[Droog]

Hey everyone, I'm getting some graduation money and I need a new rig for walking around campus next year. I already have a pair of Audio Technia M50s but kind of want something more portable. I listen to lot's of drum and base, house, and rock. I have been looking at the Zune HD and the iPod classic. My budget is around 300$. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

[bik2101]

never listened to the zuneHD before or even read much about it.. but the newest version of the classic sounds pretty great even straight out of the HP out. 

 

[hairuko]

Get some badass IEM's

 

[4DThinker]

I almost hate to say it, but if your campus has WiFi everywhere then consider the iPod Touch.  Why? It'll play your music, but also let you use it for 50,000 other things. Check your school email. Check the weather before you head to school. Download a few games for those boring lectures. Majoring in architecture?  If so, download an angle finder app. I'm almost ready to require students to have one for my Furniture Design classes. Compound mitre angles?  There's an App for that.  Etc.
 
And if you can wait a month Apple will be introducing a new model that "may" have a camera, and will certainly be more memory for your money than the current 3rd gen.

 

[iPoodz]

My advice would be to wait until right before your school starts to buy anything. Or, buy something at the beginning of a product cycle.
 
That means, don't buy a ZuneHD or iPod Touch right now. Wait until the newer versions come out. If they are better, get them. If not, get the older versions at a lower price. There's a pretty solid trend, as 4D said, that you'll get more memory for your money in the next gen anyway.
 
Consider the J3, as well. 4DThinker is right, that Wifi might be useful (my campus has Wifi everywhere), but I'm honestly happy my Zune30 and my phone can't check email, because then that's what I'd be doing, instead of listening + studying!

 

[usf09]

If you are looking at getting a Mac, then wait for a little while, and get a Touch or Classic, whatever comes free...but if you are getting a PC, then wait for the new models to come out...

 

[Droog]

I actually already have an iPhone. The reason I don't use it for music is that its only the 8gb model and for some reason the jack on my M50s doesn't fit into it all the way. I'm also not restricted to microsoft or apple, I have a windows desktop and a macbook so actually another brand would be nice to keep everything playing well together. What about some good IEMs?

 

[Young Spade]

^How much are you willing to spend on the IEMs? What genres of music do you like? How important is isolation? These things will get us started

 

[Droog]

My budget for IEMs is probably like 150$. I listen to lots of drum and bass, house, and rock music. Isolation isn't really a huge deal to me, as long as I can hear the music. I've read a lot of good things about the RE0s. The only thing im concerned about when it comes to IEMs is that I have a hard time keeping them in my ears. 

 

[Zink]

From what I've read the RE0's have recessed bass and wouldn't be great for drum & bass or house. I think you should read more in the iem forum and if you have to make a thread with you final picks asking which would be best given your music.
 
I would stick with you iPhone as a portable player as opposed to a second device like an iPod Classic. You will only have to keep one device in you pocket and for $300 I'm pretty sure you could find a way to upgrade to to a 16GB 3GS or the lowest model of this years iPhone when it comes out. If you only want about 2000 V2 mp3's with you on the go then 16GB is fine as long as you don't have 50 million apps. It is unlikely they will downgrade sound quality with the releases this summer and the SQ difference between a Classic and an iPhone is not really major unless you are somewhere quiet and listening critically. If you do want a dedicated dap then a Sansa Clip+ is a great way to go because it is small, sounds good and you can add a 16GB SD card for extra storage. The built in EQ is also a huge plus because you can make almost any iem and music sound pretty good. The Clip can also play FLAC and runs rockbox if you want extra control.