I tested the Simpl A1 with both Bose Triport headphones and a pair of Sony MDR-V700DJs, heavy duty headphones designed for DJs. The iPod alone had enough power to drive the headphone at a reasonable, although far from loud, volume. At that same moderate volume range, the Simpl A1 delivered a livelier, more sparkling sound. There was no noticeable difference in the quality of the bass or the separation between the various frequency ranges at this lower volume.
The Simpl A1 really shone, though, when I pushed the volume above a level that the iPod alone could produce. The Sony headphones can handle a lot of power, and the Simpl A1 was able to drive the DJ headphones to levels that were near-deafening with crystal clear sound and not a hint of distortion. As I listened to the bass line of Michael Jackson’s “Billy Jean” pounding through the headphones, I thought that the Simpl A1 would be perfect at a loud dance club if you preferred the tunes on your iPod to those selected by the DJ.
The Simpl A1 also significantly boosts the performance of noise canceling headphones. Several years ago I bought a pair of Sennheiser HDC 451 noise canceling headphones, but rarely used them because my iPod couldn’t produce enough volume for me to hear my music over the roar of an airplane. The Simpl A1 solved that problem. With the headphone amplifier I could clearly hear my tunes while thousands of feet in the air. To really put the amplifier to the test, I listened to a recording by Roswell Rudd, an avant-garde jazz trombonist, on the CIMP label. The label insists on recording without compression, which preserves the full dynamic range of the performance but means that the sound level on average is much lower than a typical recording. Amazingly, I could hear, even with the roar of the airplane around me, every member of Rudd’s trio with the boost in volume provided by the Simpl A1.
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
very nice Todd, thanks!
2 - Aaman
Here is the ASIN for the product - B0006ZL33W
Yr link for purchase does not work, and should be replaced with the Amazon ASIN, methinks
Coming to the product itself - audiophiles are not driven by volume or amplitude for musical appreciation. Distortion, or rather the lack of it, is more important, IMHO. This product will probably increase distortion - although I might be wrong - your review seems to indicate otherwise.
For a good listening experience, I would recommend listening to music on a well-equipped amp/speaker system rather than on an iPod/headphone:)
Nice detailed review - ty
3 - Eric Olsen
the link works fine as far as I can tell - takes me to MacMall - this begins a new affiliation for us for some electronics - no Amazon on Mac/PCMall product reviews
4 - Todd A. Price
This is part of new collaboration between PCMall and Blogcritics. That's why I didn't use Amazon links.
All the links work for me. Just tested them. Odd.
If your headphone can handle the power, then there is no distortion at even very loud volumes.
5 - Eric Olsen
hmm, there's an echo
6 - Temple Stark
So Todd works for ... Or did he just know sometihng about the new affiliate program that we all didn't.
On the product - how tinny are the headphones.
Do you all want to go deaf? Or is it really needed.
7 - Eric Olsen
the announcement was made in the Yahoo Group and products made available for review - moe will follow now that we finally have the kinks worked out
8 - Mark Saleski
Distortion, or rather the lack of it, is more important, IMHO
except in the case of single-ended triode, low-power amps....where some distortion is a good thing.
9 - Todd A. Price
This amp would quickly blow out the supplied earbuds. If you use bigger headphones, the iPod does have enough power to drive them.
I suppose you could use this to go deaf, if you really wanted.
10 - jonmac
Here's a very detailed review using good quality buds
11 - Dennis Downs
Most of you do not know why an amp is needed.
And it is not to blow out your ears!
If you ride a motorcycle and want to put headphones inside your helment, the ipod does NOT have near enough power to drive high quality speakers.
Even at full volume and the motorcycle engine OFF you can barely hear them!
And those ear bud speakers will have your ears hurting sooner than later inside a helment!