[DanBrown89]

Evening one and all. Having perused these forums on a fairly regular basis, I thought it was about time to make an account.
 
Anyway, as I'm a rank amateur and the majority of you guy have more knowledge than me in your little fingers alone, I was wondering if I might be able to get some advice.
 
I shall soon be the proud owner of some V-Moda M-80s, which I'll be receiving as a gift (assuming my parents aren't playing a cruel trick on me). They will be my first venture into (relatively speaking, >£60) high-end headphones. I chose the M-80s because I wanted something fairly portable, built to last, and with great sound quality - and they have some outstanding reviews both on here and elsewhere on t'Internet (with the added bonus of being sexy as hell). However, I currently have no decent source. My iPod Touch decided to kick the bucket last week, my phone is what you might call 'basic', which leaves me with a 3rd gen iPod Nano I found in my underwear drawer.
Now, considering I'm a student, and therefore pretty much broke, I figure I have three options:
1. Buy a new DAP.
2. Buy a portable amp (The FiiO E7 and E11 seem quite popular).
3. Stick it out for 6 months until I can upgrade my phone (Samsung GSIII is top of my list, for which Voodoo Sound will hopefully be available).
 
#1 Seems daft, as I'll be getting a new phone in the summer regardless. Unless there is a device that would outperform #2 and #3 in the long run, that is a reasonable price... which seems unlikely.
#2 As I said, this is my first venture into decent gear, so amps/DACs are uncharted territory for me. Would either of the aforementioned FiiOs (or any other make/model for that matter) make a noticeable difference with the Nano and, when I get it, the SGSIII? I've read that the M-80s are perfectly good 'phones unamped, but I'd be willing to splash a bit of cash if it's worth it.
#3 From what I can gather, the SIII has a Wolfson audio chip, as the SI did... but not the SII. Right? I'm reliably informed that is a good thing. If, therefore, an amp would make little/no difference, I'd be willing to stick it out with the Nano and save my hard-earned (read: taxpayers' ) pennies until the summer.
 
I realise it's kind of backwards to have good headphones with nothing decent to supply them with, but it would appear that's how I roll. So, if you kind souls were in my shoes/knew some muppet who was, what would you do/suggest?
 
Many thanks,
DB.

 

[Aaron94]

From what I have gathered here in thr short time Ive been here is that audio players like phones and iPods already contain DAC, so you really dont have to buy one.
 
I myself will be buying a Fiio E11 to go along with my cans/IEMs.
 
And also may I suggest you spend a little more cash on your new phone? I would recommend you get the Samsung Note 2 instead of the S3. Reason being is the Note 2 has quad processors, over the S3s duels. The Note 2 can also be expanded to as much as 128 gigs of memory, added to its 2 gigs of RAM. All that for only $100 more.

 

[musical-kage]

Quote:

Evening one and all. Having perused these forums on a fairly regular basis, I thought it was about time to make an account.
 
Anyway, as I'm a rank amateur and the majority of you guy have more knowledge than me in your little fingers alone, I was wondering if I might be able to get some advice.
 
I shall soon be the proud owner of some V-Moda M-80s, which I'll be receiving as a gift (assuming my parents aren't playing a cruel trick on me). They will be my first venture into (relatively speaking, >£60) high-end headphones. I chose the M-80s because I wanted something fairly portable, built to last, and with great sound quality - and they have some outstanding reviews both on here and elsewhere on t'Internet (with the added bonus of being sexy as hell). However, I currently have no decent source. My iPod Touch decided to kick the bucket last week, my phone is what you might call 'basic', which leaves me with a 3rd gen iPod Nano I found in my underwear drawer.
Now, considering I'm a student, and therefore pretty much broke, I figure I have three options:
1. Buy a new DAP.
2. Buy a portable amp (The FiiO E7 and E11 seem quite popular).
3. Stick it out for 6 months until I can upgrade my phone (Samsung GSIII is top of my list, for which Voodoo Sound will hopefully be available).
 
#1 Seems daft, as I'll be getting a new phone in the summer regardless. Unless there is a device that would outperform #2 and #3 in the long run, that is a reasonable price... which seems unlikely.
#2 As I said, this is my first venture into decent gear, so amps/DACs are uncharted territory for me. Would either of the aforementioned FiiOs (or any other make/model for that matter) make a noticeable difference with the Nano and, when I get it, the SGSIII? I've read that the M-80s are perfectly good 'phones unamped, but I'd be willing to splash a bit of cash if it's worth it.
#3 From what I can gather, the SIII has a Wolfson audio chip, as the SI did... but not the SII. Right? I'm reliably informed that is a good thing. If, therefore, an amp would make little/no difference, I'd be willing to stick it out with the Nano and save my hard-earned (read: taxpayers' ) pennies until the summer.
 
I realise it's kind of backwards to have good headphones with nothing decent to supply them with, but it would appear that's how I roll. So, if you kind souls were in my shoes/knew some muppet who was, what would you do/suggest?
 
Many thanks,
DB.

The S1 had a wolfson yes, but the SIII only has a Wolfon in Europe. In the US, etc, it doesn't.
 
As for Voodoo Sound, I hope so too! I have it on the SGS1 but he is still to release the one for the SIII... Kind of wondering if he ever will.
 
The 3rd gen iPod nano should be fine! Unless of course, you feel like buying maybe a Sandisk Sansa Clip+ which you can then buy memory cards for. i.e buy the 2gb and stick a 32gb for example in there.
The sound is meant to be pretty damn good, but the sound from the iPod Nano shouldn't be that bad either.
 
Certainly give it a try before shelling out on some more. If you feel like going the route of an external DAC/AMP after, then it may be worth you thinking about it then.

 

[musical-kage]

Quote:

From what I have gathered here in thr short time Ive been here is that audio players like phones and iPods already contain DAC, so you really dont have to buy one.
 
I myself will be buying a Fiio E11 to go along with my cans/IEMs.
 
And also may I suggest you spend a little more cash on your new phone? I would recommend you get the Samsung Note 2 instead of the S3. Reason being is the Note 2 has quad processors, over the S3s duels. The Note 2 can also be expanded to as much as 128 gigs of memory, added to its 2 gigs of RAM. All that for only $100 more.

If he lives in Europe, the S3 has a quad core, just like the Note 2, but with 1GB RAM as aposed to 2GB in the US.
If he doesn't live in Europe, the S3 won't have a Wolfson chip, just like the SII,  and he mentioned about Voodoo Sound, so potentially, he lives in Europe, so will have access to the quad.
 
The S3 can be expanded to 64GB of memory using the MicroSD. I haven't tried any higher, but my guess is that it wouldn't allow 128GB, but I haven't seen cards of that size!

 

[Aaron94]

Honest opinion, in the end its his choice, but the Note 2 is superior to the S3 in almost every way. Gets up to 6 hours longer battery time. Faster processing even against the quad core S3. Further expandable memory.

 

[musical-kage]

Quote:

Honest opinion, in the end its his choice, but the Note 2 is superior to the S3 in almost every way. Gets up to 6 hours longer battery time. Faster processing even against the quad core S3. Further expandable memory.

At least the Note II seems to use a Wolfson chip too. I just think as a phone it is far too big.
I'd much rather get an expandable battery pack for the S3.
 
EDIT:
 
That said, the DAC implementation of the Wolfson chip is meant to make the phone sound better than the S3 with it..

 

[DanBrown89]

Thanks for your replies. I am indeed in Blighty, so quad core and Wolfson in the SIII over here. Sounds like you get a bit of a raw deal your side of the pond? Anyhow, I'm not sure as I'd want anything physically bigger than the SIII, and 64gb of memory should serve me just fine. Although I agree the Note out-performs it... I may change my mind in 6 months time!
I'll certainly hold fire until I actually get hold of the M-80s and give them a good workout. I suppose my biggest concern was them being completely wasted on me until the summer, but maybe I'm doing my plucky old Nano a disservice.
If something like an E11 would improve the SIII as well as the Nano, I'd be willing to invest. But I've read conflicting opinions as to whether the M-80s would benefit, or whether it's just higher-end headphones that need the added oomph (to use the technical term).

 

[Aaron94]

Exactly, and actually the Note 2s battery can be extended as well.