[yosment]

I don't think the HD25 has enough resolution to make this distinction clear.  I have some other phones where this would be much more pronounced; i.e., Beyer DT1350, Westone 4r or my ES5, ATH-ESW10JPN or the HD800. The HD25 is a fun headphone but not highly resolving in my opinion.

Since i have been travelling in Asia at the moment, only have the Sennheiser PXC450 with me, for the noise cancellation on flights, besides the newly purchased HD25. Have tried the DT1350 in the Japanese shop, But felt (at least at that moment) that HD25 sounded a bit better. Though the sound stage is quite narrow for HD25, which is the pitfall, but I mainly listen to vocals and pops...

Ps. Filter 2 is better than filter 1 when listening to pop, in my ears

 

[yosment]

I've got the same setup as you (except I'm mostly using my 4S).

Are you using lossless files to start?

For me, it depends on the genre of music and the quality of the recording. But overall, I prefer listening via the HP_P1 than without it. Some tracks it's clearly obvious, with others it's less so.

Since I do not have many choices at the moment, I ripped some pop songs from Madonna's American Life album in wav formats (used the iTunes in built ripping function) to test.

Also conducted blind test by using the PXC450, i can tell the dif more but it is not day and night different either.

 

[yosment]

What music did you use? Many headphones like the HD25s are designed to work well enough out of an iPod. Usually with the jazz or classical I like there will be some obvious harshness using headphones straight out of an iPod. Switching to a good amp or DAC/amp will remove this. I reckon there is quite a bit of music like which would be fine straight out of an iPod. I've been tossing up keeping a loaner pair of ESW10JPNs for this kind of music where I don't need a large amount of refinement.

I doubt HD25 will perform well when listening to classic or jazz, cause I have read enough reviews complaining the narrow sound stage it has and have confirmed that after I bought it. Will blind test it using jazz when back home... But I mainly listen to vocals and pop when commuting everyday.

What I initially felt was that the DAC of iPod claasic was not as crappy as I expected (like the iPod touch 4 for example.) also tried the iPad with Fostex, not bad either...

 

[yosment]

Unless you can be sure both setups drive your headphones at the same volume level, you will find it very difficult to compare accurately. I have not tried a blind test, but I hear much better controlled bass (and less in-your-face) and more detail in the mids when using the HP-P1 with my HD-25s. I'm looking to upgrade to a better closed phone. Without the HP-P1, I don't like the HD-25 at all.
 


 

Without a precise volume control tool, it IS THE most difficult part in the blinf test, especially when the person I am travelling with is already fed up by my tedious repetitive testing requests!

 

[yosment]

Tried "Valerie" by Amy Winehouse, but in mp3 format in my iPod touch 4 just now. At similar volume, dif is small. Jitter exists both with and w/o Fostex. But the max volume on ipod touch is quite low and Fostex can drive the volume up so much more.

In order to do a good test, do you use big /close to max volume or smaller volume?

 

[Mkubota1]

Quote:

Without a precise volume control tool, it IS THE most difficult part in the blinf test, especially when the person I am travelling with is already fed up by my tedious repetitive testing requests!

 
Hahaha... glad to see you are keeping it honest though.  It's bad enough having to explain these things to 'non-audio geeks'.  

 
 
 

In order to do a good test, do you use big /close to max volume or smaller volume?

 
Higher volumes will definitely test things like dynamics, headroom, and straight-up loudness.  And the less efficient your headphones are, the more they will benefit from something like the HP-P1.

 

[ExpatinJapan]

Anyone else using flacplayer app?
 
I love it, seems to give an added sparkle.

 

[triodesteve]

Quote:

 Jitter exists both with and w/o Fostex.

Jitter always exists. I'm not sure you are expressing what you are hearing. Your Fostex is brand new right? Give it some time. I've been listening to digital since 1980. Believe me when I tell you that the Fostex is really good. You won't regret it. But where it shines is nuance. It lets you relax and get into the music in a way that digital rarely does. It lets you forget that you are listening to a machine. Stop comparing and worrying and enjoy yourself.

 

[gkanai]

Tried "Valerie" by Amy Winehouse, but in mp3 format in my iPod touch 4 just now.

Mp3 = 128 Kpbs? 256? 320?

 

[ExpatinJapan]

I`m fairly strictly lossless ALAC or FLAC these days, except for a couple of random hard to acquire tracks.
 
Its just not worth having bad files, (garbage in, garbage out) especially with something like the fostex.
The resolution of the Fostex makes bad files sound 10 times worse.
 
Some would say 256 or 320kbps is enough, but for me -safety first! So I go lossless. 

haha.
 
But of course in this thread I probably preaching to the choir.

 

[yosment]

Mp3 = 128 Kpbs? 256? 320?

For that song it is 320k. But I have decided to go all wav from now... 160g can hold 320 albums if one song is approx. 50mb...

 

[Lillee]

I have one of these: 
 
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/240GB-iPod-upgrade-oringal-7th-Gen-160GB-iPod-/261046704763
 
worth the investment as I only run ALAC converted from FLAC or WAV

 

[yosment]

Has anyone used the program Max to save Flac format as Aiff in iTunes?

 

[ExpatinJapan]

Max is a good program.

 

[Currawong]

There is also XLD (X Lossless Decoder).