ALO Audio along with a handful of other companies has been leading the charge on portable audio amplification. Their product lineup includes one of the largest and varied sections of both tube and solid-state portable headphone amplifiers. Sitting atop the mobile offerings is the ALO flagship Rx Mk3-b ($650). Offering both balanced and single-ended inputs and outputs, this battery-powered headphone amplifier is a reminder that head fi audio is slowly adapting the same principals as audiophile loudspeaker components. While close competitor Ray Samuels and budget brand Fiio provide even more illumination to the landscape, ALO pushes the performance (and price) of portable even further north with the Mk3 over previous amplifier-only incarnations. Even more recent than the Mk3, a new wave of amp+dac combinations is sweeping the countryside with the promise of everything you need for desktop listening in a compact package. This new arrangement however, doesn’t allow for the versatility that accompanies the Mk3. As I’m sure you know if you are reading this review, that DAC technologies and improvements are moving at a much faster clip than the rest of HiFi audio, especially in the portable realm. For the purpose of this endeavor, I paired the Mk3 with a wide variety of sources in an attempt to deliver the fullest viewpoint of applications. On both the giving and receiving ends the Mk3 is quite a flexible device.
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I've been using IEM earphones for about ten years and custom IEMs since 2005. I started with a pair of Etymotic ER-4Ps. These earphones were great for iPods back in the day and remain on my shelf of earphones that I use once in awhile. The Achilles heel of the Etymotics is the uncomfortable foam tips required for a good in-ear seal. Another less than stellar element of the ER-4P is the cord. First it protrudes from the ear in a way that prohibits resting one’s head on a pillow of any type. Second the cord acts like a microphone picking up every brush against one’s clothes and passing the noise right into the ear canal. After a couple years with the ER-4Ps I moved to Ultimate Ears 11 Pro custom earphones. The fit of the UE 11 Pro was excellent, but the sound was a bit bass heavy. I lived with the UE 11 Pro until February 2013 when I received a pair of JH Audio JH13 Pro customs with the new Freqphase technology. The JH13 earphones are so much better than the UE 11 Pro I can’t believe I hung on to the 11s for so many years. I’d heard from friends and colleges that the JH Audio products were excellent, but for some reason I held on to what was familiar for far too long. Now, I’m on a thirteen hour flight to Seoul, Korea 
enjoying every bit of the 26 dB passive noise suppression of the JH13 Pros and the sound of my favorite music like I’ve never heard it before on an airplane.
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I heard about the Astell & Kern AK100 portable music player from iriver a few months ago and was impressed by its appearance online. The player looks really nice compared to almost every other player available including many mobile phones. Shortly after perusing the Astell & Kern website I moved on to other items of the day and completely forgot about the player. Fortunately iRiver contacted me a couple weeks ago offering the Astell & Kern player for review. I happily accepted. Since its arrival I've been like a little kid who received the latest game console for the holidays. I can't stop listening to my favorite music through the Astell & Kern AK100. The sound is so much better than my iPhone 5 that I really can't go back to such an unresolving and muddy sounding device. I'm rarely this excited about a new audio component. My excitement reminds me of the times when I've purchased a new component or pair of speakers and I couldn't stop listening to all of my favorite tracks just to hear them in a new way. I'm absolutely hooked on the Astell & Kern AK100 and I couldn't be more thrilled.
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