Looking for portable amp setup to help iPod classic 7G

[freija]

Hi! I'm getting a new portable music player next week, it being my birthday and my old Sony 20GB just being totally swamped. I finally decided to go with the current iPod Classic - I know, there are a lot of reasons not to, but my budget is £300 total, I need at least 80GB of storage space and I decided I just can't cope with all the issues that the Cowon x7 has. So iPod Classic it is.

But - to get to the point! - I am worried about the sound quality. I already have fairly good IEMs (Westone UM1) and I'll probably switch over to Apple Lossless, so I think the next thing to do would be to use line out and a portable headphone amp? I've heard that Apple SQ from the headphone jack just isn't good, but I've also heard that taking raw signal from the line out to an external, better amp can go some way to resolving this?

The problem is, I really don't know much about this! My UM1s are quite low impedance (25 Ohms) and quite sensitive (114Db), and I've heard that this can cause some amps to crackle?

My budget for a portable amp would be about £100. Could you possibly please recommend me something that would work with my setup and meet my budget? I'd be hugely grateful - I've been researching this all evening and feel I've come to a halt!

One other question, too - if I want to use a portable headphone amp with the Classic, how would I connect it up? I saw this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/FiiO-L3-Line...d_bxgy_e_img_b

and thought that I could just plug one end into the iPod line out and the other end into the dock. Is this right? I've also heard people talking about connecting their iPod to a portable dock, which is *then* connected to the amp, but would I need to do this (or is it the same process but worded differently)?

Please help?

[RobinHiFi]

These two should sound great in-between your new iPod classic and your UM1!


iBasso CB07 High Purity Line Out Cable for iPod & iPhone Black
£32.00
+
FiiO E11 Headphone Amplifier in Black (E-11)
£40.00

Remember not all cables are equal, a cable can make a hell of a difference!