Kickstarter project UAMP got my attention. This little portable amplifier seems to bring something easy and powerful to the mobile audio listening…
Uamp is a link between your music player and your headphones. It’s a tiny amplifier which can produce the kind of premium quality audio that you expect from hi-end audio equipment used by audiophiles and sound producers. An amplifier magnifies an audio signal which is then emitted by a loudspeaker, or in this case, your headphones. An amplifier can be built into a device, such as an iPhone, or it can be an external unit. If you’re using a weak amplifier, as you turn the volume up the sound will become more distorted, but a good quality amplifier can produce clean, beautiful sound at the same high volume. This is the high-fidelity sound that Uamp provides.
Our smartphones and other portable music devices are great at storing thousands of songs, but great quality audio has been abandoned in favor of cheap, inferior output. Unfortunately, the manufacturers of portable music players are restricted by size and cost limitations, so built-in amps in portable devices are usually the smallest and cheapest units available, whilst still meeting minimum requirements. However, if you’ve listened to music through hi-fi audio equipment, you’ll know that it is clearer, louder, richer-sounding music with a superior bass – a rewarding auditory experience which is unfortunately expensive, too large to be portable, and not readily available to the average music listener.
How to operate the EQ settings
Uamp is designed with EQ in order for you to customise your audio and find the sound that suits you best. EQ, or equalizer, allows you to adjust the levels of frequency bands such as bass and treble in your audio.
• Bass = RED
• Bass + Treble = BLUE
• Streaming EQ* = ORANGE
• NO EQ = GREEN
• Custom EQ = PURPLE (Yes, you can set your own EQ!)