@bowei --> from my understanding, it's 5k total for 2 FiiO "batches". But I might be wrong.
@fedayn --> yay! first post!
@EVERYONE:
I will most likely get in the coming weeks either the LCD-2 Rev. 3's (let's see when they come up with them, with the new bamboo flavour), the HE-400, or the AKG 601/Grado 225i(I don't know if it was the quality of the recording, but they simply blew my mind --> completely voluptuos sound).
At the moment I am thinking of, no matter the option regarding the headphones, to get the FiiO E17, mainly because I will play 100% of the time music from the laptop, and I need both a decent sound card/DAC call it how you want, and an amp. And hose/that need to be fairly small, easy to carry, and to be put together with the laptop in a small bag.
It is already stupid to pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars for something as trivial as art and beauty (sarcasm, of course). I would go bonkers to get the HD700, or worse yet, HD650/600 (listened to the last 2, found them absolutely boring, veiled, and stripped of beauty and fun, with a LehmanBrothers 800 euros amplifier, and a super serious source and quality CD), and need to pay double or triple the cost of the headphones to make them sound good.
So the idea is this: I would like to get some rather easy-to-drive open cans, with beautiful base, full, round, warm sound, just perfect for a few hours of continuos bliss. As a secondary pair I will probably get the Bainwavs HM5, as the package provides a long term, durable, day to day use product.
I listen mostly to hip-hop (85% interested in the lirics - Common, 2pac, NAS, EyeDea, Athmosphere, etc etc) where I am mostly interested in having the lyrics as comprehensible as possible and with a nice, rounding, warm, decent base. After that, rock of the alternative kind, some soul, old r&b, jazz, and after that, some classical here and there.
So: mp3's (some older ones with 192kbps, others 256, others 320). Will start gathering flacs and such, but this will come in time.
Long term wise: 1. would you recommend the FiiO E17 as a decent-enough solution for laptop listening and portability while traveling? 2. Would highly expensive products, such as the LCD-2 or HE-400 be a good match to the E17? And yes, for me, if I get the HE 400 or LCD 2, it's game over for at least 3 years, because on this occasion it's half me, half a gift.
LCD 2 + E17 ==> ? thoughts on that ?
HE 400 + E17 ==> ?
Other + E17 ==> given the list of considerations above
