Xin headphone amps can be bought direct from Dr. Xin's website. His Reference amp seems to be the best one in his product lineup. Mate it with a good pair of headphones & I'm sure you will get very good sound quality. They are pricey but have gotten good reviews from many people. Before you order the amp, better check the lead time by sending Dr. Xin an email though. From what I heard, he's a one-man operation & already has quite a long back-log of orders.
New Apple Ipods
- Thread starter wrkshy
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Xin headphone amps can be bought direct from Dr. Xin's website. His Reference amp seems to be the best one in his product lineup. Mate it with a good pair of headphones & I'm sure you will get very good sound quality. They are pricey but have gotten good reviews from many people. Before you order the amp, better check the lead time by sending Dr. Xin an email though. From what I heard, he's a one-man operation & already has quite a long back-log of orders.
What earphones u using? If u want better sound, u will get better value by upgrading your earphones 1st as it is the major bottleneck/factor in quality sound from portable players. U will be able to tell the difference easily.
Generally these earphones give the best sound:
http://www.etymotic.com/
http://www.westone.com/
http://www.shure.com/index.htm
http://www.ultimateears.com/_ultimateears/
What are u disatisfied in your current set-up? Clearer sound? Better bass? 1st step is free but tedious. Re-rip your mp3s to higher bit rate like 320kbps. 128kbps is a waste of time!
No point having figures. The tried and tested method of using your ears is the best as sound/music/audio is subjective. But then, many pairs of ears agree that Creative have the better sound. Sony, iAudio are also ahead of iPod.
iPod is great for is user interface and of cause, the iconic design. That is all about it.
Frequency range only tells you the range of sound the player produce. But it doesn't tell you how much bass/treble/midrange there is, actual bass/treble/midrange response, quality etc. And very often, these frequency range are manufacturer claims. They want to make the product look good and so, its often 20hz-20khz. Even iPod earphones claims 20hz-20khz which is damn hilarious and ridiculars. :bsmilie:
My earphones are good la... not cheapo ones. I've tested Shure earphones before and I would say my earphone don't lose to them. In fact, it seems to be clearer than the Shure. Somehow the Shure has this airy sound.
Its hard to describe what i'm disatisfied about. Its just that I was using a Creative player until it died. Then I got ipod and in comparison, it just falls behind the Creative and I am used to that quality of sound already. Somehow, the ipod's music just doesn't have the punch. Maybe if I had used an ipod in the first place, I could be happy with the sound. It isn't that bad actually.
I never rip any music at 128 kbps... unless its noisy music cos it doesn't matter for those. Mostly I rip at 256... sometimes for 320 if its SACD or better quality disc or fine instrumental music. I was wondering if the Apple lossless format would give better sound. Since its supposed to have less loss of data. Anyone compared lossless with 256 kbps mp3s before?
You should use iAudio. I wonder have you meddled with Ipod's EQ? Though not as sophiscated as other MP3's equiliser, it does vary the treble and bass abit depending on what you set. But since you ripped your music at such high bit rate, I think you are an audiphile. That's who iAudio is for, audiophiles. Can be a bit expensive, but you'll never turn back. But I am still using an Ipod. haha.
bousozoku
Senior Member
There is a noticeable difference with Apple Lossless vs. 256 Kbps mp3 or even 256 Kbps AAC. Apple Lossless is very similar to the original AIFF. I had tried using 256 Kbps mp3 for my classical music (since I use it for everything else) and ended up removing the music but was happy with it once the Apple Lossless format became available. My current headphones don't really let me hear the difference but I have an extra iPod dock connected to the receiver and the sound is quite nice.
If the Shure have this 'airy' sound, means its not worn/inserted properly. Yeah apple lossless is better but if u which brands in future, might not be able to play them.
Not enough 'punch'? Not 'full bodied' enough? U can try Westone's or Ultimate Ears' range. Their earphones sure give lotsa punch.
BTW, what earphones u using? If u're not willing to change earphones, then try an amp but it will be additional bulk and cable.
From what I've seen, the player is not a "all in one" solution for music needs?
Are the headphones supplied always so bad? Or are they sufficient for those who just want to listen, not criticize music quality?
Are there any recommendations other than the Ipod line for mp3 players? I've looked at the sony and creative lines, but the ipod nano/touch still seems the most attractive for a design/size/feature criteria in that order.
Are the headphones supplied always so bad? Or are they sufficient for those who just want to listen, not criticize music quality?
Are there any recommendations other than the Ipod line for mp3 players? I've looked at the sony and creative lines, but the ipod nano/touch still seems the most attractive for a design/size/feature criteria in that order.
mein gott
your humour is getting better by the day!
you sound more and more like sion with each passing day
i wonder if that's a good or bad thing :nono:
how do you put it dude
if you know the difference you will mind
if you don't know you won't mind
simple, why a lot of xmm use p&s and are happy with it
they do not know
if i let you use p&s, one of the totally horrible models, for instance
will you use now?
compared to maybe, 3 years ago, if you hadn't started photography as hobby
anyways, talking about players so boring
talk about people la
who's more yandao? let's vote
contender one
contender two
(i'm doing this so i can call everyone who votes for contender two sarong party boys/girls)
if it's not ok
i would have been banned quite a while back already, i suppose
so long as the ts does not throw a tantrum
i guess it's fine
else the topic will die a natural death after a while with no interest
why do you ask though
want to get me into trouble? :cry:
The earphones supplied are not too bad at all. It works at least. :bsmilie: Man its like using a super budget ancient camera Vs a top range DSLR.
The earphones supplied are meant for starter use. Its like the supplied 64/128mb card for a 7m camera. At least, u can shoot/listen without buying new ones immidiately.
Without upgrading your earphones, u dunno what you're missing/losing out. With better earphones, u can listen more, details will be clearer, more present and better controlled bass etc. For example, you will not notice that certain instruments exist during a certain part of a song if u're using cheap supplied earphones.
But, if design/size/feature are what u're looking for and the Nano fits your needs, then by all means, buy it. Then invest in a good pair of earphones.
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