Packgrog
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2006
- Posts
- 860
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- 34
Quote:
So the Sansa sounds better with Rockbox? That's good to know. *ponders*
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It's your lucky day! I own both the Cowon A2 and the Atrio m5, and have found them to be a superb match! I tend to set the volume somewhere between 20 and 25 (range of 0-40), and that's PLENTY of power to drive the Atrio, though not enough for high-impedance cans like the HD-600. The A2 has a Wolfson DAC chip and a surprisingly clean headphone stage (no hiss at all). The only disadvantages to the A2 in my opinion are that 30GB feels limited for FLACs (though it plays them beautifully, as well as OGG and MP3), the lack of gapless playback, and the lack of ReplayGain support. For pure audio quality, though, the thing is gorgeous (plus it's a surprisingly excellent video player as well). I really haven't used it as a video player since I stopped commuting from Long Island to Manhattan on the train, but the sound quality is marvelous, so I've kept it as an audio player.
It's worth noting that the Cowon A2 can sound bright with some headphones, providing a very neutral output without any EQ settings. This provides superb synergy with the Atrio, which tends to be more bass-heavy than most IEMs. I don't recommend using any bass boosting with any Future Sonics IEMs, or it will sound horrible. There's more than enough bass with a flat EQ!
You absolutely cannot go wrong with the Cowon A2 and the Atrio. You'd probably have to get an iMod to get sound quality better than this in a portable. Word of warning, though: Only use the Atrio through the headphone jack. You really can't hook the A2 up with an amp and have it sound good at all. If you want something more portable, you might look into the D2 as well, though with a big enough SDHC card, it might be cost prohibitive.
Hope that helps!
| Originally Posted by Caribou679 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I then rockboxed the Sansa and now with the Atrio I can enjoy the SQ of the rockboxed Sansa. |
So the Sansa sounds better with Rockbox? That's good to know. *ponders*
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Richdel /img/forum/go_quote.gif Does anyone use an A2 with these M5's, or at least have the chance to test-drive an A2 with these M5's? While I am not interested in the video portion of the A2, the amplifier (16 Ohm earphones : 32mW + 32mW) and 30GB drive with many codec support make the A2 a viable alternative to the Kenwood Media Kegs at a significant (>$100.00USD) savings. But SQ is very important to me, so does anyone have experience with the A2? or both? |
It's your lucky day! I own both the Cowon A2 and the Atrio m5, and have found them to be a superb match! I tend to set the volume somewhere between 20 and 25 (range of 0-40), and that's PLENTY of power to drive the Atrio, though not enough for high-impedance cans like the HD-600. The A2 has a Wolfson DAC chip and a surprisingly clean headphone stage (no hiss at all). The only disadvantages to the A2 in my opinion are that 30GB feels limited for FLACs (though it plays them beautifully, as well as OGG and MP3), the lack of gapless playback, and the lack of ReplayGain support. For pure audio quality, though, the thing is gorgeous (plus it's a surprisingly excellent video player as well). I really haven't used it as a video player since I stopped commuting from Long Island to Manhattan on the train, but the sound quality is marvelous, so I've kept it as an audio player.
It's worth noting that the Cowon A2 can sound bright with some headphones, providing a very neutral output without any EQ settings. This provides superb synergy with the Atrio, which tends to be more bass-heavy than most IEMs. I don't recommend using any bass boosting with any Future Sonics IEMs, or it will sound horrible. There's more than enough bass with a flat EQ!
You absolutely cannot go wrong with the Cowon A2 and the Atrio. You'd probably have to get an iMod to get sound quality better than this in a portable. Word of warning, though: Only use the Atrio through the headphone jack. You really can't hook the A2 up with an amp and have it sound good at all. If you want something more portable, you might look into the D2 as well, though with a big enough SDHC card, it might be cost prohibitive.
Hope that helps!
