scanfiend

There's a nice debate about this topic going on in the headfi forums: http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=191708 Predictably, there are 2 camps I use EQ when I have to, to compensate for the idiosyncracies in my playback equipment, and also to the listening environment. For those who use the "original as the studio mastered music" argument, how in the world would you know what "original" sounds like if you're not present during the recording session? After all, you're not playing back the music on the original equipment used for the mixing. And for folks who play music off MP3 players through headphones.....the music is no longer "original" due to compression (assuming lossy mp3). And I read almost all studio mixing is done through HQ studio monitors, not headphones. And we all know headphones's sonic signature vary all over the spectrum

With a 2.4" screen, I would think that video playback would be more of a gimmick rather than a serious PMP. Short music videos and stuff should be fine....I don't think watching a movie on that screen is going to be practical

I happen to think you're right, Zephyron. After all, would you be staring at that fancy battery-robbing colour screen EVERY TIME you play your music? Name me anyone who does that. More often than not, the player goes into the pocket, pouch, bag or whatever and you'll never pull it out again until you need to switch it off And anyway, the screen switches itself off automatically after some set interval, and you can't even see what's playing without activating the screen again. I would rather pay more for a player that can support more audio formats, offer great sound quality and battery life than a fancy colour screen anytime. Unfortunately, I am in the minority. Alas, vanilla monochrome mp3 players do not sell in the consumer market place - and that's a fact. Review sites like CNET, DAPreview lists non-colour screens as a prominent "CON" (as opposed to PRO) in in their reviews. With colour screened players only slightly more expensive than a regular b&w player, guess what player would Joe Regular buy? It's the same phenomenon in mobile phones....you can hardly find monochrome phones anymore.

http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=EAC I followed this guide and it worked great.

This is most enlightening. CD being a digital medium, should all sound the same, since it's bit for bit accurate. What you're saying is the sound for the same album varies by country of origin. Now I know why some Japanese albums are so much more expensive than the "regular" ones. The costs go toward the remastering process, I would assume? Incidentally, there are some CD's that sound really terrible.....I recently listened to Madonna's "Confessions of a dance floor" album. Man, the highs on the song "Hung Up" were so harsh that it made me wince and gave me a headache. Does anyone have the same impression I have?

I know what you mean. The PX200 was supposed to be "noise-muffling" headphones. It tries to be a closed headphone, but because the earpiece does not cover your whole ear, it's hit & miss. If you don't get a good seal, you don't get good sound, period. I prefer the PX100 myself, though the bass can be a tad overwhelming. I was using the PX200 for my commuting on the MRT until I discovered IEM's The problem with the SR80 is that it leaks sound like crazy, and it doesn't isolate at all. So in noisy enviroments, you tend to turn the volume up to dangerous levels in order to hear anything.

Nicely put. There would be no better test than to actually hear good bass along with your music. I'm not talking about boomy, muddy, flabby bass you sometimes get with el cheapo "multimedia" 2.1 speakers. I guarantee you that you'll be able to hear the difference. You'll just know. The difference will be night and day I must also hasten to add that this is not a put-down of the nEar 04 speakers....after all, I did buy a pair after listening to them! The transparency and clarity of sound it produces were fantastic for its size - you just have to be aware of its limitations. I love it for guitar and female vocal recordings.

A proper subwoofer simply plays the lower frequencies that's already within the signal. There should be no "artificial" bass. The frequencies were already IN the music. How well it interacts with the monitors depend on the crossover circuits within the subwoofer, so proper tuning is critical. We're talking about a proper subwoofer here, it's an optional extra. The nEar series of monitors do not need it, but I feel they may benefit with certain genres of music. I sure would like to audition the SW-10K together with the nEar 04 / 05 Just as a point of illustration, in order to get deep, throbbing, chest-thumping bass on my nEar 04, I had to play the music LOUD....too loud to be comfortable, especially if I'm only sitting 3-5 feet away I'm guessing that with the SW-10K, I can get the same bass at saner volumes

A subwoofer doesn't simply makes "boom, boom, boom" An audio enginner doesn't simply mix the music without adding in bass. Bass adds the needed weight and body and balances out the sound. Without adequate bass, the sound just comes out thin and screechy. Let's face it....the nEar 04, despite producing exceptional sound, just isn't going to be moving enough air in those small enclosures to generate sufficient bass. That's basic physics. The nEar 04 was designed for portability, so some compromises were made. A paired subwoofer (designed for the nEar series) that's properly tuned would fill up the missing sonic info nicely. Different drivers for different frequencies. That's why, generally speaking, dual driver systems sound better than single driver ones. Same principle applies for 2.1 systems with subwoofers. Also why a dual driver UM2 sounds so much better than a single driver UM1 I agree, floor standing speaker units are best, but not everyone has the room for them. And did you all see how many driver units they have in some of them?

Nice pics of the rather cluttered shop of Wilson's, Top-Gun I'm glad you enjoyed the nEar 04. It really does produce amazing sound for such small enclosures. A point of puzzlement though. Wilson told me the nEar 04's speaker cones are made from Kevlar (same for the Near 05). A check on ESI-Pro's web site stated that the nEar 04's are made from polypropylene (some kind of plastic, I assume). Only the nEar 05's speaker cones are made from Kevlar. Maybe ESI had not updated their site?

Go with your ears then I tried the ETY.....while the sound was very detailed, it just did not engage me musically. It sounded very clinical.

Some folks in Headfi.org reported that the UM1 really improved with amping. Do you have an amp to try this on?

I think the main purpose here is hygiene, because with IEM's you're sticking it pretty deep into the ear canal. I've seen complies that look absolutely filthy....with GREEN stuff on it Can't imagine sticking them into your ear I think the steps detailed by Zephyron refer to the yellow foamies....they look and feel like sponges, and can probably stand up to the soaking and microwaving. Can they work on the comply tips? Their feel & consistency make them more like rubber than sponges. They look like they may disintegrate when you soak them

Get some hydrogen peroxide and let the foamies be dipped in it for a while (eg 5min-15min), take it out, rinse thoroughly with water, and dip it in again for another time for the same duration, then take it out again, rinse thoroughly again and then place it in a mocrowave oven and bake it. This is what I gather from the foamie users over at HF. HMM ... why hydrogen peroxide ? It's a strong disinfectant. Though I don't think it would work too well with comply tips

Yeah, as Top-Gun said The nEar series are Near Field monitors...so they are designed to be listened up close....typically no more than 3-5 feet away. So they're perfect as computer speakers....at least for me. That's not to say that they cannot be cranked up LOUD. They can be. If you want a step up, you can try the nEar05 or nEar06.....which has a SEPARATE amplifier in each speaker. The nEar04 has only 1 amp....the other speaker is passive.

Well, just an update on the bass of the nEar04 after a few days of listening. I was using Foobar2000 to play back various lame encoded MP3's (VBR High Quality preset). At first blush, the bass was there....it's just not "in-your-face". The bass was tight, clean & controlled, not bloated or muddy. Clarity was this speaker's strong point. Well, I thought this was probably the best I could achieve for a pair of speakers without a subwoofer. Then I decided to download some EQ settings for Foobar2000 here: http://sjeng.org/foobar2000.html (I couldn't set decent EQ settings worth a sh*t ) Holy cow, I finally got the bass that rumbled and vibrated the computer table and shook my teeth when I listened too close! OK, the teeth part was an exaggeration It was still tight, but not boomy. More importantly, it had PRESENCE. Great, great improvement.....who would have thought? Never knew what this babies are capable of. The capabilities were there.....you just have to find a way to drive them properly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SACD Says here that SACD uses a different encryption from normal "Copy Controlled" audio CD's. I don't think you can use EAC then to rip or copy a SACD?

1. Did you use the proper AV cable? 2. Did you use the AV out via the dongle? 3. Check whether you plugged the RCA jacks into the correct jack on the TV - don't mix up the video for the sound-in or vice versa 3. Check the output signal....NTSC or PAL. Singapore uses PAL I don't have the AV cable, so I couldn't test

Yeah....the stupid wired volume control thing. I keep getting intermittent sound cutout on one speaker....had to whack the wired control a bit to get the sound back again Opened it up, and cleaned the connections, but still it persisted....which was why I was looking at other speakers

Here's an interesting article I found: http://emusician.com/speakers/emusic_good_references/ Monitors are designed to produce accurate sound as opposed to pleasing sound....so it may not suitable for all types of music. My nEar 04's sound really great for guitar, instrumental and vocal recordings, where you can really HEAR the details that may be masked by other more bass heavy speakers. And to answer your question afbug, I plugged in the nEar 04 to the line-out of my Soundblaster Audigy, and the bass wasn't very strong at all, especially compared to my 10yr old Cambridge Soundworks (2 small satellites with sub - sounds awesome for its size & time, and still do ) I dare say the sound can be "improved" further if I run the EAX "effects", but I refuse to install any Creative software other than the drivers If you need more "oomph", ESI-Pro also sells a stand-alone subwoofer, which should considerably boost the low frequency response.

hmmm....how much did you pay for it? My friend bought one from Funan...$120 for the 2GB model. While it looked decent enough (IPod Nano knockoff heh), I was not impressed with the screen and the sound quality. The headphone jack is a non-standard 2.5mm, so you have to use an adapter for the headphones. With the adapter, the sound quality suffered further!

Yeah, Li-ion batteries do not like it when it's fully drained....it could kill the battery. Having said that, most devices that use Li-ion should have some kind of circuit that cuts the power before the battery is totally dry, just to prevent this sort of thing happening. Dunno if the amp has it

I guess the headphone jack is the only way to amp....for the ZVM, at least. The AV "line-out" is meant for powered speakers, that's what it says on the instructions manual. It MAY work on other amps, but it certainly overwhelmed the 2 I had In fact, in the Xenos manual, it asked you to adjust the DAP volume to 1/2 loudness, and then use the volume knob on the amp to adjust the volume to your liking. However, if you read my earlier thread on my impressions on the Xenos, it worked very well indeed from the headphone jack.

Well, if you're purely looking at storage capacity, it's a bo brainer (20gb vs 5 gb ) Anyway, I bought the Zen 20gb to replace the Iriver H10. Although the H10 looked sleek and gorgeous, and comes with a colour screen, it's the sound quality of the Zen that won me over. After all, you're not going to be looking at the screen all the time, right? Anyway, audition the 2 and see which player's sound signature you like.

Saw an ad in the HWZ magazine that Sennheiser has a CX300 line with different adapters for various handphone models. It sure looks interesting