goodvibes
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2009
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They use completely different insides. It don't take bat ears . Good news is that it's hard to go wrong here.
Hi again everyone. My Nova N3 arrived and I have some comments and questions. I had the Cowon D2+ until it finally punked out on me last year, which I know has a much higher quality than eg the iPod, but this is my first "audiophile" player per se. I don't know audiophile terminology. I'll do my best to explain clearly.
First, no surprise and others have mentioned already, the UI is kind of terrible. The buttons are so sensitive I've hit them accidentally even while just trying to flick the hold switch. When the backlight switches off, so do the little LEDs that illuminate the buttons, making it impossible to tell which button is which in the dark. For some reason there's a tactile button on the side for voice recording, which I've hit accidentally a few times, yet no tactile volume control or play-pause. The player's gold color also looks pretty tacky to me.
All of these are minor niggles and don't matter much to me compared to sound quality. I have to say, I'm a bit surprised. It hasn't blown me away. I've listened to a variety of songs using my Shure SE-215s and the bundled Wooduos. I've tried the HSA 2.0 and the Wooduo EQ settings. In both cases, I found good clarity and detail. Good instrument separation and I've heard things I haven't heard before in some songs. But the lows are weak to the point of absence. The bass lacks both strength and depth and in some songs I can't hear parts I know should be there. The highs have a sharpness that's almost tinny, so if I push the volume a little higher to try to hear the lows the highs actually hurt my ears.
I find the overall sound flat and distant, like I'm looking through aquarium glass instead of swimming in the ocean. I don't know if I'm just used to heavy EQs and maybe this is just what my music really sounds like, or there's something else I'm not aware of. It's really puzzling me, since I had high expectations for this player.
I suppose that you using the Woodoo EQ may also be part of that. I don't find that EQ as natural as HSA.
Individual subjects are audiophile, not players...
N1's Wooduo setting is very bassy and paired with Wooduo2 the depth is extreme. That's why I prefer HSA V1.0 which has still a good amount of bass. N1 and N3 seem to have a fairly different sound signature.
I suspect hsa is HiSounds attempt at what they feel best but I agree, to each his own. I was simply stating my own take and pointing to why someone may have a certain and different interpretation. .