[David C]

I own the 9Vse mono amps and the P 9 pre amp. For my 19 yo sons birthday I wanted to get him a system to use with his i pod. I dont have an i pod and wondered what is best. ICON???? or something else. I dont know much about desktop music systems.

Any suggestions would be appreciated

thanks
David

[eclein]

David-are you talking whole shottin match?? Speakers,amp etc..? Budget? ipods have so many options nowadays...

[ctviggen]

Another option is a nice headphone amp and nice headphones.  As with everything, the sky is the limit with price, though. 

I'm using a tube based headphone amp and Grado SR60 headphones and this rivals my much, much, much more expensive two channel system.  I've used it with both the iPod and Squeezebox.  The SB is better, as the music is uncompressed, and my music on the iPod is very compressed.  But the amp really improved the music on the iPod, too.

[ted_b]

You used the term "desktop music system".  If he's mostly using it for desktop then the Audio Engine 5 speakers I use on my pc desktop (and my main rig is hi-end so I'm comparing to something very resolving, powerful and "audiophile") are incredible.  They are powered with a very clean internal amp, have iPod friendly line inputs and USB charging ports on the top and back of the left speaker, etc.  They have incredible sound and somewhat portable (i.e put them in their box and take to the deck, a party, etc.)  they sell for $349, a steal IMHO.  AE also makes and sells a wireless ipod adapter if hooking them via wired is too "yesterday".




http://audioengineusa.com/Store/Audioengine-5#overview


or for a little more money the Nuforce ICON and their S-X speakers is a nice combo too. 





http://www.nuforce.com/hp/products/icon/index.php

[David C]

thanks Ted Bob and Eclein
I would like to keep the budget under $500. I will have a look at the Nuforce suggestions and the speaker suggestion shown in the photo. That is the knd of set-up I envisioned. I looked at the B&W Zepplin and it seemed ok but pricy and I think you pay alot for the name

[eclein]

David...Audioengine and itunes gift card for the balance...priceless!! LOL

[decal]

The best upgrade would be to start downloading lossless files instead of mp3's but ya'll may already be doing that.That Audioengine set up looks kinda neat,I've heard the A-5's(I think that's the model),they sounded pretty darn good.Good luck.