radioactive28

sell The thread actually went stagnant? o.o

You probably can't get any local warranty, but if all the reports of good customer service are true, Shure USA should give you your RMA. The jack has a serial number that'll help them ID the batch and date of production.

Just in case anyone is interested. I am 2/4/8GB flavours for both at pretty reasonable prices.

x2 On the more practical side, effects of poor encoding and quality get amplified along the chain, and become very obvious if you get very good ear/headphones.

Adding on to Shiro's points, let's take a look at the chain: files -> player -> earphones (I leave out amp and IC for obvious reasons: they have very little to offer for pop/rock besides giving you the ability to destroy your hearing) (highest priority) - files: rip from CD to higher bitrate. If you don't already have the CDs, this is where the money should be going. If you get CDs and the music still sounds bad, blame the mastering engineer of your favourite band. (lowest priority) - player: iriver players are some of the best portables you can get, period. If they're the bottleneck at this point, well... I'm not even going into this. (depends on files, may not even be necessary) - earphones: the CK7 are pretty good stuff, fairly detailed as far as I've tried. If they're still not detailed enough, you might want to go for the Etymotic ER6 or ER4S. They are more than detailed enough for most, and you won't have to bleed your wallet out.

What do you mean by 'chaotic'? Resolution is poor, can't hear details? Any details regarding your DAP and bitrates?

Tuesday Notice that TGR, dle4e_2005 and I posted about the same time

study

golf dle4e_2005 thought totoro is food, but I think he was refering to taro. Can we spawn a sub-thread for every word that pops up in this thread, in keeping with the spirit? Moderator's nightmare

worm dle4e_2005: you mean taro?

The one good thing about it is expanded stereo, but at the cost of accuracy. Like Dolby processing, it emphaises the parts of sound that people pay more attention to: high-bass to low-treble. Plus the already-mentioned time-delay effect (this affects music most: you can throw attack and decay out the window). I think I can live with it while travelling and listening on IEMs (having extremely narrow staging).

While I haven't heard it, you might want to wait a bit for the next incarnation of the Sony MP3 Walkman if you intend to buy one. Sony has already taken the first step to UMS devices by dropping ATRAC and the use of (the user-unfriendly) SonicStage on the upcoming B100.

Woah. I have the black album though. Guess I'm not big enough a fan Hmm, CDJapan carried singles dating back to 1995, but this is 1991.

I believe they're using AKG cans? The amps they use are probably commercially available, you should be able to ask the sales people if they know the maker and model. It's quite difficult to say for sure they're using OPA6*7 though, especially if the design is likely to be multi-stage.

You have a good point there. Instant gratification? Listening to an OEM pair of EP630s burn in was one of the more interesting transitions that I've actually heard. Hearing the shrill treble tame, the nice light bass bloating and the vocals coming forward over the period of a week On the other hand, the only 'burn-in' I've heard on my e4c is when I switch between treble-boost and none every other month. It goes like: (boost) too bright -> just nice -> (no boost) too bassy -> just nice -> (boost) too bright -> ...

I believe the mods have stated before, they have nothing personal against Wilson/Jaben, and despite the incident (you can still read a little bit of it stickied at the top of the Lounge), I feel there's no reason to doubt them on that. Sure, some members left hostile and bitter, but the way it seems to me, people just go on with their lives. As long as the thread doesn't degrade into a flame war, it'll still be around. Thumbs up to great service for enthusiasts by enthusiasts

Head-fi seemed to have some pretty good things to say about this. One downside though, there's no line-out, but reportedly no hiss with IEMs. Dang, I really want the Eva one now.

The pre-amp/power amp DAP! I wanted the limited Evangelion version, but too bad they're not in stock anymore. Looks quite slick, the interface. Eager to hear a review on the SQ

WT*? Is that guy the transport mini-star that we're keeping alive?

Nope, the Shure sleeves fit those with a narrow sound tube, like Westone and Ety. For the universal UEs, your options are limited to the UE foamies or custom eartips, because the sound tube is quite damn large.

Try using a multimeter to measure it? I know the Shure attenuator can go up to about 1 kilo-ohm. I use it to suppress the bass response of my e4c.

What model is it anyway?

Well, since you're new to this and we are on this topic, let me throw you off: Burning-in of balanced armature IEMs (like the Aurvana) is very much a topic of contention. Proponents hear what they want, opponents do not hear what they do not want; sound and hearing being so subjective, it's almost impossible to say who's right or wrong about it. Ditto for IEMs requiring an amp (unless you're using the amp to effect EQ). Make a trip down, try out the equipment on your player, and decide if the difference you hear justifies shelling out the extra cash and reducing the portability. If you decide to get the Aurvana or have already done so, adding some inline impedance should tighten up the muddy (IMO) bass somewhat and improve clarity.

AudioCubes.com has a few review. Seems they're not bad, but nothing spectacular besides having insufficient bass volume. Looks pretty tempting now.

Well, AT's been going for trends in their recent consumer line-up. Certainly hope they have the stuff to back it up, instead of the run-of-the-mill muffled POS, even if it's just 30 bucks. So, as they say: anyone willing to take one for the team?