC + Headphone Amp) feeding Sennheiser HD595
killer system!! I use foobar for internet radio, it's pretty wonderful. It's "portable" but it doesn't go anywhere.

Home:
Sennheiser 497 use these on the puter, or watching movies/tv late at night
(also have a headroom total bithead that my boss is borrowing)

Portable:
Apple 15gb iPod and Shure e2c
rarely listen to the Shure's. Mostly the iPod stays in the car and it acts as a changer.

Man, where are NERD smilies?? I am going to have to find some to add.

[Geoffcin]

Originally Posted by ericl

I am a geek, i have a lot:

Work:
Headroom Micro Stack (separate DAC + Headphone Amp) feeding Sennheiser HD595
killer system!! I use foobar for internet radio, it's pretty wonderful. It's "portable" but it doesn't go anywhere.

Home:
Sennheiser 497 use these on the puter, or watching movies/tv late at night
(also have a headroom total bithead that my boss is borrowing)

Portable:
Apple 15gb iPod and Shure e2c
rarely listen to the Shure's. Mostly the iPod stays in the car and it acts as a changer.

Man, where are NERD smilies?? I am going to have to find some to add.

I've got to say I'm still a beginner when it comes to portable audio: but we've got two Ipods in the family, and my wife has taken to wearing my Senheiser 595's with the her nano. I still can't get over such a tiny thing producing music?!

[audio_dude]

hey ericl, i have a 30gig iPod and am looking for a new set of budz, are the e2c's any good, they are pretty much the only IEM around here for my budget...oh ya, i'm looking for sound isolating, lol

[Jack in Wilmington]

Ah the irony of it all. I'm sitting here with my headphones on unwinding from a long week of work. I flip open my laptop to see what's new at audioreview and bingo a headphone forum, now that's cool.

Home System: Sennheiser HD600 with Musical Fidelty X-Can V3

Work System: Panasonic Portable Player with Shure e2c

Portable System: iRiver H10 with Sony in ear phones. Just got done charging up the iRiver for Sunday as we are leaving on a cruise to Bermuda. Can't go away without some tunes.

[audio_dude]

thanks to yours truly for suggesting it!!!

[emorphien]

Hmm..

Home: Grado SR325s, I'd like to add a pair of Senns + a headphone amp but that's not gonna fit in my grad student budget.

On the go: iRiver iHP-120 and Shure E2cs.

[audio_dude]

i've got the iPod already thanks...but ya, i'm going to get the e2c's..

[markw]

Well, I've got a Memorex AM/FM/CD player pushing a pair of Realistic nova 35 headphones and the ever lovely Mrs. W has a Sandisk 1 gig with a pair of stock earbuds.

I bought her a pair of Koss porta pros (same as Nova 35's ) but she refuses to wear 'em.

wimmen. ...but, I gotta say, she' taken ownership. She does her own downloads and copys from CD's on to her laptop and and transfers them to her stick herself.

But, I do see another Sandisk in the family in the near future.. for ME!.

[audio_dude]

lol, nice!

[markw]

The ever lovely Mrs. W gave me, for my birthday in June, a 1 gig Sandisk Sansa and a pair of the folding Koss Porta Pro headphones.

Loaded 240 songs for our Tennessee trip and, so far I'm lovin' it, particularly the FM feature.

[audio_dude]

i bought my dad a 512mb sansa for his b-day, he loves it, tuner is very nice feature, lol

he's still using stock buds though, i'll have to get him some nice ones for when he works out and such.


oh, i added the one biggest missing feature to my iPod last week, that would be the FM tuner...
got it through the Apple Radio Remote, its $50 USD, but i had the cash. sounds very nice, but a little, almost "distant", and the bass is a little anemic, but hell, the remote is great for when I just want to have a shuffle day, it clips to a shirt or anything else you want to clip it to.

[emorphien]

I will cry on the day my iRiver dies.

[Spiritboxer]

My main portable setup is a 5G Black 30GB iPod video with either a Westone UM2 or a recabled Senn HD 25-1. Took me a while and a buncha cash but I'm very happy with this combo.

[darkstar3240]

Home:

AKG K701 (Favorite Headphones!! You guys should check em out akg.com)

Headroom Micro Amp and DAC

Portable:

30 Gig Ipod loaded with lossless files

Shure SE210

[audio_dude]

rule #1:

NO DIGGING UP YEAR-OLD THREADS!

sheesh.

last post was JULY 2006! ...

oh well.
it was fun looking up how incoherent i was back then.

[darkstar3240]

Just thought id bring back this thread
i do <3 my setup thought id share it with ya'll haha

[dean_martin]

Since you took the time to find the thread and post, I'll play.

My "portable" system is something I can take outside and listen to while I'm cooking on the grill, or while I'm chillin' on the deck and I'm thinking of taking it to a football game for tailgating.

Sonic Impact T-amp (first generation)
Insignia 6.5" speakers
Optimus/Radio Shack portable cdp w/lineout

Admittedly, this system is a little bulky and not too personal, but once it's set up, it rocks. Everybody who comes over loves it. It sounds great and there's something about the combination that really smooths out the sound of cds. Plus, after catching a sale at BestBuy when the Insignias started getting recognition on the web, and finding the cdp on eBay (nos-still in box) for cheap, the whole package was about $90.

I'm looking to add a good battery powered radio.

BTW, welcome!

[Spiritboxer]

ummm, portable...let's see..

RWA 4G iMod 60GB Photo
RSA Hornet
ALO Cryo 22 mini to mini
Sennheiser HD 25-1 w/ HD 580 cable mod

Well, this is winter portable as I can fit everthing but the cans in one of my parka pockets and the sound is just marvelous. I can scale it down a bit by adding a pair of UM2's but I do prefer the Senns and adding velour pads keeps my ears nice and toasty in the cold. I must say, going from a Sony Walkman years ago to this current setup is just an out and out blessing.

[HeadphoneAddict]

Okay, here goes - too many to keep track of

It's usually a source > amp > headphones.

Best Sounding:

One of my 3 Sony portable CD players with optical out, or an iRiver H140 optical out with apple lossless codec.

That goes into iBasso D1 portable DAC/AMP with rolled opamps (AD797x2 as main amp, AD8397 x2 as buffers, LTC6234 in DAC) using SysConcept custom 4" optical cable

This usually ends with the Denon AH-C700, or Super.fi 5 pro for portable use, because they can still allow some sound with maybe only 18-20db isolation - while the Livewires and ER6i IEM seem to have 30-35db of isolation that can be more dangerous to use driving or walking down the street.

All the rest:

Also have 6 ipods of various generations, with the 80gb ipod video about to get the RWA iMod done. I have an ALO Jumbo Cryo Silver X iMod line out dock already, plus a custom made silver and silk insulated LOD, and a silver and silk insulated 3.5mm interconnect, a ZY-cable LOD, a SendStation Pocket-dock. My Macbook is often used as a source, using an external DAC from the optical or USB digital output.

I also have several portable amps, including the iBasso D1 above, an RSA Tomahawk, a Meier Headsix, a Headstage Lyrix USB DAC portable amp, PenguinAmp Caffeine and PenguinAmp Royal, an a JSeaber cmoy with bass boost.

And for portable headphones, I have my HD25-1 that sometimes use the black dragon cable and sometimes an HD600 cable, Ultrasone iCans, Sennheiser PX100 and PMX100, iGrado, Livewires 2-driver custom molded, Shure SE530, Denon AH-C700, Etymotic ER6i, JVC air-cushion and JVC marshmallows.

I don't use my Ultrasone HFI700DVD portable, nor my Alessandro MS-1 with Headphile C-pads, nor Sennheiser HD600 (except sometimes with 4' long Moon Audio Cryotreated Black Dragon with 1/8" mini plug).

The Lightest-smallest Portable Packages:

I often pair a 3G 8gb nano with the tiny RSA Tomahawk
I often pair a 2G 8gb nano with the pretty small Meier Headsix (same width and height as Tomahawk, 3/4" longer).
I often pair a 16gb Touch with a slightly bigger Headstage Lyrix.

I always use a line out dock with an amp, but If I don't use an amp, I mostly use the 8gb 3G Nano or 16gb Touch, with one of my in ear monitors or PMX100 as my lightest package.

Whew! You know, my STAX SRLambda with SRD-X runs on 8x C-cells so it is technically portable

[emorphien]

My new portable, which is great for flying because of the video capability, is my 4GB iRiver Clix and I'm still using Shure E2cs for that.

[Modernaire]

Coby CV-600 retro cans with a Sony MZ-NE410 to play back my Optical, Live and Vinyl recordings made on an S-Type MD deck.

No menu's, no scrolling, no restarting, just straight to the jamz! Sold my cumbersome, annoying iPod Video 30gb and iPod nano 2nd gen.

[filecat13]

Well hey then, we've got four iPods in play.

My GF uses the iPod Shuffle at work with one earbud in.

I use a 2G iPod Nano in my bag for listening when waiting or riding public transportation.

I use an iPod Photo in my office(s), all with Kensington docks plugged into receivers. One system plays through JBL L60T speakers with a sub, one system plays through JBL L7s, and one system through JBL 4430s with a B380 sub. When using it for presentations, I run it through a JBL Creature II. It also is our traveling iPod, connected in the car for long trips.

My original iPod stays at home and is connected to a system in the home office playing though JBL SAT10s and a MUSIC20.

[PPG]

I've had a Sansa Clip, 2gb (holds about 400 songs at 160kbps) for about a month now and love this thing, primarily for it's extremely good sound quality, paired with my Koss/Radio Shack 'phones. Only 60 bucks but, as these things go, now there's a 4gb model available for $80.00. Anyway, highly-recommended if you think MP players don't sound good - check one of these out. This one actually has better sound than the other & more expensive models in Sandisks' line-up.

[diggity]

i own an ipod but hate using earbuds! but this leaves me with an infuriating conundrum, i don't want to wear overhead sennheisers because they mess up my hair...lol.

[IBSTORMIN]

I haven't looked into upgrading for a couple of years. I have an I-River H-10 that I put in my back pocket and when I knelt down it cracked the LCD. Still works fine but doesn't look so good. I replaced it with a Toshiba Gigabeat MES30V 30GB Video that sounds much better than the I-River. I compared the Toshiba to several I-Pods and I picked the better sound quality of the Toshiba over the I-Pods extra features.

For earphones I went the upgrade route from Shure E2, E3 to the Shure E5 dual driver earphone that I really enjoy but wonder what would sound BETTER.