Another way to spend money

The Micro Line - HeadRoom - Right Between Your Ears

For those of you who don't know, I am a mini-audiophile. While I don't go as far as only buying my music on CD in order to be able to rip at the highest bitrate or at a lossless compression level, I do have good sound equipment.

Ignoring the fact that I am a devout iPod user, I have two pairs of expensive headphones. My desktop has a pair of Sennheiser HD 545 cans plugged into them when I don't need to share music with anyone. My iPod is always driving a pair of Shure E4 Pro IEMs (In-Ear Monitors). I also have my Klipsch 4.1 speaker system, but that is sitting at my dad's because I don't have the room for them here at school.

The point is that I have invested in great headphones. That means I am always looking for a way to up the quality of my listening experience, especially on my laptop since I use it for music listening and DVD watching. I have realized that the best way to go about this is to spring from an amp for some time. And I finally decided on one.

The reason I chose the Micro is because they are not extremely extravagant in terms of price while still being top notch. While the HeadRoom Desktop amp is the best option, at $600 *just* for the amp it is just too much since the DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter) is another $300. The Total Bithead would serve my need of iPod amp for when I am at work (looks like I will intern at Google again this summer) and as an amp for my PowerBook along with having good battery life. But the Total Bithead just does not have the quality level as the Micro. And with the Micro having another power adapter at only $40 I can have a power adapter at both work and home and have the battery life only be an issue on trips.

Now I just need the money to buy the Micro and its DAC. =) This is what I get for having parents that have always said to buy the best you can afford as long as the price is worth the improvement in equipment.