casio or suunto are your best bets.

Beats are probably marketed for rap and rap style music so it makes sense that it would add a lot of bass. The issue with the increased bass here is that it pretty much muddles the entire track, it is not clean bass. Also the headphone out from most laptops/computers aren't clean either, I...

Hi Tim,   I use reds right now for gaming/typing but I would like a blue or brown for typing at work.   Cheers ~X

add some mechanical keyboard goodness in there

O2 dac+amp (~$300 assembled, under $200 DIY) Senn HD 650 (~400 MSRP, ~$300 sale price)   probably one of the best combos out there.

hmm my onboard audio is very noisy and hissy, external dac removed that problem, probably the only change i noticed.

the hfi-780 seems pretty easy to drive, you can drive it easily with just the e7.

Your headphones are the most important part of the purchase, you are better off spending as much as you can on those, and not worry too much about DAC/AMP.   If you like closed phones, the HFI 580 is great, very easy to drive, no need for a dedicated amp. DT 770-PRO is great too, but...

Quote:   yes, e9 provide much more power than the e17. the e17 is more of a successor to the e7, both can be docked with the e9.

fiio e7/e9 combo, emu 0404 usb, ODAC are all excellent for the money.

right, it was directed at acdoan who said there is no sound through his fiio to headphone randomly

from the reviews it seems like the gsII is pretty poor audiowise, circuitry noise is apparently a big problem with these phones, probably due to lack of proper insulation/shielding. the galaxy nexus doesnt have this issue. a shame really, was looking at the gsII as my next phone.

probably not but sometimes my comp would randomly stop recognizing the fiio, probably happens once every other month for me, not sure why but i usually just restart and it works fine again.

not sure if this is resolved but try unpluging the usb cable from the back of the e9 and reconnecting, if that doesnt work, try a comp restart.

had the same issue, just turned the knob a few times (while plugged) and now its near silent. great with hd 650s