[Chaka Zulu]

I recently returned a newly bought Sans Fuze because coming from my old Meizu M6( which I lost), I was disappointed by the Fuze sound quality as it just could not drive the RE0 and a deliver as full of sound as I would have liked.

I am now in the market for a nice Dap around $100-$120. I have narrowed down my search to the Cowon D2, Cowon IAudio 7, and Sony S639F. I am mainly just looking for a nice mp3 player to listen to good music while walking around campus and such. SQ is my top priority, and they must be able to drive my RE0's very well.

I'm leaning towards the IAudio7, but will it sound better than the Sony when paired with my Head Direct RE0 earphones?

 

[fatman]

compare to most IEM ( 8-16 ohm )or other earbuds, RE0 has a higher impedance of 64 OHM.

So it is need more power DAP to boost it. I have both amp3 and RE0 and other daps. I find only AMP3 can synergy with RE0s.

Amp3 have an built in individual class A amp. Alot of reports said it can boost perfectly with HD 600 (300 OHM)。

The price of AMP3 is a slithly hiher than your budget of $149. but you can get a DAP/AMP/hifi FM/ hifi earphone for items. especially the hifi earphone are the same quality level as your RE0s!

 

[dnewhous]

I'm curious about this, but could you be a little more explicit on the make and model of an "AMP3?"

 

[fatman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dnewhous /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm curious about this, but could you be a little more explicit on the make and model of an "AMP3?"

AMP3 has upgrade to AMP3 pro2, which will be available on 10th Sep at Whiplash audio, you can contact with MR CRAIG who is also the sponsor of HEADFI.

The new version of AMP3 will be upgraded. can can be compatible with FLAC and 16 G external micro SDHC card.

Other informations you can refer to the comments on this forum:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f15/am...8/index60.html

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f15/am...49/index5.html

 

[ljokerl]

I'm not sure why you found the Fuze unsatisfactory. I don't know which version of the M6 you had, but you may have become accustomed to its particular sound signature and were thus disappointed in (neutral) Fuze paired with the (neutral) RE0.

As for other players, the Cowon players are too cold and my Sony A828 detracted from the detail and the soundstage isn't as wide as the Fuze. Yes, the RE0s have 64-ohm impedance, but they really aren't as hungry as people make them out to be. They don't benefit much from amping and weaker DAPs drive them fine. I'm sticking with the Fuze/clip, personally. They deliver the neutral, accurate sound I am looking for and the wide soundstage of the fuze complements the RE0s nicely.

 

[asrphani]

Even i have fuze,sony 828 and re0.I find RE0 go very well with FUZE .But the max output you get from fuze is a liitle dissappointing, especially when you compare it to Sony.I tried to amp RE0 with E5 but i did not work and i do not recommend this combination to anyone.Now my problem is,i did not even like the Sony828 and RE0 combination,it sounds too sharp for me.Probably i will have to burn it for atleast 100hrs!

@fatman
Did you try re0 with sony 828 or sansa fuze.Do you recommend AMP3 ?

 

[Chaka Zulu]

Just got my Cowon Iaudio 7 delivered to me via amazon. I must say, this thing is SO AWESOME. The thing with the fuze is that it just sounded so flat and lifeless to me. The cowon Iaudio7 just makes things shine, and truly gives the RE0's some justice in my opinion, making me remember why they were so highly praised here, the detail and accuracy and transparency is incredible. This is all with the default eq as well, so I still have a lot of exploring to do. The Cowon also drives the hell out of the RE0, I wouldn't dare listen to this thing at full volume, while with the sansa fuze, I had to really really crank the volume up to get decent listening volumes.

After careful research on various sites and reading countless threads and reviews, looking at players such as the sony s639f, D2, among others, I couldn't be happier with my choice in the Iaudio 7. Highly recommended. Man this thing is just so ahead sound quality wise of the fuze its not even funny.

 

[asrphani]

@Chaka Zulu

How do you find the fuze sound compared to Iaudio7,is it cold or warm ? FWIR here cowon's are generally cold.
I find fuze sound really cold whenever i get back from sony.What abt hiss do you notice it in i7.

 

[Chaka Zulu]

Cowon IAudio 7 sound compared to the fuze, I would say that if the cowon is considered cold, then the fuze is like Antarctica compared to the cowon. One thing with the cowon is that it presents so much detail in the recordings that if there is hiss, it is usually the fault of the recording. With a proper recording I notice no hiss whatsoever, even when cranked up to high volume levels. The Iaudio 7 is a much more forward sounding mp3 player, where as I felt the fuze sounded cold, neutral, and distant. As far as overall sound quality and with some eq tweaking here and there, the Iaudio 7 is just simply superior to the fuze as far as sound quality capabilities are concerned.

The fuze is more user friendly however and way easier to navigate, as it automatically sorts songs based on artist, album, track, etc, into appropriate folders which are easy to access. For its price, the sansa fuze is definitely a very solid option. But for me sound quality was my overall top priority, so I was willing to make some sacrifices. The cowons screen looks cheap compared to the fuze, the navigation menus are not nearly as well presented as the fuze, album art and pictures on the cowon are laughable, but these are things I can live with, as the increase in sound quality is worth the trade offs in my opinion.

 

[koven]

i have a re0 and fuze... it's a very nice combo

i also used to have an amp3, there was hiss with the re0 but the sound was amazing as well, better than the fuze