It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything about my audio equipment (or about much of anything) ... So allow me to give a short comparison between two of the best universal fit IEMs available. It goes on and on, so allow me to place it below the fold.

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I’ve had Ray Samuels’s The Tomahawk headphone amp for about a full month now, so I felt it was about time to report back my experiences. This month gave me time to run it through the first set of batteries and some of a second set. This should have been long enough to fully burn the Tomahawk in. The electronics take 300-500 hours or so to really settle in and emit their final sound signature.

Aside: I can’t bring myself to call this a review because I don’t consider myself much of an genuine audiophile, and I don’t feel I’m really qualified to seriously critique this product. Also, this is the first headphone amp I’ve ever experienced, so I can’t really compare it to anything.

The Tomahawk is a very highly acclaimed headphone amplifier. I’ve read numerous reviews and comparisons – mostly on head-fi.org – about this amp, and everyone seems to think very highly of it. My experience has been just excellent. The amplifier adds smoothness/shininess to the sound that is just a joy to listen to through the E500. In the interest of preserving my hearing, when in a quiet room, I like listening at low volumes. This combo retains thick & juicy dynamics while emphasizing the fact that this little box eliminates ALL hiss/buzz produced by my mp3 player and presents nothing but pure music over a deep, black background.

As for size & build, there is absolutely nothing to complain about here. The Tomahawk is built like a tank… and a very, very tiny one at that. Ray’s amps are built with plenty of TLC, and he doesn’t just throw together these things with whatever chips happen to be cheapest. Each amp is built with the same, high-quality components.

What’s most amazing is the punch that this thing produces. One should not come under the impression that this amp will drive only IEMs. In fact, it will drive all but the most exotic and demanding of headphones with juice to spare. If that wasn’t amazing enough, it will actually perform its duty for over 400 hours solid, about 17 days, or as Ray says, 6 weeks at 10 hours per day. (Apparently, more demanding headphones will start to clip towards the end of the battery life.)

I must also comment on Ray’s customer service. Ray is a really great guy and a pleasure to do business with. He likes to talk to his customers on the phone, so if you’re interested in his products, call him up!

Pics over the jump!

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So I am a crazy man.

I decided I wanted to amp my phones, but my UE Super.fi 5 Pros have been said not to change much with an amp. Plus, from all the discussion on head-fi.org (WARNING: stay clear of that site if you are susceptible to upgradeitus!) I found that it was common opinion that the Super.fi’s, while they are a fine earphone, suffer from some amount of “veil” or lack of balance. Now, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing even, depending on your objective, but I wanted something that was well balanced and “audiophile grade” that I could enjoy wherever I am (such as work for 8 hrs/day).

I wanted something that would fit snugly in my ear and not stick out like the 5 Pros. That ruled out the Triple.fi 10 Pros as they have a similar form factor. And since the best IEM amp that I could find, Ray Samuels Audio’s “Tomahawk,” was designed with the Shure E500’s in mind (along with a few other earphones), I knew I would not be making a bad decision in going with these earphones.

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I got my Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 Pro earphones Wednesday (3 days ago). I had been thinking of upgrading from my Shure E2’s for a while. I just knew there was more to the sound, and I wanted to really be able to rock out properly and independently (when there are others around who might not appreciate teh thumpz). And oh man was I right. I’ll explain how I feel about these phones in various areas. Read the rest of this entry

My iRiver iHP-120’s (now known as H120) power/play button finally gave out the other day, so I’m no longer able to easily turn it on. (I actually since noticed that hitting the reset button also causes it to power on; so it’s still somewhat workable although I have no idea what I’m going to do with it.) With iRiver unwilling to repair it for me, I had to pick up a replacement.

I originally bought the iRiver primarily because of the Ogg Vorbis support that I am so keen on. Since then, though, iRiver seems to have sold out to the almighty Microsoft because their product pages have the M$ “Plays for Sure” badge image and no longer support any open formats. (Add that to the list of reasons I hate Microsoft pls.)

I’ve been using the Cowon iAudio X5L 30Gb for a few days now and I must say, I am quite pleased with it overall. Although it comes from an iAudio fan site, iAudiophile has an excellent review on the X5 that I highly recommend if you want even more detail than I provide. (The X5L differs only in that it is 1) a bit larger, 2) a bit heavier, 3) costs a bit more, and 4) lasts for 35 hrs instead of the X5’s 14.)

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