[XalD]

Relatively new here, been reading around for a bit and formulated a few ideas but I'd love some outside opinions:

I've been looking into a better media player than my iPhone 4 (I can't stand this thing any longer) that would be able to push my XB-1000s well.

My only true requirements is FLAC, WAV, or ALAC support along with MP3s (some of my stuff isn't worth the storage space to get it in above 320) and preferably won't need an outside amp.

I'm currently interested I'm the Colorfly C4 but the HM-801 is brought up quite a lot.

Ill be listening to everything from 60's and 70's rock and country, to modern electronica (DnB, Trance, ect.) and even some classical pieces, almost all of which I have in lossless.

Think I should venture for the C4?

 

[Sefelt103]

Assuming your headphones are Sony MDR XB1000 headphones then these are extended bass headphones which won't make something like a Colorfly C4/HiFiman HM801 shine. The sort of headphones to go with these players are Sennheiser HD600/650 or Beyerdynamic T1. If you want extra bass and to alter sound signatures then a Cowon X7 would probably be a better choice and save alot of money. This player also has the convenience of 100+ battery life. The Hi-fi players have less than 10 hours.

 

[XalD]

I'm really not looking too much for added bass, I was assuming that getting a C4 would balance out some of the sound on my XBs and be future proof for whatever headphones I head for next, would I be right in assuming so?

 

[Sefelt103]

A player like a C4 should give a very balanced sound ie. the tone should be even across the frequency range, so a track that was recorded with only a small amount of bass will have just that. If you feed a signal like that into a set of extended bass earphones or headphones then the speakers inside the headphones use much of the electrical signal to emphasise the bass as well as using shapes to alter the acoustics for more bass. It won't sound terrible due to the high grade of electronics in the C4. I have never heard a C4 so I can't tell you how it would sound but I accidentally bought a set of Sennheiser HD485 (extended bass headphones) and they were not great with my old 5th gen. iPod Video which gave a fairly balanced sound although it was slightly light on bass. Players like the C4 and most Hi-fi players have limited equalisation options, some argue they shouldn't have any eq. options which makes it awkward if you wanted to reduce bass slightly. It's the choice of the listener to either hear as near to what the artist recorded or to hear a bit lower quality altered version.

 

[XalD]

But then wouldn't I run into a greater issue if I got a player that emphasises bass due to then the added bass from the headphones too? Which would in turn make the sound more muddy?

I understand I'm not goin to really get a truly flat sound from my XB1000's, which I'm OK with because I never monitor out of my headphones in the first place, I was just hoping getting something like a C4 would help mellow out the sound enough for it to be clean and clear in the mids but still have the bass to keep a lot of tracks fun.