[vranswer]

Sony's awesome, tiny new flash player, the NW-E507. The synergy is unbelievable, and coolness factor smashes the charts. I won't go into the features/benefits of the player itself, as that's been done quite sufficiently in the thread entitled New Sony Flash Players. This is about giving my potent E4s the low-end lava they crave.

The E507 is sleek, gorgeous, and sports the absolutely coolest OLED display anyone's ever seen. Using it, one wants to simply announce,"beam me up, Scotty" and proceed to the annual United Federation of Planets convention. But that's just the beginning. Bump the 'Bass' option to '1' and suddenly the E4s have a personality. Twist the corkscrew controller to '2' and prepare for beautiful, bass-rich music. Much deeper, more vertical than any of my other players. It is perfect synergy with the Shures...without an amp and offering plenty of overall gain to drive these suckers HARD.

It's been so long since I've used a Sony product, and what brought me back was their decision to finally offer true native mp3 playback. But now owning one again, I'm remembering some of the unique features that their players offer...good clean signal, elegant form factor, stellar battery life and just plain fun players.

Sonic Stage problems? Forget about it. It runs, it transfers files. Just ain't that complicated. Sound is just awesome. Hey, did I mention that the sound is just awesome, and has perfect synergy with the E4s?

 

[Mr Iriver]

Glad you found the player you were looking for to match with the E4cs. That sony player is really nice looking. Does it also have a fully customizable EQ?

How would you say the E4c in the sony, or player with good bass boost, compares with the E5c in a neutral player (EQ if needed).
If I was to equalize both which would sound better?

Thanks.

Anybody know if the sony flash player and the Sony Hd players have the same sound.

 

[ZackT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vranswer Sony's awesome, tiny new flash player. Twist the corkscrew controller to '2' and prepare for beautiful, bass-rich music. Much deeper, more vertical than any of my other players. It is perfect synergy with the Shures...without an amp and offering plenty of overall gain to drive these suckers HARD. It's been so long since I've used a Sony product, and what brought me back was their decision to finally offer true native mp3 playback

Vanswer. My E4's just arrived today. I love the clean sound and have been playing them on my G5 at work. Can I ask a few questions tho?

1. I have the iPod which has the poor bass and equaliser probs. Would you say the Sony flash player gets around these?

2. I've been DYING to get a different player that can give better sound quality WITHOUT lugging an amp around with it. Does the Sony seems to fit the bill? (Unfortunately I'm tied to Apple as I only have Macs at work and home and all my files are on iTunes.)

3. Can you let us know what you plumped for as far as codecs go? Are you going with MP3's then, what bitrate etc.?

4. How do you find the navigation the Sony? Will it support all the info (artist / album etc.) that the iPod does?

Thanks,

ZT

 

[ZackT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Iriver Glad you found the player you were looking for to match with the E4cs.

Don't kill me please, but...

...can anyone tell me (on a similar vien) if anyone has tried the E4's with the Shuffle? It's another option (a crap screenless one admittedly) but I'm wondering if other flash players will also match well with E4c's (and I can't drive the Sony from my G5).

ZT

 

[vranswer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Iriver Glad you found the player you were looking for to match with the E4cs. That sony player is really nice looking. Does it also have a fully customizable EQ? How would you say the E4c in the sony, or player with good bass boost, compares with the E5c in a neutral player (EQ if needed). If I was to equalize both which would sound better? Thanks. Anybody know if the sony flash player and the Sony Hd players have the same sound.

EQ is simply Bass [+1,2,3,4] and Treble [+1,2,3,4]. Works just fine for me. E5s are still the most versatile IMO, playing out of virtually anything while still sounding good. E4s with the Sony have a different 'personality' and go much deeper/cleaner in bass response while maintaining excellent highs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZackT 1. I have the iPod which has the poor bass and equaliser probs. Would you say the Sony flash player gets around these?

Yes it does. It's not as sharp and clean a sound as iPod->SM3 combination, but sooo much smaller and pretty darn good. I'm considering keeping iPod for when I yearn audiophile sound, and Sony for all else. (selling the rest)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZackT 2. I've been DYING to get a different player that can give better sound quality WITHOUT lugging an amp around with it. Does the Sony seems to fit the bill? (Unfortunately I'm tied to Apple as I only have Macs at work and home and all my files are on iTunes.)

ABSOLUTELY. But I've no idea how to release you from your Mac prison. Make no mistake, IMO iPod is no slouch and sounds terrific. It's just that anemic bass....
Quote:

Originally Posted by ZackT 3. Can you let us know what you plumped for as far as codecs go? Are you going with MP3's then, what bitrate etc.?

Using same mp3s as I have in my library for the Carbon (iPod has mostly ALAC files loaded on it

) - namely, LAME APS ripped with EAC. Best bang for the byte. I considered ripping some albums with ATRAC3Plus @ 256kbps for certain concept albums (to take advantage of ATRAC's gapless playback capability), but decided it wasn't worth the extra memory hit. ATRAC's 256 file sizes kick in about 20-25% higher than LAME APS files, which generally rip in the lower 200s.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZackT 4. How do you find the navigation the Sony? Will it support all the info (artist / album etc.) that the iPod does?

Sony does support ID3V2 tags. Takes a couple iterations to get used to how the thing gets around itself, not like iPod's instant recognition. But once learned just as easy for me. Of course, I'm a rocket surgeon, so it all comes easy to me

.

 

[Mr Iriver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vranswer EQ is simply Bass [+1,2,3,4] and Treble [+1,2,3,4]. Works just fine for me. E5s are still the most versatile IMO, playing out of virtually anything while still sounding good. E4s with the Sony have a different 'personality' and go much deeper/cleaner in bass response while maintaining excellent highs.

Sorry to bother you again. The thing is I want to make a good choice for my next purchase. $300 is a lot for me.

So are you saying that the sony's equalization can make the E4s cleaner and more detailed with deeper bass than the E5s would out of an ipod. If you are then I gotta get the E4c, as my iRiver's equalizer is very similar as that of the sony (Various levels of treble boost, and bass boost).

Is Sony + Equalization + shure E4c = Cleaner, more detailed, deeper bass, more extended highs than E5 out of ipod (in other words is this E4c+sony better in almost every way compared to ipod + E5)? .....Or does boosting the bass on the E4c muddy the sound slightly making the E5s cleaner, more detailed, better in bass.....in comparison to E4c.

Thanks.

 

[vranswer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Iriver Sorry to bother you again. The thing is I want to make a good choice for my next purchase. $300 is a lot for me. So are you saying that the sony's equalization can make the E4s cleaner and more detailed with deeper bass than the E5s would out of an ipod. If you are then I gotta get the E4c, as my iRiver's equalizer is very similar as that of the sony (Various levels of treble boost, and bass boost).

$300 is way much for me too! And that's exactly what I'm saying.

 

[ZackT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vranswer $300 is way much for me too! And that's exactly what I'm saying.

Vranswer, just been listening to my new E4's - put on "Hell is round the corner" by Tricky (his Maxinquaye album) a song I've heard hunderds of times... "kharma koma etc." I had an "oh my god - I hear new things!" moment. All the muffled words were clearer, the crackle sparkled, the depth.... I never thought I'd say this but I'm a born again. If only I wasn't getting this fatigue. Perhaps I need to save the E4's for special songs and use less sparkley phones for long periods?

Damn you HeadFi!

 

[vranswer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZackT Vranswer, just been listening to my new E4's - put on "Hell is round the corner" by Tricky (his Maxinquaye album) a song I've heard hunderds of times... "kharma koma etc." I had an "oh my god - I hear new things!" moment. All the muffled words were clearer, the crackle sparkled, the depth.... I never thought I'd say this but I'm a born again. If only I wasn't getting this fatigue. Perhaps I need to save the E4's for special songs and use less sparkley phones for long periods? Damn you HeadFi!

No, no, no!!! Firm up your source in the bass region and keep the E4s as your exclusive IEMs. They are totally capable of being your full-time phones. They just need the OOMPH! The fatigue goes away when the sound becomes fuller!

 

[ZackT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vranswer No, no, no!!! Firm up your source in the bass region and keep the E4s as your exclusive IEMs. They are totally capable of being your full-time phones. They just need the OOMPH! The fatigue goes away when the sound becomes fuller!

Thanks for the support Vranswer.

I can up the bass when I'm not on the move I guess.

Perhaps I will even try MP3 gaining, just a few tracks to start then have a play with the iPods eq and plug a SM Amp with bass boost on... puff puff!

I KNOW it's a supurb phone now - I just need to get a decent source now I guess?

ZT

 

[Jmmmmm]

Mr Iriver -
I prefer the e4c to my um2's, which are similar to the e5's (i'm sure vranswer can chime in here if I say something that doesn't apply)

With my iriver flash player, I can bump up the bass pretty well on the e4c's. They still won't get up to the ear-thumping levels the um2 is possible of, but about a 3db boost gets the bass right where I like it. However, no matter what eq'ing I could give the um2, I couldn't get the detail (without harshness) of the e4c out of them. That's just my experience, though.

 

[bangraman]

The E4c's will work with the Shuffle if they work well on the E507. Personally I find the sound quality of the E507 to be good (but inferior to the iPod), but the glacial speed of loading through Sonicstage to be a minus point. I never use the E507 these days actually... it's the Shuffle or the Creative V200.

 

[vranswer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jmmmmm ...With my iriver flash player, I can bump up the bass pretty well on the e4c's. They still won't get up to the ear-thumping levels the um2 is possible of, but about a 3db boost gets the bass right where I like it. However, no matter what eq'ing I could give the um2, I couldn't get the detail (without harshness) of the e4c out of them. That's just my experience, though.

Yeah, I came real close to getting the IFP-799, but the sexiness of the Sony was too much to resist. Plus I believe I recall your thread in which you were less than enthralled with iRiver's H10 (I think). So I wasn't sure which one the 799 sounded like, and I needed that strong bass for the E4s.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman The E4c's will work with the Shuffle if they work well on the E507. Personally I find the sound quality of the E507 to be good (but inferior to the iPod), but the glacial speed of loading through Sonicstage to be a minus point. I never use the E507 these days actually... it's the Shuffle or the Creative V200.

I wouldn't mind hearing the Shuffle out of curiosity, but it's just not for me. I've never used shuffle playback feature on any of my players - not once. Just don't like listening to music that way, as I prefer playing albums. I'm sure you have valid reasons for not using the E507, I just really like mine and have been using it exclusively since getting it.

 

[ZackT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman The E4c's will work with the Shuffle if they work well on the E507. I never use the E507 these days actually... it's the Shuffle or the Creative V200.

Much as I hate to play devils advocate Bangraman, wasn't he saying the Sony works well with the E4 because you can tweak the bass to make the E4's shine? I didn't think the shuffle had any kind of equiliser - so are you saying the Shuffle works great with the E4's straight? Now THAT would be something. (I still suspect I'd want to tweak the sound tho, just know me).

ZT

 

[Jmmmmm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vranswer Yeah, I came real close to getting the IFP-799, but the sexiness of the Sony was too much to resist. Plus I believe I recall your thread in which you were less than enthralled with iRiver's H10 (I think). So I wasn't sure which one the 799 sounded like, and I needed that strong bass for the E4s.

True true. I don't know when they switched chips or what they put each in. My 390t can pound your head...haven't really used it in 6 months, though

the e507 is a nice looking player. How do you find the navigation?