But today I walked by a retailer I sometimes frequent, and boy was it a big mistake  I found they were showing the Bitzie and I could have a listen, as I already had my Shure SE846 in-ear phones with me. So I connected up everything and WOW - my SE846's were like a new pair of headphones and my immediate gut feel was, "this is what I have been missing". The SE846 are US$1k earphones and I care about my music seriously. I do 45-minute (each way) commutes in the noisy subways in Hong Kong and I want some peace along with my favourite music on my travels. The SE846 are touted to be "subwoofers in your ears" but with the cheesy built-in jack of your average iPhone and iPod's, these don't do them justice. You can certainly play loudly with them but these phones are surprisingly power-hungry for a sensitive IEM and loudness does not equal good quality, nor control.

Enter the Bitzie and I was finally able to realize what "subwoofers in your ears" are all about. I am pleasantly surprised that you don't need more than the built-in battery of your iPad (with the camera connector) to drive the Bitzie. The power, control, bass and treble extension, sound stage and smoothness all took a significant upgrade over the headphone jack from the iPhone/iPod, even over another portable DAC/amp combo I shall not mention. Right there and then I dropped my deposit and will take home a brand new Bitzie tomorrow.

After all those debates as to whether it is truly necessary to have all the latest bells and whistles I think the man is right. It is the final result that counts. What percentage of your entire music library is "hi-res" and "DXD" anyway? At the current state of affairs, it isn't even easy to get true "DXD" audio format music anyway, so why is everybody suddenly jumping on the DXD bandwagon? Enough with the rant, but I think I've just found a gem with the Bitzie.