I know this thread hasn't had a response in a while, but I just want to say that I finally got the 0404, and it is AMAZING. I had no idea it would make this much difference. It is a complete night and day difference from the soundblaster live. Everything is so much richer and deeper, voices are...

How much better than the AV-710 is the emu, and does it justify its price being four times as much? I'm going to buy one of them because right now I am using the crappy soundblaster that came with my computer, and I really don't wan't to spend much money. I'm only going to play stereo...

Ok, thanks. So the dropoff is an iPod specific problem?

So this means there would be no problems using the e4c straight out of the player?

Well, I have to admit, I wouldn't really have noticed it if I weren't looking for it hard; hell, I could even have made it up. I'm more interested in how they play with even lower impedance canalphones, like the e4c which everyone complains about with the iPod

I know that the iPod suffers from a large drop off in bass when driving very low impedance phones, so I was wondering about other DAP's. Have any of you noticed this problem in iRiver, Rio, Cowon, Sony, or any other company's mp3 players, or is this an iPod specific problem? I have the iRiver...