In my most recent Tech Therapist column at Esquire.com I wrote about getting the best sound quality possible from your iPod-mandatory reading for real music lovers, if you don't already know the answers yourself. I certainly didn't when I started researching the thing. One sweet piece of gear I came across that is pretty bad-ass is an external amp for your iPod that beefs up its output, delivering a fatter, more complex signal that's big enough to fill up high-end headphones like these Grado SR-80s. I'm flying back to New York today and I'm gonna take the combo on the road, see how cumbersome and unwieldy my iPod/headphones array is with the HeadRoom Total Airhead Amp added in, but the jump up in sound virtue and booming bass is so phenomenal I'm thinking it'll be worth it. Grandma sitting next to me may not agree.
