slwiser

This is very correct with really good equipment and even with equipment that does not quite approach high end. I think the human is the biggest variable.....it is with me depending on how I feel I hear things differently at times and it makes it hard to know whether one is better than another. Bottom line find something you enjoy and live with it...until you find something else later that you enjoy better while it may not be better you may have changed over a period of time to enjoy something else. New is not always better but the newness may present itself as better after living with one type of sound for a while.

Here is a thread that suggests many options that fit into this range. It is on a US forum called Headcase and head case is a good description for them. The thread is "what would you get if you had to downsize to 500$" which is near your 800$ goal. If you had to downgrade your entire rig to $500?

Here is another thread comparing these two amps: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/headamp-p...-hybrid-328479/ another thread of interest: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/headamp-p...-hybrid-328479/ My quick initial impressions back and forth between the two is that the TTVJ is slightly smoother than the Pico but the Pico is not at all not smooth, if you can understand this your better than me. As I said I think we over here may very small differences much bigger than they actually are. The biggest issue with the TTVJ is using it as a real portable. It will ping if handled a little less than gingerly. The Pico is simply an overall winner in my book. It has a great DAC for when I want to use it with my computers. Both are winners but I think the Pico would be a better/safer overall choice from my perspective. I hope this short comparison with the associated treads help you.

I just got everything out of my briefcase and am now listening to my Pico with the 10s. First off is a little jazz singer named Renee Olstead, one of my favorites is her rendition of Summertime. Any specific genre you are interested in. I may not have everything but I have a lot. The source that I am using is my iMod. While I am doing this today check this thread out about the little dot portable. http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f105/review-...plifier-284847/ I notice that someone suggested the little dot was a little bright so I am not sure this would be a good mix if they were talking about the tube version. I am not always sure which unit people are speaking about. http://www.little-tube.com/forum/category-view.asp

That Little Dot tube amp is be something you might want to test out. I think tubes in smoothing things out just a little provide that lushness you are seeking. I have the Pico and it does a great job with them though. I can't say anything bad about the Pico. I am getting the DAC version soon as well. This way I will be feeding a straight signal from my Dell Mini9 via Pico DAC into the TTVJ.

Yes, I think that is the one. What am I missing here with the reference of these isolators to the ESW10JPN?

Sorry, I hardly ever leave my local town area...much less out of my country... Yes, I know about our hype monster....I have fallen into that myself at times. My problem is that I enjoy most things at some level and have a hard time being really hard on a device. Our hype mostly is to make really big mountains out of small mole-hills. Hence, my being so hesitate to come down on a piece of equipment just because it is slightly less in something compared with another device. I much more like doing comparisons and saying which I enjoyed more and why. I gave my reasons why I believe that the TTVJ portable will match well with the ESW10JPN. The ESW10JPN will sound great out of just about anything. To me the 10 has just a little to much treble energy and a tube amp or at least the ones that I have used with it, tend to tone that back or smooth that out to me. There is another small portable tube amp out there somewhere that I have seen but have never heard it...I think it is from your area of the world and would be cheaper than the TTVJ...

That is the reason why I got my TTVJ Millet Hybrid portable. I have a Yamamoto HA-02 and the sound out of the ESW10JPN with them was stunning. So I thought maybe if I got a portable tube amp this would allow me to have the best of both worlds and I think it does a great job with the 10s. Not the same as the HA-02 but very well. My future work setup is going to include the TTVJ and a Pico DAC out of my Dell Mini9. I will be listening to either the ESW10JPN or my pre-paid Ultrasone Edition 8s when they come in. This will put my work setup as near to my home dynamic setup as I can get without having the HA-02 at work.

TTVJ Portable Millet Hybrid does the trick best for me as a portable amp for the ESW10JPN.

I am looking forward to the new Ultrasone Edition 8 which just might do the trick as a portable and a nice home headphone while being closed. But either the ATH-ESW9 or ESW10JPN would also be in consideration. I know they are smaller and somewhat tight new but they do loosen up and are fairly closed inside to out. They do allow sound in more than out. I have had both and still own the ESW10JPN.

Nice pictures and looks like a great time all around...

Make sure someone compares the Rudistor NX-33 Balanced and Yamamoto HA-02 using the Ultrasone Edition 9s....the Millet Maxed would also be an interesting comparison with the HA-02.

At my desk I pair it with my Yamamoto HA-02 and this is the pair that made me get the TTVJ Portable Millet Hybrid as my portable for the ESW10JPN. The pairing of tubes with the ESW10JPN has some great synergy in my opinion.

Would you considered selling and shipping into the U.S.? and yes is it the Dac version?

The UE9 is very different but i have to say that I do enjoy the ESW10JPN almost or maybe as well. I have not sit down and directly made a comparison but the UE9 seems to give a stronger sound than the ESW10JPN. The ESW10JPN gives a sense of more clarity but I am sure that this is not true. It may be that the UE9's bass is just more powerful than the ESW10JPN which is to be expected. I read that they have about 1500 pieces worldwide with 1000 of that for Japan. Yes, easy to drive. Much of my listening is with the iBasso Boa. The plug is the small one. For the price it is a steal compared with the UE9 in my opinion even though I plan on keeping both.