Uh, I have SE530s. So now I should question whether or not I should get any of the new Sony players at all??
Can anyone that owns the A720/A820 and listens to it using SE530s/E530s elaborate on this please?
I own the SE530 and the Sony A820. Personally i think if you want the best sound QUALITY from you're music, this is it. The sony with the se530 produces a wide soundstage, where every single sound can be singled out from even the most noisiest and complex music. Music just sounds BIG, like you are listening to high quality speakers rather than earphones. and there is no distortion ever, even if the bass eq is turned up to max. also, i could listen to this combo in my ears all day and have zero fatigue. I honestly cannot see how this sounded 'processed' to the reviewer. and saying having lower end earphones fix that problem? that makes no sense to me.
Now ill talk about the signature of the combo. I like my highs high, my lows low and my mids powerful. i want to be able to listen to a track and not have either the highs, lows or mids overpower each other, because when that happens, i find myself concentrating on the dominant one and losing out on how good the overall listening experience can be. I have found that for my ears to achieve this i have to use the sonys equaliser. i have the bass at +1 and the 16khz at +2. everything in the middle is kept on 0 as it is perfect. I am happy to say that when equalizer settings are changed it does not effect the sound quality AT ALL. If i can sum up the whole listening experience with this setting in a few words, it would be POWERFULL and ENGAGING. ill break it down for you.
firstly, the bass. what you are getting is hard, punchy bass. Its basically lots of bass but delivered in short hard bursts. when you listen to a song, every bass drum hit will be heard, and because of the quality of these two devices, it will be FELT. whenever there is a bass drum hit, you feel it. it feels like a short burst of air in your skull. but of course it isn't.
The mids with this combo are absolutely perfect. voices sound like someone has just come over to you and started singing to you. you will not be able to tell this is coming from an electrical device. guitars sound powerful and snare drums hit tight and hard and cut right through the music. Overall it is neither dark or bright, just perfectly balanced in the middle.
The highs ie cymbals also cut right through music without taking anything away from what else is going on. crash cymbals are loud and shimmery, high hats and ride cymbals are tiny little noises yet are heard without trying to listen out for them. like i said, every single noise will be heard without even concentrating.
So there you have it. Quality wise, 10/10. Signature wise, with help from the fantastic eq, 10/10.
Hope this helps, and one more note. as we all know everyone has different tastes. This player i can strongly recommend for people like me who like that powerful and engaging sound that is perfect for rock, metal, pop and r&b.
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SONY A829 and SHURE SE530 aka Audio Bliss
Earphones Owned: Q Jays, V Moda Vibes, Sony EX-71
DAPS Owned: Ipod Classic
Last edited by breezy_amar; 05-11-2008 at 01:22 PM.
I'm not an audiophile at all, because of lack of "sound sensitivity" and time to practice this hobby, although I played acoustic guitar an drums for a short time and listen to a lot of music.
What I found is that with standard earphones it sounds just perfect. Then I've connected it to low-end logitech 2+1 speakers I use on my tv, and it felt like mids were kida cut out of the sound range, but slighly tweaking the eq did an excellent job for voice, and made the sound warmer, just perfect. Even on these cheap speakers with wooden subwoofer I found the basses were amazing: the bass and the drums sounded just like they were in front of me, you can feel every single hit or note. I haven't tried to connect the walkman to my hi-fi marantz system, (need to get a cable) so I can't tell how will sound. I'll need to make my own line out cable for that, too.
I own the SE530 and the Sony A820. Personally i think if you want the best sound QUALITY from you're music, this is it.
So do you use WAV, rather than any lossy format? Seems there would be noticeable (irritating) difference between the two, regardless to any set bit-rate.
That would be nice but TBH I have about 40GB of music and currently own a 4GB DAP. If you set up some clever playlists and filter out weak album songs using star ratings, you can fit quite a lot of music into little space (talking about Lame V2 encoded mp3s here).
When I get the A829 I will have 16GB, in essence I will be able to carry all my often played music with me. Most of my other stuff is pretty occasional, its not THAT often I get the need to listen to Coltrane or The Beatles complete albums on the bus :-)
Originally Posted by darkninja67
Should be an awesome pairing. I love my Etys with my Sony 818. Best portable audio IMO.
Yes I am pretty excited to see if I will hear an improvement over my current gear! The new DAP+IEMs cost me a small fortune so I have high expectations.
So do you use WAV, rather than any lossy format? Seems there would be noticeable (irritating) difference between the two, regardless to any set bit-rate.
I use both WAV and MP3 on my sony. i think its the same as any other portable player, as in you will be able to notice a difference between 128kbps and WAV, especially in the high frequencies, but when you have 320kbps rip, you will not be able to notice a loss in quality.
I try to use WAV whenever i can (ie if i own the original CD) because not only is it the best quality you can get but it will also play gapless.
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SONY A829 and SHURE SE530 aka Audio Bliss
Uh, I have SE530s. So now I should question whether or not I should get any of the new Sony players at all??
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