So many triggers to pull...so little $.

[insomniax]

I am in a dilemma.

RE0 @ $99(irresistable). OR new DAP.

I am currently listening out of my Sony Ericsson W980 mobile phone w/ RE2s. yucks. whose fault is it? (looking @ you w980)

Itunes on lappie w/ RE2s are wayy better.

But i probably only have enough $ to pull the trigger on one of them. the other will have to wait...

If i pull the trigger on DAP, what should it be?
(Sansa poses the danger of being discontinued soon while X1000s are just sadface for starving student.)

There's probably no quick solution to this but second opinions will help. I think.
Thanks in advance.

[decay]

A better IEM will have the biggest influence on how your system sound, that is unless you have the best customs : )

[gameboy115]

I will say go somewhere else which offer you to try other DAP.

My experience is when I played around with my friend Sony K750 phone with my sony earbud coming with A728, the instrument separation and vocal suck as hell. That was not I felt when I paired it with my A728, everything seemed fine to me.

I have no idea how good W980 are, so I would say it is safer to try other quality DAP with your RE2 first to see if you are happy with the new combo.

My 2 cent

[insomniax]

A better IEM will have the biggest influence on how your system sound, that is unless you have the best customs : )

I was of the other opinion. You could run IE8s and customs and what have you and if the source sucks then it still sucks. Doesn't the inferior quality of the source get super-magnified? No?

Anyone wants to verify this?

Yeah, I need to hook up to other DAPs to try but sometimes stores don't provide test units for people to sample. I'll probably try harder.

Oh. and some audioshop guy pointed at the RE2s and the W980 saying, "cheap earphones sounds better with cheap sources.", after i turned down his offers of Ne-7m, UEmetrofi150 and their house brand.(following that with more sales pitch of sony x1060).

Think he doesn't know of RE2's existence.

"cheap earphones sounds better with cheap sources."
Truth or lie?

[decay]

Lie.

Music codec/compression is something you can control to an extent, you want to get better sound you can always re-rip to at least 256 vbr.

I posted this line somewhere before, what I'm hearing now with my IE8 feeding through a 5-year
old sansa m240 1GB ($19.99 on a black Friday) sounds better in anyway except resolve/detail
(crispness is a more fitting description) than what I heard from my 500hr IE8 feeding through
a laptop headphone out. Of course I'm playing wav file on that tiny thing, likewise lossless on
the laptop now and back then (500 hr IE8). There is no comparison between the two sources
now by any measures

[gameboy115]

Originally Posted by insomniax

I was of the other opinion. You could run IE8s and customs and what have you and if the source sucks then it still sucks. Doesn't the inferior quality of the source get super-magnified? No?

Anyone wants to verify this?

Yeah, I need to hook up to other DAPs to try but sometimes stores don't provide test units for people to sample. I'll probably try harder.

Oh. and some audioshop guy pointed at the RE2s and the W980 saying, "cheap earphones sounds better with cheap sources.", after i turned down his offers of Ne-7m, UEmetrofi150 and their house brand.(following that with more sales pitch of sony x1060).

Think he doesn't know of RE2's existence.

"cheap earphones sounds better with cheap sources."
Truth or lie?

" if the source sucks then it still sucks"

It apply to every top iem, if your source is RM radio, what can you hope for? But Ialso can tell you IE8 is very forgiving IEM, if your source is decent enough, see my signature, IE8 didn't sound bad in every single player I owned. Not like UM3X, very source dependent, sound signature change when source change

Don't know much about W980 though.

"cheap earphones sounds better with cheap sources."

Don't agree with, just a lie I guess. Cheap earphone can not reveal full potential of good DAP, I would say at least good DAP can unlock full potential of cheap earbud.

Just go try some other quality DAP.................. Also, your ability to tell the difference is important. Some one would say SE 530 is only a bit better than ipod earbud.

[average_joe]

Originally Posted by insomniax

"cheap earphones sounds better with cheap sources."
Truth or lie?

It depends. If the cheap source sounds truly bad then a high end headphones can bring out those weaknesses, such as harsh treble. But if the sound is just bad (like my blackberry, which lacks bass and treble extension), better headphones will sound better than the cheaper headphones.

I have a no name USB stick MP3 player from Newegg that got high reviews. Sounded OK until I started head-fiing. The problem is it couldn't power my HPs properly. When hooked up to an E5 it sounds so much better, night and day.

And headphones do make a difference; my IE8 sounds better than my NE-7 with the cheapest source or my best source. I think better headphones make more of a difference than a better DAP in most cases. An exception would be a HP that needs an amp to sound good, such as the Yuin PK1 or Phonak PFE.

And I just tried my blackberry with my E5 and IE8 and I think it actually sounds better straight from the HP out. And my blackberry sounds pretty bad compared to my DAPs, but I don't think it is a power problem like on my cheap MP3 player.

I would say get the RE0 (which comes with an E3) and worry about the source later. Or you may be able to find a Clip for $20-$30 which sounds great IMO. Buy.com has a 2GB for $30, Newegg had a 4GB recertified for $35, but they are sold out. I got my 1GB recertified Clip for $15 from buy.com. Woot had a 2GB for $20 not too long ago.

[blawhh]

I would say get a new source first

[blawhh]

Something like a Clip or AMP3

[gameboy115]

Originally Posted by average_joe

It depends. If the cheap source sounds truly bad then a high end headphones can bring out those weaknesses, such as harsh treble. But if the sound is just bad (like my blackberry, which lacks bass and treble extension), better headphones will sound better than the cheaper headphones.

I have a no name USB stick MP3 player from Newegg that got high reviews. Sounded OK until I started head-fiing. The problem is it couldn't power my HPs properly. When hooked up to an E5 it sounds so much better, night and day.

And headphones do make a difference; my IE8 sounds better than my NE-7 with the cheapest source or my best source. I think better headphones make more of a difference than a better DAP in most cases. An exception would be a HP that needs an amp to sound good, such as the Yuin PK1 or Phonak PFE.

And I just tried my blackberry with my E5 and IE8 and I think it actually sounds better straight from the HP out. And my blackberry sounds pretty bad compared to my DAPs, but I don't think it is a power problem like on my cheap MP3 player.

I would say get the RE0 (which comes with an E3) and worry about the source later. Or you may be able to find a Clip for $20-$30 which sounds great IMO. Buy.com has a 2GB for $30, Newegg had a 4GB recertified for $35, but they are sold out. I got my 1GB recertified Clip for $15 from buy.com. Woot had a 2GB for $20 not too long ago.

Yea, Clip is decent enough and worth every penny

[koven]

RE0 + FiiO E5 + Sansa Fuze/Clip = done, sweet budget rig