Recommend portable player and earphones

[hiwatt 0]

Hi, I need new ones with a budget of up to $300 for player and phones... any recommendations?

 

I need to listen to detailed music... clarity of bass is prefered...

 

For players... probably mp3 players.... what is recommended here?

[evo 0]

sorry ah, u are a bit vague, what functions u looking for?

 

fm radio?

memory size?

recording functions?

drag & drop?

battery options?

 

i suppose a flash player is more within your price range

e.g. apple ipod shuffle, iriver t10, iaudio u3 [haven't heard them, but they received quite good reviews online]

 

as for headphones, i would recommend the "plug-type", more isolating for external use

e.g. shure e2c, sharp md33 etc

 

u also have to consider how to split your budget between player & headphones...

[hiwatt 0]

For player: I need of coz good sound... can sort according to artist, songs, album etc.... someone selling his ipod mini 6gb for 240.... reasonable?

 

for earphones..... clarity is important.... need to listen out to different instrument clearly...

[Zephyron 0]

^

I wouldn't really recommend the Shure e2c, a lot of bass, though not flabby, but mids feel grainy and the highs just aren't there enough.

 

For a balanced IEM or canalphone, you might want to consider either the ER6i or CK7. But with a budget of $300, this is hard.

 

For sub $50 earphones, go with either the Creative EP630/Sharp MD33 (SG$49, Creative Fair @ Creative Building) or the Cresyn LMX-E630(R/D)L (SG$42 @ Stereo Electronics, Woodlands Causeway Point).

 

This leaves you with a budget of SG$251-258 depending on which earphone you buy, T10 and U3 would be out of your budget because of the earphone factor so the iPod Shuffle (Simplicity and portable SQ at one of its best) would be the MP3 player of choice if you're not looking for other features like FM, LCD screen and such. However, you'll be required to use iTunes for music transfer (its not drag and drop last I remember). A 1GB version of the Shuffle can be had for SG$178 (note, if you do get the Shuffle, consider the Creative EP635 or the Cresyn LMX-E630SN, white necklace versions of the EP630 and the LMX-E630xL series).

 

All the above listed should have covered your MP3 player, earphone and even travel expenses

Edited March 12, 2006 by Zephyron

[hiwatt 0]

thanks for the quick reply! wow!

 

erm.... CK7..... saw good reports in this forum..... worth it? how much? if not convenient to post online.... can PM me.... got lobang for good deal?

 

how does creslyn compare to ck7?

 

i may up my budget a bit lah.... see how....

 

still feeling sad over the loss of my mx 500

Edited March 12, 2006 by hiwatt

[Zephyron 0]

Hmm, CK7 is currently out of stock.

Once stock comes back though, Hung Brothers (SLS, $159 before discount, cannot give away discounted price, but take away 20-25% and you get the idea ), Jade's Gift Shop (Not sure of location, can ask other members here, I think its in the east, ~$110) and Stereo Electronics (Woodlands, Causeway point, $119) will be carrying them. Stereo Electronics and Hung Brothers will most likely be the ones getting them first as they're distributors for AT Asia last I remember. Once AT Asia re-stocks on CK7s, I believe Aron (Stereo Electronics) will be the first to inform us of the good news.

 

CK7 at its discounted price from all 3 locations mentioned above (Choose which one is closest to home for you ). Comparing it to the Cresyn LMX-E630xL series, it has much better clarity and instrumental separation, and has a greater feeling of airiness and better levels of imaging. Bass is also much punchier than the Cresyn, with much better sense of decay of bass instruments. The Cresyn's mid-range feels warmer and fuller when compared to the CK7 however.

After extended listening however, the CK7 makes the Cresyn seem muffled in comparison IMO, but then again, the CK7 is about 2.25-2.5 times the price, so its a bit unfair to compare.

 

With regard to the iPod Mini post that I missed... Best not lahs, a Mini is HDD based. If you have a rugged lifestyle, it may not be the player for you.

What's more, the Mini is regarded by the folks over at head-fi to be supposedly the worst sounding iPod of the bunch in the then already weak sounding iPod family (from the headphone out that is, different story with line-out to amplifier), because its bass rolloff is severe. A square-sine wave test over at Cnet showed that the 1st gen Mini has 0 bass output (Note: The iPod Shuffle did score a perfect rating for this, it recreated the square sine wave perfectly), the 2nd gen Mini only partially solved that, and the 2nd Gen mini supposedly shares similar sonic signature to the Nano, so if you're utilizing the headphone out of the Mini/Nano, I would suggest to forget it altogether. All iPod has unuseable EQ (except for Acoustic) as well.

 

With regard to Flash based players with decent SQ and implemented ID3 (artist, genre, album, year based browsing) browsing, there's the iAudio U3 w/ Firmware 1.20. The 1GB version of the U3 is available for somewhere in the SG$270 region and the 2GB version @ ~SG$350. To use firware 1.20 however, be prepared to sacrifice 50MB of internal storage space. The 2GB version will be recommended for Firmware 1.20, and I rolled back my U3 firmware to 1.13 w/o the ID3 browsing, happy enough with File Tree Structure since I keep my files neatly.

 

If you do purchase the iPod Mini however, do yourself a favour, up your budget by a lot, a whole lot at that, more, get a portable amp and an iPod lineout dock and a dock to amp cable

Edited March 12, 2006 by Zephyron

[hiwatt 0]

Oh.. I din know Ipod minis have such a bad reviews.... Apple should have a certain standards right? Even the latest ipod mini versions also bad? How about the nano? I've tried one with my mx 500.... sounded good....

 

the shuffle should fit my budget... but then.... i don't mind no radio no recording no nothing..... but without the screen...i feel it is needed for my usage....

 

the iaudio stuff are quite expensive..... hmmmm

Edited March 12, 2006 by hiwatt

[Zephyron 0]

Mini 2nd Gen is said to be the same as Nano. There's still bass rolloff, but its not as severe. If possible, try hearing the same tracks from a same source (prefereably MP3 192kbps+) placed onto both a Nano and a Shuffle, try to note the difference. A Shuffle should sound fuller, stronger and more crisp as compared to the Nano from the headphone out.

 

IMO, iPods are overrated with the exception of Shuffle (underrated) and iPod Video (just nice)

Edited March 12, 2006 by Zephyron

[primus 0]

Ipod 6GB at 240 is quite reasonable. But do check properly the equipment before buying for any defects as Zephyron has mentioned, Ipod mini is not a very rugged equipment. From what I heard, Ipod Mini has a lot of defects and spoils quite easily. So 2nd hand mini isn't a very good idea unless you're buying it from a known friend. Seems like you're interested in a 4-6gb mp3 player, for your budget, you may want to try Creative Zen Neeon 5gb/6gb (if you don't mind Hard-disk based mp3 player), which is one of the cheaper model retailing at <300 at SLS(if i'm not wrong). You can also match your player with a relatively cheaper Cresyn LMX-E630 or the CK7 if you have more money to spare. Also you may want to try the creative EP630.

 

If you have more money to spare, say 300-400+, and you're looking for a 5-6gb player, then I think you should take a hard look at iRiver products. Heard that they sound quite good.

 

If you want something flash-based, I think you should look at iAudio as mentioned by others.

Edited March 12, 2006 by primus

[hiwatt 0]

I dun mind hard disk based players..... so now.... my tendency would be to get the ipod mini and CK7....

 

The seller claims he just exchanged the mini from apple centre.... so its 'brand new'.... which also means no waranty left.... hmmmm

 

Still have to wait for the CK7 stock though.....

 

anyone has other better and cheaper combi?

[primus 0]

erm.. do note that exchanged goods may not be totally brand new. they may be refurbished products. my sis sent her ipod mini for repairs(something wrong with the batt), and they replace her set with another new set. but the 'new' set broke down about 2 months later and she sent it back. they exchanged another set for her and this set has been working alright so far. cheapest combi for a 5gb player is most likely the creative zen neeon + ck7 or creative ep630 depending on your budget. for a 4-6gb player, there isn't much choice. most likely it is the same few brand (ipod, creative, iriver). You may also want to try the olympus m:robe 5gb which retails for about 299.

[vance 0]

KCS75 good enuf for u?

 

Recently I passed my underutilised ksc75 to my gf. Then I told her to try my MS1 which I said was better than the ksc75. Imagine my surprise when she said the ksc has more clarity than my MS1.

 

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that ksc75 is an extremely value-for-money pair of phones.

[Zephyron 0]

^^^

Be warned when putting the CK7 together with the iPod Mini from the headphone out: Little to no bass starting from the 200Hz region and below (severe bass rolloff)

[hiwatt 0]

got 2nd hand H10 5gb.... 1 year old no warranty.... can buy? its quite a good deal though.... in terms of price...

[Zephyron 0]

^HDD version or flash version of the H10?

 

2nd hand HDD stuffs do smell fishy... more often than not that is.