[ramintop]

how does the s:flo2 compare to the sony walkman x in terms of sound quality?

 

[Hero Kid]

Here's my $0.02.
Don't bother with a portable head-phone amp. I too was looking at them, naively drooling thinking they would make everything sound amazing. It's easy to get sucked into the supposed glory of having one. The sound difference you achieve from using one is quite minute. You are far better of putting the funds into a) A better source OR b) Better 'phones.
I too will recommend a s:flo2. I know there is a lot of hype around them at the moment and people stupidly raving about them, others trying their best to piss on parade. I don't own one but have no life and sit here and read about stuff for hours on end every day. If you want amazing sound quality for a affordable price the s:flo2 is hard to beat.
The two biggest "issues" that you will have to consider is:
8-10 hour battery life. The player has a massive high powered battery, it's just the massive amount of chips/other jargon they stuffed in there that sucks it all away.
The Unit Interface/Firmware. I think the best thing to sum it up is people seem to get used to it. It's not the best, far from it but it's usable and for the SQ you get I think it becomes easy to overlook.
Some people report issues with the bass quality. You can read into this and make up your own mind. My initial impression is that this isn't an issue at all. Feel free to try and prove otherwise.
Also if the size and weight of the player you could always save some cash and get a 2gb Clip+ and use the same microSD card as your s:flo2 for jogging, etc.

Ok now I've wasted 5 minutes of your life talking about the s:flo2. Let's talk 'phones.
You should have $200-$250 which should get you something decent for sure. The higher you go up in the price spectrum the more and more 'phones become specific to certain musical tastes. I don't really know tonnes of 'phones to recommend but I think your best bet is to get an idea of what's available and take your research further into ones that interest you.
Here's two great starting places.
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f103/m...4-09-a-478568/ & http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f103/m...-v-3-a-450407/

Hope you enjoy whatever you end up with. Either way I'm sure you will be happy.
Hope I helped.

 

[Young Spade]

^ Thanks for that post, very informative and I would agree with you on multiple points. However, I wouldn't say to knock amps all together, I would say that you should wait until you're pretty much done upgrading your source and phones (as Hero said) before you consider buying one however.

And yea, the battery life isn't amazing, but I don't mind it. I charge it either daily or every other day and don't have to worry about running out of power.

The UI is good as well, usable, isn't the best, but gets the job done and quite frankly, if other DAPs used this same UI I wouldn't complain. The firmware will get better over time (I'm using 2.00 and no gripes here), all they need is sorting by Genres and I'll be a happy camper.)

Oh and to add to the list of threads you should go to, I'd highly suggest checking out the top tier IEM thread with the chart (just search top tier or something and you should find it). Very informative and the discussions on that thread are great as well.

 

[Hero Kid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Young Spade /img/forum/go_quote.gif ^ I'd highly suggest checking out the top tier IEM thread with the chart (just search top tier or something and you should find it). Very informative and the discussions on that thread are great as well.

I told you I have no life. http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f103/t...-often-476315/ here's a link. Because searching is so hard and stuff?

 

[Roadsong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Young Spade /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you want the best SQ for under 100 bucks, I'd definitely start with the s:flo2/T51. They're the same player FYI and sound amazing; they simply blow every other portable dap out there out of the water. And like a poster above me said, just go read the long review/impression/appreciation threads around here and you'll see what I mean. The power output from the HO port is very strong so you probably won't need an amp now. That would leave about... 250 dollars to spend on headphones. What type of sound are you looking for? After skimming this thread I don't think you stated what types of music you listen to.

S:Flo2 is now a lock. I will pull the trigger in the next couple of days.

I have spent the last several hours reading reviews of full-sized headphones.....I gotta say, I am being charmed by the Senn HD600 reviews (though I am concerned if they can be driven decently without an amp)

For full-sized phones, I will listen to a majority of classical, and to a lesser extent, 50's/60's jazz. I do listen to classic rock, but mostly when walking and comfortable & inexpensive earbuds will be fine for now (I am thinking Senn CX300 for my walking earphones)

 

[Young Spade]

^Great. However, you won't be able to fully power HD600s without an amp of some kind. If you're going to stick to the full sized cans route, you might have to settle on something that requires less power.
IMO:
DAP no amp = IEMs
DAP amp = IEMs/Full sized cans

Now I'm not saying you can't do it, but you won't be able to use some headphones unless you get a portable amp to give them enough power.

 

[boswd]

If you do come in under budget you can go on to Amazon and get a 2G Cip+ for around $30 and then now you can have the best of both worlds. You could use the S FLO for day to day listening and then use your Clip+ for exercising or when the need for ultra portable comes into play. You'll have two of the best sounding players for all your needs.

 

[Roadsong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Young Spade /img/forum/go_quote.gif ^Great. However, you won't be able to fully power HD600s without an amp of some kind. If you're going to stick to the full sized cans route, you might have to settle on something that requires less power. IMO: DAP no amp = IEMs DAP amp = IEMs/Full sized cans Now I'm not saying you can't do it, but you won't be able to use some headphones unless you get a portable amp to give them enough power.

Its starting to look like a two stage process.

Stage One) Buy the S:Flo2 & follow Hero Kid's links to further research IEM's -- the Senn CX300 for walking, and a more detailed IEM for listening to classical & jazz in the quiet of my home.

Stage Two) When my budget allows, buy full-sized headphones and an amplifier that best suits the particular headphone. (My brief research into full-sized headphones this afternoon has revealed that many folks have very specific preferences when matching the headphones to an amp or an amp/dac combo.)

I'm okay with doing this in two stages if the initial result is hearing music at reasonably high quality, and then when I can afford it, take it to the next level with a superb quality set of headphones and amp.

 

[Roadsong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boswd /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you do come in under budget you can go on to Amazon and get a 2G Cip+ for around $30 and then now you can have the best of both worlds. You could use the S FLO for day to day listening and then use your Clip+ for exercising or when the need for ultra portable comes into play. You'll have two of the best sounding players for all your needs.

Thanks! Exactly what I am thinking...........I really don't want to risk the S:Flo2 falling out of my pocket while exercising.

 

[Young Spade]

^^ I like it. Good thing you have the patience and the plan all laid out. And to reference your parenthesis about matching amps to phones, it's called synergy. Some phones have great synergy with other sources and daps, and when you get into the higher end equipment you might have to take that into consideration as well.

Well good luck and remember, you can never do too much reading/learning about future equipment

 

[Roadsong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hero Kid /img/forum/go_quote.gif I told you I have no life. http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f103/t...-often-476315/ here's a link. Because searching is so hard and stuff?

This was an extremely informative link! The two IEM's that I keep coming back to, the Etymotic EP-4 & the Head Direct RE0, both scored at the top of the tier. The RE0 is $100 cheaper -- which begs the question, are the Etymotic's $100 better?

 

[boswd]

Thanks! Exactly what I am thinking...........I really don't want to risk the S:Flo2 falling out of my pocket while exercising.[/QUOTE

that's what I'm going to do, right now I have the Fuze which is great for my daily commute and round the house but I hate using the armband for the treadmill and long walks/jogs is a little annoying to me. My wife doesn't mind it but but to be able to get the clip and put it anywhere and still have top notch SQ just makes so much more sense.

as other's have said, nice game plan you got going

good luck

 

[Young Spade]

Depends on how much you love the music it makes. The ER-4Ps are pretty much the benchmarks of accuracy/detail etc.

IMO in this hobby prices don't really mean anything to some extent. How much are you willing to pay to be able to hear those little nuances with your music? Is it worth that extra 200 bucks to be able to hear each individual person playing in the orchestra? What about imaging? Do you need to be able to precisely point to the instrument and hear WHERE the string on the violin is played? For a lot of us, it's yes and that question of "is this worth x more?" comes down to your dedication to your music.

EDIT: ^ That should be on the slogan of a card or something at a vendor's table if they were to participate in can jam or some other audio convention. Of course that dollar amount would vary

 

[cswann1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roadsong /img/forum/go_quote.gif -- which begs the question, are the Etymotic's $100 better?

Oh God no!! Don't go there! For the sake of your immortal soul [size=medium]DON'T GO THERE!!![/size]

 

[Roadsong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Young Spade /img/forum/go_quote.gif Depends on how much you love the music it makes. The ER-4Ps are pretty much the benchmarks of accuracy/detail etc.

I'm getting into this hobby with earnest because music is my greatest passion -- yes, details matter. But.........and I do preface with "but".......if I can save $100 now on some good quality, but perhaps not BEST quality IEM's, then I can apply that $100 towards my "big boy set-up" when I plunk down hundreds of dollars for top-notch full-sized headphones and hundreds of dollars more for an amp that has proper synergy with the headphones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cswann1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Oh God no!! Don't go there! For the sake of your immortal soul [size=medium]DON'T GO THERE!!![/size]

Did I open a can of worms?