Navyblue

In the practical sense, "semi open" is as good as open.

Dim sum.

Hmm, interesting, but have yet to get an amp.

Some old pre amp get be gotten about $100+ second hand, some have decent headphone section. If you have a speaker amp at home, you can DIY an adapter to scale down the power of the speaker output.

If your amp is upto it, get the 600 ohms version, smoother sounding IMO.

Among the stated choices DT880 is probably the best, and you probably know where to get them already which comes with an amp with your budget. But that is, if you like the sound of it. I personally can't stand the treble. But for portable an open phone is not a good idea.

Green

I find my Sony EX82 (the bundle version of EX85) very good for it's price. But since I soon replaced it with my ER-4P, I might be selling mine if the price is right, you could replace the tip with Comply tips from Jaben which is really comfortable.

Field

Red card

When one is obsessed with anything (be it hobbies, woman, gambling and etc), all expendable money will be poured there and there is no such thing such as extra money. It is trying to quench an unsatisfiable thirst by dumping money in a black hole. To me that is my definition of obsession, you might have a different definition. But the sort of obsession I am talking about wouldn't do anyone good. But if you can buy something and enjoy it and be satisfied with it, by all means. This I would consider an improvement to quality of life.

I agree with going 320 kbps or even lossless. No point buying expensive gears and feed it with crap.

I like the comply foam for my EX82 (all Sony uses the same tips). Jaben has it.

It's the perceived volume (SPL at eardrum) that kills hearing, not distance. It doesn't matter if it is IEM in your ears or loudspeakers 100 meters away in a concert hall.

IMO, good isolation is critical for portable listening. Without which the best headphone would sound crappy in a bus, not to mention it's bad for hearing and disturbs people around you (I know, lots of vermin out there doesn't mind that).

How about invest in a home setup?

ES7 and ESW9 are not circumaural. How about A series from Audio Technica? They are huge for portable though.

I think it can be ordered from Jaben, or straight from RSA online.

Nice photos guys.

poop

I hope I am bored with it so that I can use the money to improve my quality of life.

I have a friend who wanted to give me his power amplifier. Given how much I know myself, I immediately know that this is going to be another poison, but the poison is too sweet to reject.

I've decided to at least replace the player and the earphone. The boominess of the combo is driving me crazy. I have just started reading about these stuffs, so my knowledge is rather scarce. As I understand it, higher impedance earphones would benefit especially by having an amplifier. So does it mean that if want to plug my earphones straight to a player I have to look for a lower impedance earphone? Where can I get the Cowons? Would a Creative or Samsung phone out connected to a Go Vibe amplifier beat a Cowon?

Does good player benefit little with low end amplifier? Or not at all? So should I go for better player with no amplifier? Like a Cowon. (Does the cheaper U5 sounds as well as a D2?) Or a normal player with a low end amp? Like a Zen or Samsung + DogBone Amp. Or even just my phone + a GoVibe Petite+DAC? Or am I exagerating the difference between a Cowon and a Samsung and a Creative? I think it's tough to try a player, I might be able to bring my own earphone but I can't play a track that I already knew well.

How about Samsung YP-K5? I suppose it is the same as K3 but comes with a built in speaker? http://www.samsung.com/my/products/audio/m...yer/yp_k5ab.asp Challenger is clearing stock and the 4GB version cost only about $150. To me it seems like a good deal. How about the Samsung YP-T10? Is it supposed to be the K3 updated with video feature? http://www.samsung.com/my/products/audio/m...er/yp_t10ab.asp But I am quite attracted to the Creative Zen, slim build, large screen and SD expansion slot. So plugging the earphone jack to an amplifier is not worth it? Thanks again.