Comments on Profile Post by Cellist88

Leck is great but the bass bloom might be a turnoff depending on the IEM pairing (went great with the UERM). You might want to consider the Apex Glacier. I found it pretty resolving and more neutral than the Leck.

Pico Power is super clean. Powered by 9V batteries though.

I do like my Oppo HA-2SE. Might be a bit on the bright side of neutral though.

Wait, do you want a portable or desktop amp? What DAC will you be pairing with it? Will it be close to a phone/susceptible to RFI?

I always really liked the Vorzuge pure II when I heard it, though I never heard it back to back with the Leck, which is also excellent.

@zerodeefex Looking for a desktop amp, Though portable can work. The soekris amp sounds a bit dry. T3 was good but a bit much to get just got an iem. Soup..ill check the vorzuge out.

Desktop amps are tough since they’re not often designed with sensitive IEMs in mind. What IEM are you pairing it with? That makes a big difference.

Also, what DAC are you using? It’s more important to optimize for synergy between components rather than trying to mix and match “da bestest” willy nilly

Empire Ears Phantom. Its on the warm side of neutral and is about as sensitive as the andromeda. I'm going to pair it with the zx300 on the go, but was thinking about a small desktop amp to pair with the soekris dac1541. The amp in the soekris is good enough, but i can't help but to feel I'm missing a little air and clarity in the lower registers. Best word I can conjure is..it sounds slightly damped/muffled.

http://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/desktop-iem-amp.1094/#post-28063

Good question @zerodeefex. I just assumed portable.

Get the apex glacier and put it on the desk. Problem solved.

Is the Apex Glacier available new?

I'm not familiar with either the Soekris DAC or the Empire Ears Phantom. I don't know the impedance curve of the latter and I don't know how the two interact.

With regard to getting that last bit of information down low, have you heard the phantoms perform well in this area on any system? Is the ZX300 giving you something you're missing from the Soekris?

Also, how is the upper treble performance? Are you getting last octave air and are string harmonics resolved and rendered correctly? That's where I find most chains fall apart.

For IEMs, I use the Leckerton, Glacier and Rx as three independent data points to understand how they might synergize with different chains. The leck is pretty resolving but has a little bit of bass bloom; perfect for headphones like the UERM. The Glacier is more neutral and the Rx is a bit warmer than either (closer to the typical Alo signature).

I'm actually not having any problems in terms of detail retreival or upper treble performance. I guess the iem is slightly laid back here, but nothing is missing. The soekris amp isn't bad, but its very dry like I'm in a dead treated room for studio work instead of a hall. I felt this way with the Focal Clears as well when compared to the Go2a and wm1a. Go2a is on loan and the Zx300a is still on the way.

From your recs, I think the Glacier would be the best fit! Will go try to find some used ones. If not, I think I might settle for an vorzuge pure or alo Rx. Thanks for the recommendations!

I liked the Grace m9xx with my EE Spartan. Not really portable, but strap a small Anker to it and you've got a pretty nice ultra transportable rig.