torx, of course a square wave throws off an amp like one on an iPod or probably most other portable devices. They're not really made to reproduce that. Square waves don't occur naturally. Well, as someone who listens to real electronic music (read: not dance), I should say they exist in some types of electronic music, but nothing that's recorded.

Anyway, you're judging things through a screen again: whatever set of headphones you used. You have no way of knowing where the inaccuracies were produced without doing exclusive testing.


I'm having trouble imagining a standard that would call any MP3 player's frequency response flat. What do you mean by "china-made imitation" anywhere? Everything, even the iPod (why people consider it some holy grail, I have no idea), is made in China.

High frequency noise is inherent in any amp and comes from a few things; an underpowered amp is not one of them. Are you just talking about how you have to jack up the volume to a much higher level than you would with an amp that matches your speakers? Raising the volume on any amp will increase the noise floor. The essential relationship between an amplifier and its speaker is impedance (ohms). An amp's power or lack thereof isn't so important, and watt ratings in consumer products are neither significant nor even close to accurate.