Hey guys,
 
First post on Head-fi **yaaaay**!!
 
As of late, I've taken a subtle but definite step towards the path of an audiophile.
 
It all started about a month ago. I was functioning happily with my then current IEM's, Soundmagic E30. I decided I deserved better and so stepped up to my current IEMS, Shure SE215's. The overall music quality has improved but for something thats double in value (£75), I was kinda expecting a little more. Hence, my order for the 1964 V3s two weeks later.
 
Now that I've taken a step towards a pair of custom IEMs (through a process of savage & brutal reviewing), I want my music to sound as AMAZING as possible. I play all my music on my iphone 5 with spotify. All the music quality settings are set to extreme (320kbs I believe). What I want to know is, is there any other way (except buying an amp [too much to carry for the things i do]) of improving music quality?
 
I would appreciate views, ideas from anyone else that uses spotify. Any 1964 user input would also be welcome.
 
Thanks guys & girls. 

One bit of advice I would give, is keep the Soundmagic and Shure IEM's around, and every once in a while spend a day with them. It will remind you where you came from, and make you appreciate the steps you're taking up the ladder of sound.

Quote:

achmedisdead said:

One bit of advice I would give, is keep the Soundmagic and Shure IEM's around, and every once in a while spend a day with them. It will remind you where you came from, and make you appreciate the steps you're taking up the ladder of sound.

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Yea, thats a really good idea. I honestly was jst going to sell them off until you mentioned that.
 
Thanks
 
 
Anyone else a spotify user?

Overall, one of the main factors of improving sound quality is also by the file format of your songs. For example, if you buy songs from itunes, you can expect the best quality out there, cause its from the studio directly. However, if you download it illegally on mp3's such as youtube downloaders, you may not have a better sound quality compared to the legal itunes songs. Also, another way is by adjusting your equalizer by the way your prefer it. Don't just max out everything, play with your EQ until you find a mix that you will love. And also, the best is by getting an amp.

Yeah, try to learn your signature preference and eq accordingly. It took me forever to learn the ways of the eq (still haven't fully mastered, but it serves its purpose).

Listen to music at night. Sounds a lot better. Also, listening outside when being blasted by the sun is good too. I don't wanna go into the whole science mumbo jumbo.

Quote:

ezio said:

Overall, one of the main factors of improving sound quality is also by the file format of your songs. For example, if you buy songs from itunes, you can expect the best quality out there, cause its from the studio directly.

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Technically, you'd get better quality from buying physical CDs and ripping them yourself than you'd get just buying the lossy versions from the iTunes store.
 
 

Originally Posted by Ezio 
 
 And also, the best is by getting an amp.

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That is not always the case. 

Thanks for the responses guys.
 
I appreciate that the best sound quality comes from itunes or CD but it just means that I have to build up a collection that will A. take forever to build, B. leave me broke.
 
Personally I see more value for what I want by paying £10 ($15ish) a month for spotify and having just about any (at least so far) song that I want. Hence, why I created this thread.
 
Again, an amp is a no go because it just weighs me down more than I need to be. I'm thinking maybe an EQ app for the iphone but I have no experience with them and wouldnt know where to start. I guess I better get to reading about it.

Maybe you can consider buying a tiny tiny amp like FiiO E6. Check it out

Quote:

reeshahn said:

Maybe you can consider buying a tiny tiny amp like FiiO E6. Check it out

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I have considered the fiiO 6, but on the large, many people seem to advise against it. If i do ever go the way of an amp, I think ill try the FiiO E11.
 
I am actually starting to consider buying songs in FLAC purely to get the full effect of my future 1964 V3s. Where would one purchase FLAC based music from?
 
Thanks

This is the only one I know: https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php

If you are trying to get good sound out of the 1964 V3s, I would not go with the E6. Buy a quality amp.

Also, don't double amp. With the iPhone 4 series, it was possible to get an LOD cable that would bypass the headphone amplifier in the iPhone. Not sure what's available for the iPhone 5 (I am not an Apple person), but that's the way to go if you can. Although since the iPhone 5 apparently has some kind of digital out, even better would be to hook up an external DAC/amp if that's possible (I don't know).

As far as buying CDs and ripping them, it can be surprisingly cheap to buy like new (but used) CDs off from various Amazon vendors and off Ebay. Why? Because people are buying them, ripping them, and reselling them.

Quote:

reeshahn said:

This is the only one I know: https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php

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Thanks for the link, I'll check it out. as far as I can tell, the selection is a little limited.
 
Quote:

cel4145 said:

If you are trying to get good sound out of the 1964 V3s, I would not go with the E6. Buy a quality amp.

Also, don't double amp. With the iPhone 4 series, it was possible to get an LOD cable that would bypass the headphone amplifier in the iPhone. Not sure what's available for the iPhone 5 (I am not an Apple person), but that's the way to go if you can. Although since the iPhone 5 apparently has some kind of digital out, even better would be to hook up an external DAC/amp if that's possible (I don't know).

As far as buying CDs and ripping them, it can be surprisingly cheap to buy like new (but used) CDs off from various Amazon vendors and off Ebay. Why? Because people are buying them, ripping them, and reselling them.

Click to expand...

 
Yea, I'm seriously considering digging out old cds. It may be the way to go.
 
Iphone 5's dont have a LOD cable at present as far as I know. Some people opt to buy a lightening to 32 pin converter and use the iphone 4 LOD cable with that but thats just too much for me to carry around.

Don't buy into hi-res files, 16/48-44.1is perfectly fine.
What music do you like?

Quote:

davidsh said:

Don't buy into hi-res files, 16/48-44.1is perfectly fine.
What music do you like?

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Agreed 100%.
 
Also, I'd say to the OP don't bother buying any amps yet. Wait until you get the fancy new IEMs and see how they work without an amp first.....you may find they sound great as is.
Don't spend the extra amp money unless you have to....that's money you could be buying music with. 

On spotify you should have a look at Ottmar Lieberts album Up Close. Please do so, it is a binaural album.