ihp 120 first listening impressions

[caligula]

Ok, having charged the player up and banging some tunes onto it I connected it to an iqube headphone amp via mini out using an alo jenna labs cryo copper mini-mini and with etymotic research er4p iems using the p to s adapter so essentially being an er4s.

First thing to note, there is zero hiss, however, when putting the player on full volume, then hi gain switch and full volume on the iqube hiss is detectable, but your ears are gonna be blown if listening at those volumes. However, as noted the p to s adaptor is 75ohm, but on the other hand the iqube is a very powerful amp... for a truly portable amp anyway so that would balance things up a little but as ever YMMV, from memory though it is a far cleaner signal than the h300's.

The underlying sound signature is pretty transparent and neutral actually with an ever so slight warmth with sorta rounds out the etymotics and I feel compliments them well, it is important to note the iqube is a transparent and neutral amp. Basically, with the usual caveats regarding subjectivity and the ultimate ceiling in terms of sound quality that can be had from portable players, this set up is capable of being a reference rig, bettering my imod in terms of a lush silkyness to the music, it is smooth with a capital S.

Listening to Paulo Nutini I noticed the sound stage seemed kinda narrow, so I chucked some Vivaldi's 4 seasons on by Nigel Kennedy and immediately the sound stage opened up so obviously this is more determined by the type of music played and recording etc the upshot being, the player is more than capable of reproducing a nice width and depth of sound stage.

It will be interesting to compare when I get an iBasso D1 to use as dac and see what kind of sound quality can be had via optical and indeed what, if any, the differences are between that and copper or silver interconnects.

I have yet to listen with my ibasso silver platted copper interconnect but my feeling is it would probably ever so slightly remove some of that warmth which actually helps to bring a nice balance to the ety's (I REALLY like the ety sound signature, nice and analytical is right up my street, leaves my shures hardly ever used) but this player adds just enough warmth to make everything so lush and smooth and silky with a deep sheen lol ok im repeating myself, but I have never heard liquidity like this before.

I will do some side by side comparisons with my h300 some time and let ya know what I think.

[BBD]

Originally Posted by caligula

Ok, having charged the player up and banging some tunes onto it I connected it to an iqube headphone amp via mini out using an alo jenna labs cryo copper mini-mini and with etymotic research er4p iems using the p to s adapter so essentially being an er4s.

*************

I have yet to listen with my ibasso silver platted copper interconnect but my feeling is it would probably ever so slightly remove some of that warmth which actually helps to bring a nice balance to the ety's (I REALLY like the ety sound signature, nice and analytical is right up my street, leaves my shures hardly ever used) but this player adds just enough warmth to make everything so lush and smooth and silky with a deep sheen lol ok im repeating myself, but I have never heard liquidity like this before.

I hate you...but only because of the crushing ENVY!!!!

Nice summary! Damn..... I bow to your skeelz, sir. Now, I must buy some decent gear as my H120 ain't gonna slum.....

[caligula]

Ah dont go rushing into it BBD, I blew so much money needlessly by rounding up a selection of amps to try out and then sold on the ones I felt weren't as good as the ones I kept. Same deal with earphones and headphones, if you can, I would always advise trying out in a store first.

And for me, the most important advice I can give, is first, try to get to grips with the sound signatures of earphone manufacturers, the big two probably being ety and shure. For me, the shures are too dark and boomy, they are very accomplished ear phones, but for me the sound sig in comparison to the ety's is too dark, whereas the ety's are lean and clear and analytical, once you have done that and decided which kind of sound you prefer you are straight away better able to narrow down potential choices for your earphones.

As for amps, if you are gonna use the optical, id recommend the ibasso d1, it gets a degree of love over on headfi, and whats more, its about the cheapest amp/dac combo out there with the benefit of opitcal.

If you do go that route, you could then just use the ibasso as a dac and then connect another amp to that or just use the mini out and try a different amp. Ray samuels does some good amps, hornet and tomahawk seem to be the most popular, but he has a pretty wide selection, and aesthetically, they are damn sexy, I had both of these models but sold them on after getting the voyager and the iqube.

There is also a big debate about wether interconnects/cables make a difference, let alone wether they make a difference in portable gear, I have heard some good arguments from either side, but let your ears be the judge, for starters, just to establish if you can hear a difference with interconnects, I would highly recommend the ibasso interconnect, it is basically a mini to mini copper but it is silver plated and it really brightens things up a lot, but the best bit is, it is only $25 so it is worth a punt to see if you can hear a difference with it.

Another suggestion, if you do want to try different interconnects, go on head-fi or anywhere actually and get some diy builders to build you some, far FAR cheaper than some other boutique brands... another lesson ive learned, one particularly good diy'er on head-fi is steven kelby, he is australian and makes the sexiest interconnects going, check out his feedback page for examples of some of them.

Anyway, yeah, the ihp120 is LUSH and I LOVE it like woman LMAO

[BBD]

Thanks for that, cal. I really listen more in my vehicle and home setup anyway. I was thinking of upgrading my home system to something better without breaking the bank, but scarce know where to begin...... So many damned options.......

Originally Posted by caligula

Anyway, yeah, the ihp120 is LUSH and I LOVE it like woman LMAO

Heh--join Ye Olde Club.........

[caligula]

Yeah, the home set up will be my next journey, I cant solder, I have NOOOOOO idea about electronics and wouldnt know a resister from a transister or even if those things exist but one day I am going to build myself a beta 22 amp lol

as for the source, well you could hook up ya ihp120 to a home amp although admittedly most tend to go for proper home cd player solutions.

Good luck on your journey though, this hobby is coooool lol

[pachinkoman]

So much gear, so little time...