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I really don't know the Fostex brand. Any good?
No info for Europe yet, usually we're a few months behind.
Fostex is one of the most respected names in pro audio, and has been making audio gear used in recording studies for decades now. They were one of the pioneers of orthodynamic technology back before it was popular, and now that it's popular they seem to be focusing on other areas oddly enough. Their amp / DAC combos are generally well regarded by those who have tried them, but you don't hear much about them because aside from a few lower-end models they aren't available outside of Japan.
Let's not forget they are the largest(?) speaker and transducer company in the world, with over 20,000 employees in over 9 countries, they make headphones for various companies including the entire Denon D2000, D5000, D7000 line, and they have the most popular and most sold earphone in the world.
"iPod earbuds are the iconic
[size=x-small][1][/size][size=x-small][2][/size] white
earphones that ship with all music players designed and marketed by
Apple Inc. These earphones are manufactured solely by the
Fostex corporation of
Japan."
Their workshop in Japan is very quiet, very neat and tidy, it feels like it's in the country-side, they announced the HP-A3 and HP-A7 years ago, they really weren't in a rush to release them huh!
More recently, they've started the Kotori line within Japan, such as the Kotori 201 which is an improvement on their Denon D1001.
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Yes, though it seems that they're testing the waters and slowly creeping up the pricing ladder with each new product. I'm only saying that there is a greater expectation of balanced outs once you get to the 1400$ level.
The SD card feature looks interesting, however I fear anyone anal enough to convert then copy DSF & WAV files onto a tiny little card. I guess it's more of a luxury feature. After all, who listens to mp3s anymore?
They're not testing the waters, they've had the TH900 prototype for years already, they're not even interested in the waters haha.
As for the SD card, you know you have to use Jplay as your media player in Kernel Streaming with a $400 silver USB cable and a $900 USB->S/pdif converter to ensure PC audio is even remotely near correct and jitter-free, yes?
Not to mention, you should spend
at least $2500 on an SACD player if you take your so called audio passion seriously.
As an alternative, you could - perchance - back-up your SACD collection onto SD cards, and skip that process, if you wish.