PTravel
Senior Senior Member
I'm not sure if this is the right forum, or even the right website, for this, but I thought I'd give it a shot. It struck me that I'm probably not the only poster on HR that likes to carry their music with them.
I spend a fair amount of time on airplanes, and I pass the time by listening to music. The go-to headphones for air travel are Bose QC-15s. They're over-ear noise-cancelling phones that are reasonably good (though not spectacular) at reproducing music, but do an incredible job at cancelling out the whoosh-and-roar of an aircraft in flight. I started with the QC-1 many years ago, upgraded to the QC-2 when those came out, and then grabbed the QC-15 as soon as I could.
My current program source is an iPod Classic 160 Gb (7th generation), which has my entire music collection in, mostly, 192 Kb and 384 Kb mp3s that I rip directly from the CDs (yes, I actually buy CDs and rip my music from them
). Music that I write and record is stored as ALAC -- Apple's lossless compression codec -- but still ripped from CDs. I had been using a Headroom Total AirHead headphone amplifier with this kit.
Recently, I lost my AirHead amp (though I found it again later). To replace it, I bought a Fiio E12 Montblanc headphone amp, and found myself sucked into the world of hi-res portable audio. The difference between the AirHead and the E12 is, frankly, quite dramatic. The E12 is dead quiet, provides a totally flat, almost completely uncolored with a truly impressive sound field. The E12 also provides a setting that intentionally creates a little cross-talk between the two stereo channels (the E12 is actually binaural, rather than stereo). This more closely approximates the live/speaker listening experience and has the effect of moving the sound field from the middle of your head to, roughly, the bridge of your nose. The E12 was $129 -- well worth it, in my opinion.
Now that I have this nifty piece of gear, I decided I needed a new program source. As I liked my Fiio E12, I took a look at the ready-to-be-released-at-any-moment Fiio E5. It supports a huge range of compressed, uncompressed and lossless codecs, the latter up to 192K/24-bit. It stores music on two microSD cards. Right now, it can take 128 Kb cards, for total storage of 256 Kb. Future firmware updates will support up to 256 Kb cards for a total of 1/2-terabyte of solid-state storage. The internal battery will currently run for between 10 and 12 hours, but the next firmware update should improve on that. It can work as a USB DAC when connected to a computer. I intend to use it for monitoring when I do remote location recording.
The reviews of the E5 have been absolutely stellar. It's also a binaural device, and uses better DACs and other components than the iPod. Audiophile reviews have compared it favorably to devices that cost twice as much or more -- the E5 is available for pre-order from a number of reputable dealers for $350. I've got one on order. Once it arrives, my portable music kit will be the Bose Q15s, the Fiio E12 amp and the Fiio E5.
So, is anyone else into portable sound systems? What do you have?
I spend a fair amount of time on airplanes, and I pass the time by listening to music. The go-to headphones for air travel are Bose QC-15s. They're over-ear noise-cancelling phones that are reasonably good (though not spectacular) at reproducing music, but do an incredible job at cancelling out the whoosh-and-roar of an aircraft in flight. I started with the QC-1 many years ago, upgraded to the QC-2 when those came out, and then grabbed the QC-15 as soon as I could.
My current program source is an iPod Classic 160 Gb (7th generation), which has my entire music collection in, mostly, 192 Kb and 384 Kb mp3s that I rip directly from the CDs (yes, I actually buy CDs and rip my music from them
). Music that I write and record is stored as ALAC -- Apple's lossless compression codec -- but still ripped from CDs. I had been using a Headroom Total AirHead headphone amplifier with this kit.Recently, I lost my AirHead amp (though I found it again later). To replace it, I bought a Fiio E12 Montblanc headphone amp, and found myself sucked into the world of hi-res portable audio. The difference between the AirHead and the E12 is, frankly, quite dramatic. The E12 is dead quiet, provides a totally flat, almost completely uncolored with a truly impressive sound field. The E12 also provides a setting that intentionally creates a little cross-talk between the two stereo channels (the E12 is actually binaural, rather than stereo). This more closely approximates the live/speaker listening experience and has the effect of moving the sound field from the middle of your head to, roughly, the bridge of your nose. The E12 was $129 -- well worth it, in my opinion.
Now that I have this nifty piece of gear, I decided I needed a new program source. As I liked my Fiio E12, I took a look at the ready-to-be-released-at-any-moment Fiio E5. It supports a huge range of compressed, uncompressed and lossless codecs, the latter up to 192K/24-bit. It stores music on two microSD cards. Right now, it can take 128 Kb cards, for total storage of 256 Kb. Future firmware updates will support up to 256 Kb cards for a total of 1/2-terabyte of solid-state storage. The internal battery will currently run for between 10 and 12 hours, but the next firmware update should improve on that. It can work as a USB DAC when connected to a computer. I intend to use it for monitoring when I do remote location recording.
The reviews of the E5 have been absolutely stellar. It's also a binaural device, and uses better DACs and other components than the iPod. Audiophile reviews have compared it favorably to devices that cost twice as much or more -- the E5 is available for pre-order from a number of reputable dealers for $350. I've got one on order. Once it arrives, my portable music kit will be the Bose Q15s, the Fiio E12 amp and the Fiio E5.
So, is anyone else into portable sound systems? What do you have?
