M-Duo Review http://anythingbutipod.com/2013/09/meelectronics-m-duo-iem-review/    

Quote: - No problems with firwire connection and it frees up another USB port ftw. - "do I consider this as a DAC ?" It's a recording sound card that bypasses onboard sound card, so it's a DAC with amplified headphone out. - "then I should buy this and an amp right ?" No amp needed...

Quote:   It’s a firewire sound card that bypasses you’re onboard soundcard and offers a lot of output options. Those that own it tell me it drives the hd650s fine but it’s not an amp. I don’t own one and only recommended because it falls below your budget, I drive my HD650s with a tube amp.

If you don't mind using firewire connection, I'd say look at the AudioFire 2  

Quote:   Quote:   I still have my A151s and use them occasionally but have been using the A161Ps more now as I like their overall sound qualities better. While speaking of the A151s I feel that you are on target and the bass quantity is good but I don’t feel they extend all the way...

Quote: While NTFS maybe faster, that isn't the question regarding microSD expansion cards that work with the Clip+ or Zip. Every card needs to be formatted in FAT32 to work with mp3 players and the phones I've read about. I'm not sure what would happen if they weren't but I'd venture to say...

Quote: Enjoy it, BTW you can also go with a 64GB microSD if you format it to FAT32. That said if you don't rockbox it with either a 32GB card or higher you may not like the db refresh time when you change tunes on it.

While I do not put much weight on amazon reviews, base on your post here I took a look and see 460 reviews of which break out like this: 174 five star, 111 four star, 45 three star, 28 two star and 102 one star reviews. So I took a look at the one star reviews, while I wasn’t going to read them...

Quote: The writer uses the term “mp3 player” a lot rather than saying digital audio player and in one instant they say “mp3 users” but they probably mean digital audio file users. It’s a brief article with not much depth just trying to get the message across but the real issue IMHO is the...

Two interesting links on the loudness topic: http://gilmore2.chem.northwestern.edu/articles/hearing_art.htm  or  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6982184.stm

Quote: I think we're in agreement on everything. Although they don't have ears of steal, they might believe they do but give them a few years at max and they'll sufferer noise-induced hearing loss just like anyone else :/

I would have never read that review if someone had not pointed it out here as I don't put any weight on that publication … “Some distortion on deep bass tracks at maximum volumes keeps the A161P from being a masterpiece.” “At maximum volume, the A161P suffers from some serious distortion on deep...

 A161P review, look here. Currently own the A151 and A161P, but have owned and reviewed the M31s and M16s

You can read my review here and I posted some additional pictures here