Ipod + Dock Line In > Better than Cowon SQ? - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freeze 

I have heard the cowon s9. The sound was great but the fact remains what happens when you try to drive some 300-600ohm low efficiency headphones that need incredible power and you have no lineout. The cowons are good for sensitive iems and low impedance full size but even in those cases an external amp just does wonders to improve sound quality.

 

Also cowon have such a low storage capacity

What headphones do you own that have 300 ohms of impedance??? Certainly nothing that's supposed to be portable. Anyway, the whole point of high impedance headphones is that in a studio you can plug lots of high impedance headphones into the same amp without degrading the sound or damaging the amp by consuming dangerous amounts of current. Power = IR*R, so when you halve R you have to increase I by 4. Using 300 ohm headphones might make sense in a studio (but only one still using analog tech?*) but worrying about this for a PMP is insane.

Even if it so happens that the only of decent phones you have are 600ohm vintage monsters, this still isn't a sane reason to spend the extra over the cost of a Cowon on a pod + dac combo. It's cheaper to buy a pair of Grados, Sony V6s or Superlux 668Bs - what are these in the US, $50?

I'm not even convinced that any reasonably standard portable dac/amp will drive a 600ohm headphone - they're designed to drive portable headphones afterall, and these have exactly the opposite needs to high impedance sets. Designing them to drive a pair of vintage AKG240s optimally will inevitably mean degrading their performance (for a given cost and size) with IEMs and even modern high-current studio monitors.

*Look how many modern classic studio monitors have impedance in the 30 to 70 ohm range -  Sony V6s, M50s - all the things people actually buy. Even current model AKG240s!

The other thing I should say for the original poster is that I was sloppy referring to the details of ipod lineout - it by-passes the amp, but not the DAC. Which is probably more important. If you do want an ipod that can keep up with a Cowon you need models that have a high quality DAC - which basically means a Wolfson. This can often mean buying an older model, because Apple realized that very few pod buyers bother using decent phones, so why not cut a few bucks? I think   that maybe some Touches still have a Wolfson, but you'd need to check - "google is your friend."

Oh - and from my notes on buying a PMP, the recommended headphone impedance for a J3 is from 16 ohms to about 250. The older S9 and X5's are saids to be the Cowon to go for if you want a power a 600 ohm set of HD800s (about $2000, so you probably won't!)

So dismiss talk of 600 ohm phones and PMPs, but don't write off an ipod, external amp and Rockbox (which will give you FLAC and Ogg and good EQ - you'll lose iTunes, but that's like losing an embarrassing disease) if you want lots of storage capacity without the hassle of using SD cards. Just check out the model of ipod carefully for its DAC and Rockbox compatibility. 

You also have the option of high end Sony players (at the cost of limited codec support), the Samsung P3, and Hitman PMPs. Most importantly, don't forget to leave room in your budget for good headphones. Take a look at the big comparative reviews here. You might well want a pair of IEMs for travelling and of conventional phones for using at your desk. These might cost $100-200 each . Otoh, Koss Portapros are pretty good and maybe $25, Superlux 668Bs are maybe $50, and the JVC FXC51 is a superb IEM for the same sort of cost. But do work out your headphone budget in advance - you'd be better off with a $50 Sansa Clip+ and good IEMs than a $500 player and poor IEMs.