i have the se535ltd and the se215, and lemme be the first to tell you that there is absolutely no difference in the amount of hiss.  thus, how much hiss you get will depend completely on your other components.  the se earphones are all very sensitive, so there does tend to be some hiss.  to...

If money isn't that much of a concern for you, I think the AS8 won't be a bad option for the A2.  I say this because I had the AS8 for a few weeks with my current A5 and it sounded pretty good.  If I had to be very nit picky, the bass from the AS8 could've been tighter, but overall, it wasn't...

thanks OP for the awesome dac icons!! :D :D

wow, sorry about the accidental post i made above.  i accidentally pressed enter several times and that happened, haha.   but what i wanted to say was, i've looked all over the internet for a pair of desktop stands for my a5's as well, but the only one that i could find at a decent price...

i've looked all over the internet

i got a pair of A5+, and i ABSOLUTELY love them. but after reading this post, i kinda wish i had known about the rokits before buying the A5+. at least then, i could've went to a local guitar center and heard the sound of the rokits before buying the A5+. this is especially since i use my A5+...

I'm pretty sure that the there is no difference in sound quality between foobar, itunes, and winamp.  There have been quite a few threads on this already, but I'll jus summarize what they said in the following quote from foobar's own website:   Does foobar2000 sound better than other...

To the OP, I had the exact same issue with the A5's, and so I upgraded them to the A5+.  Let me just say that the A5+ is what the A5 should've been.  It's pure perfection.  The biggest gripe I had with the A5 was the automatic sleeping "feature," which automatically turned off the speaker's...

droool at bcg27's equipment.... 

Here's my setup!  I actually don't have the Audioengine S8 anymore, but I got the HSU STF-1 instead (which sounds soooooooooo much better).  I also was able to upgrade my A5 to an A5+.  But the thing I'm actually most happy about in my setup are the hand built speaker stands that I made with my...

^wow, the setup above is pretty crazy. diggin the chair. and you got sooo many headphones!! ...i'm so jealous.

okay, actually, another iem i did have before the shure se310 was the sennheiser cx 300 (the older model which i bought for like $50).  they sounded good at the time, but once i got the se310, seriously the se310 blew the cx 300 out of the water.  it was a completely different league.  

my only experience with iems have been with the shure se310's, which i've had for over 3 years now.  so the only recommendation that i can give you is that the shure se line is really good!  i absolutely love them.  at least with the 310's, the sound is absolutely clear and pristine.  the bass...

just to answer the OP's question about whether a dac would make a big difference, i honestly don't think it would because i don't think the A2's are "good" enough to show the difference in sound quality between your onboard soundcard and a more expensive dac.  allow me to explain by telling you...

i'd get the black.  bamboo is nice, but in terms of sound quality, i don't think the bamboo would be any better than the black.  and since the black looks just as sexy as the bamboo, i'd just save my money and get the black.  besides, i think black is just a safe color for electronics, which can...