What to buy

[Navyblue 0]

Right now I only have an MDR-EX70 on Sony Ericsson K810i.

 

I don't intend to spend much, about $150 to $300. I hope to keep on the lower end.

 

So those fantastic combos are out for me, but what should I get to get the maximum sound improvement? Earphone? Portable amplifier? Player? Or a combination?

 

I like balanced, detailed and transparent sound.

 

Btw, does stage imaging exist in head/earphone?

 

Thanks for reading.

[nofing 0]

If your source is the SE phone, change that first. Get maybe the Meizu player, or some Samsung or Cowon ones. That would set you back around $200 or more. Then settle on some earphones. For a 'balanced, detailed and transparent sound' I would suggest Etymotics. Probably try the er6 or er6i at Jaben or somewhere. Those sound pretty good but it's rather bass anemic for some and the soundstage isn't amazing so you would have to take that into consideration. As for sound and head stage, yes they do exist in head/earphones. For earphones, notably the UE TF10P and the Shure SE530. For headphones, well most open back ones would have pretty good sound stage for example, the AKG k701 and the AT AD2000. Happy hunting!

[Navyblue 0]

Thanks Nofing.

 

Does those players mentioned sound better than the rest? Do they have better DAC? Or better internal amplification?

 

Are those different models in the same brand equal in sound quality? I see that some lower end Samsung player can be had for about $100.

 

Does the Cowons sound better than the Samsungs or the Meizus? Does the Meizus offers the best value?

 

If I intend to add an amplifier sometime down the road, should that affect the player decision?

 

How much does the mentioned earphones cost?

[nofing 0]

Ok I'll try to answer your queries one by one.

 

1. The players I mentioned are those I've tried and personally found them to be better than the average lot.

 

2. Ok for the various brands, Meizu has only one model I think. That's the SE or SL one. For samsung, I found the k3 to be pretty good and it's a 100 odd only. It's successors should be on par but you should try them out yourself. For cowon, the d2 is a highly popular choice and it's SQ is hardly doubted. To be fair, the different models sound slightly different and it's a matter of preference rather than SQ.

 

3. As mentioned in 2, they don't necessarily sound better than one another. And yea, the Meizu is probably the better value of the 3. (Note it's better not best ya.)

 

4. If you intend to add an amp, it would be best to find some form of lineout. However, the only players with some form of lineout so far would be the iPods and the zen vision m/w. If that's the case, then maybe you could consider the iPod nano 3G or the ZVM?

 

The er6/i would be around $200 and the rest suffice to say would be way out of your current budget but make for a wonderful listening experience.

[sghound 0]

For samsung, I found the k3 to be pretty good and it's a 100 odd only.

 

great choice!

 

[Navyblue 0]

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.

Edited March 29, 2008 by Navyblue

[Navyblue 0]

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.

Edited March 29, 2008 by Navyblue

[ZhiX 0]

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.

 

 

Think you have to try it yourself, Some people don't feel the difference, some people do.

 

For me, the difference is obviously from the low-ends and soundstages. You must also remember to feed in the amp from a line-out. I don't believe that most phones have any line-out.

 

My personal opinion is that the Cowon beat Samsung and Creative in terms of SQ (without amping).

 

 

 

 

[Navyblue 0]

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?

Edited March 31, 2008 by Navyblue

[Vinc 0]

i personally own a iriver clix. can amp be added?

how much is shure se530 and ue tf10?

[vjbab 0]

i personally own a iriver clix. can amp be added?

how much is shure se530 and ue tf10?

SE530 should cost you around $650 and UE TF10 around $555

[Vinc 0]

SE530 should cost you around $650 and UE TF10 around $555

so expensive ... too much over burget.

can get a ipod touch for that price

[vjbab 0]

yea but what's the point if you don't have a decent pair of headphones to match the player

[Vinc 0]

yea but what's the point if you don't have a decent pair of headphones to match the player

quite true but got to see whethe can afford to pay that much anot....

for me headphone arund 200 dollar is very good already..

currently using ATH CK9 . thinking to upgrade to a better set with dual driver but somehow high end headphone are far too expensive..