[beni]

Yes...the Ety part is highly recommended for a dorm situation. I sure wish I had them my freshman year when I lived in a floor where my neighbors liked to play racquetball in the hall at 3am.

 

[billcat]

MirandaX: That evalution board is becoming very intriguing. I posted at AudioAsylum to see if anyone there has heard it.

I'm thinking that to start with I'll get the stereo-link 1200 and Etymotic ER-4P headphones. Then once I've had that for a while I'll either get a nice headphone amp to replace the one built into the 1200, or get a dedicated cdp.

If I can find someone who has actually used the evaluation board I would definitely consider getting it instead of the stereo-link, but there is a voice inside my head telling me that with the stereo-link I'll definitely get something decent, and with the evaluation board I could get something horrible. That I'd have to buy a headphone amp for the evaluation board is another strike against it, although a very small one, as I see myself not using the amp built into the stereo-link for long anyway. The urge to take a risk is pretty strong, but at least for now I think I'll take the more sane road

Oh, and the NS500V, along with the other cheap sony sacd players sounds pretty neat. I especially like that down the road I could pay someone a few hundred dollars to mod the thing and make it sound really nice.

 

[kerelybonto]

I really advise against the Etys out of your laptop. I don't consider myself to have extremely acute hearing, and it really kills me to listen to any good headphones out of a computer's jack. Granted, I haven't tried it with an external DAC, but I don't see how that could possibly eliminate all the noise -- and any little bit is going to shine through very clearing with the 4P, from what I hear. And if you're planning on listening to downloaded MP3 files, which I assume you are or you'd also have the music on CD, that's another reason not to buy the Etys. If you've ever listened to MP3 audio on good 'phones, even ones that are ripped well (which downloaded ones usually are not), it doesn't sound so good. Etys will bring out every flaw.

I'm thinking of cashing in my mini-system and going for the NS500V setup for my dorm next year. I might bring along some small speakers, but I'm rapidly converting to being primarily a headphone user, so maybe I'll ditch speakers too. The things I've heard about the NS500V lead me to believe that I'll be able to hang onto it for a while and build a pretty good system around it. Works for me, especially at the price.

kerelybonto

 

[MirandaX]

I use the Ety 4S straight out of my laptop (ThinkPad T20) when I'm out and it sounds really good. Definitely loud enough, reasonable bass, no discernable noise.

I guess it could be argued that the 4S may be more forgiving with noise than the 4P due to it's higher impedance, but I've also heard good things about the 4P and laptops. Etys and laptops are worth a try, especially in a college situation.