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Are there any (good) points in creating a gigantic "portable amp"?

nyxnyxnyx

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Somewhere between this year and last year, I encountered several topics and discussions about creating a "more complete" version of Lithium-powered amplifiers. I don't remember the details but some people were making their own versions and debated that the shortcomings of those smaller portable amps might come from issues like size limit, lack of proper power supply and when it is powered by battery the amp will be cleaner (?).

Obviously, nowadays in the market, there are portable amps that have enough juice to drive a variety of transducers to a satisfying level - namely something like iDSD, Hugo 2, and more. But I'm talking about "portable" amplifiers that will be as big as some desktop amplifiers or even wilder - I even did see a prototype of one that looked as big as my friend's Cayin-iHA6.

Are there any scientific reasons for this or it is just something like a fun goal to achieve between DIY-ers? The only slight connection I found that supports this trend is the fact that over the years several "flagship" DAPs have gotten bigger, weightier, and clunkier. It would be very interesting to hear an answer from people who make their own amplifiers here.

Sorry if this question didn't warrant creating a thread for itself, but I looked and there is no "general question" thread that I can come and ask.
 
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nyxnyxnyx

nyxnyxnyx

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When it comes to crazy things the ingenuity of humans is unbeatable. So who knows?
I think the same but since I've heard the reasons from their side I wish I can hear some counterargument from people who are well versed in this too.
 

tomtoo

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I think the same but since I've heard the reasons from their side I wish I can hear some counterargument from people who are well versed in this too.

Iam not a expert first, sure there are some portable PA's with accus. But that makes only sense for very small acts. As it gets bigger your accus get the same hard to transport than a portable generator. Thats than the point where açcus make no sense any more.
Btw. Whats the reasoning from there side?
Edit says: Maybe in some special cases? Who knows?
 
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nyxnyxnyx

nyxnyxnyx

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Iam not a expert first, sure there are some portable PA's with accus. But that makes only sense for very small acts. As it gets bigger your accus get the same hard to transport than a portable generator. Thats than the point where açcus make no sense any more.
Btw. Whats the reasoning from there side?
Edit says: Maybe in some special cases? Who knows?

It's been some time so I can't remember word-for-word but through a quick banter, I discovered that the main points were most portable amplifiers (if not all) can't run very demanding headphones to great satisfaction - mainly because of limited current, limited size, a shortcoming of "better components" in those products. I vividly remember other things like since it's battery-operated it should be very clean, doesn't have to do much with humming/buzzing, no need to worry about PSRR and such....

While I find it very interesting, I think the first and foremost reason no audio brands build it is that it might be very costly and like all of us can imagine, it's not that "portable" anymore if it is as big as desktop amplifiers while having no guarantee it will sound better, plus higher capacity battery might make recharge time longer, etc....
A slight discussion with another DIY-er in my local area said that portable devices like A&K Kann Cube is a suggestive point that more and more "portable devices" need to be bigger so they can deliver more current/voltage and run well with many different loads (both headphones&iems).

So indeed I want to verify if this ideology is correct or just an overstatement, and when it comes to technology & science I think ASR is one of the best forums one can ask.
 

tomtoo

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It's been some time so I can't remember word-for-word but through a quick banter, I discovered that the main points were most portable amplifiers (if not all) can't run very demanding headphones to great satisfaction - mainly because of limited current, limited size, a shortcoming of "better components" in those products. I vividly remember other things like since it's battery-operated it should be very clean, doesn't have to do much with humming/buzzing, no need to worry about PSRR and such....

While I find it very interesting, I think the first and foremost reason no audio brands build it is that it might be very costly and like all of us can imagine, it's not that "portable" anymore if it is as big as desktop amplifiers while having no guarantee it will sound better, plus higher capacity battery might make recharge time longer, etc....
A slight discussion with another DIY-er in my local area said that portable devices like A&K Kann Cube is a suggestive point that more and more "portable devices" need to be bigger so they can deliver more current/voltage and run well with many different loads (both headphones&iems).

So indeed I want to verify if this ideology is correct or just an overstatement, and when it comes to technology & science I think ASR is one of the best forums one can ask.

Ah ok now i see. Complete different direction i thought.
Portable Headphone amps.

A powerfull portabel headphone amp has not to be bigger than a bigpack of ciggarets where you can take half of the room for the accus.
I dont see a reoson to make them bigger.
Thats just engineering and what market for.
For portability you want it small. But todays technology has no problems to fit a device like this in a small package. Look at the dongle tests in here, some of them can deliver not to bad in very small cases. Its realy more a decision what to engineer for what market.
 
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nyxnyxnyx

nyxnyxnyx

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Ah ok now i see. Complete different direction i thought.
Portable Headphone amps.

A powerfull portabel headphone amp has not to be bigger than a bigpack of ciggarets where you can take half of the room for the accus.
I dont see a reoson to make them bigger.
Thats just engineering and what market for.
For portability you want it small. But todays technology has no problems to fit a device like this in a small package. Look at the dongle tests in here, some of them can deliver not to bad in very small cases. Its realy more a decision what to engineer for what market.
Indeed nowadays there are many tiny portable products that can deliver great result to some extent, I guess what those guys want is on another level, both about size, power.... In short, I think they're really aiming for top-of-the-line results, where a battery-operated amplifier can handle all loads and sound just as awesome as desktop counterparts.
I can see the appeal of products like that tbh, and at the moment there are already well-received products (at least in some parts of the community) in that category like DMP-1Z, QLS QA390, Cayin N9, and more.... They appear to be products that aim to do what their previous products couldn't do, at least that's the narrative. I have no problem with it but maybe the term they should use is "semi-portable" instead.

My first or second portable amplifier was a very tiny amp called Pico Slim, it's as small as you can think, it sounded good with my iems and it was released like a decade ago. So I guess for real portable amplifiers, we already have many contenders we can happily choose from.
 

tomtoo

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This things are huge. I dont see a big market for things like this. Korg tubes in a portable headphone amp for that tubi sound? To be honest like i sayed
When it comes to crazy things the ingenuity of humans is unbeatable.
 
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