i listen (mainly) to classic rock, alt rock, prog rock, trance/dance, classical i use cheap IEMs, grados, and aux connector to car i am on firmware 2.20   i'll just list pros and cons.   pros: -feels hefty and solid -sq is great. HO and LO lives up to expectations no doubt about it. -has a nifty auto off feature -has an expansion slot -if the mini plugs have no devices connected, it won't start playing the song. pretty cool. -thank god for a reset button -detects as usb mass storage so you can get to copying...

my rio karma is dying (well the battery only really, so i could just replace that, but the software is incompatible with win7 w/o some major headache so i'm taking the easy way out) so i figured i'd audition a few new players to see what works. on my short list: cowon s9, cowon j3, nationite s:flo2, hifiman hm-602.   with regards to the s9, i'll just break it down by pros and cons.   i listen (mainly) to classic rock, alt rock, prog rock, trance/dance, classical i use cheap IEMs, grados, and aux connector to car i am on firmware 2.5.2  ...