anyone has an iriver imp-550 at home?

[neutralzz 0]

try using it as a source for a hifi setup. you could be pleasantly surprised. tried it today, performance superceded many commercial hifi cd players that i had/owned b4.

 

very highly detailed, layered sound, with distinct separation, tames the brightness of the setup. settings used were volume 25 out of 40 on the imp-550, no equalizer setting. very small cdp output, the volume of the amps used in test was hovering around 75-80% of max vol.

 

was surprised that a little portable cdp with not very much sampling, simple DAC circuitry etc, could sound so much better than real hifi cd players. might be going down to listen to lemon chua's original master A9.8 cdp soon.. was quoted $1.2k at exhibition.. seriously wondering whether it could sound better than the iriver in this operation.

 

speakers were pushed apart experimentally, and excellent imaging occured at 2metres apart from each other, tilted inwards to face listener.

[Absolute0 0]

Interesting impressions. I owned that player a couple of years before, and I remember that it was a tad too bright for my taste, especially through the head-out. Same thing with the line-out using Xin's Supermicro and Etys. In fact I noticed nothing spectacular about its sonic qualities, which was one of the reasons I sold it in favour of an iPod. YMMV.

[av98m 0]

try using it as a source for a hifi setup. you could be pleasantly surprised. tried it today, performance superceded many commercial hifi cd players that i had/owned b4.

 

very highly detailed, layered sound, with distinct separation, tames the brightness of the setup. settings used were volume 25 out of 40 on the imp-550, no equalizer setting. very small cdp output, the volume of the amps used in test was hovering around 75-80% of max vol.

 

was surprised that a little portable cdp with not very much sampling, simple DAC circuitry etc, could sound so much better than real hifi cd players. might be going down to listen to lemon chua's original master A9.8 cdp soon.. was quoted $1.2k at exhibition.. seriously wondering whether it could sound better than the iriver in this operation.

 

speakers were pushed apart experimentally, and excellent imaging occured at 2metres apart from each other, tilted inwards to face listener.

I'll bet lemond chua's face will become as sour as a lemon if you tell him the original does not sound as good as your iriver! Do keep us updated on your listening impressions.

 

What's the rest of your setup btw.

[neutralzz 0]

i found the imp 550 not very good sounding on earphones, but in a hif-set up i had that surprise today.. was fiddling around. at normal settings on earphones it seems to lack bass, biased towards the mid/high, but amplified, everything's decently proportional

 

i m currently using a sj jolida 502a amp.. think rameish here used to use a 202a, and i m also using a vincent integrated amp, german spec, but MIC.

used to use a copland ct 401 and an adcom pre/pow combi but sold them recently..

speakers currently a pair of rogers ls4a/2 and a pair of chario academys

source currently not v up to standard, have a denon dcd 1015, marantz 5400, marantz cd63 (repaired and just sold.. into its 4th transport.. to ex to maintain)