[Deadneddz]

Ok, this is what happened. i purchased the new Sony Walkman NWZ a728 about a month ago and WOW, impressive sound quality was an understatement. After messing around with the DAC settings the thing was just flawless SQ wise. But i returned it for the Cowon D2 after reading all these glowing but partialy fanbased reviews because i planned on using it with a portable amp. I guess people say it has a clean enough headphone out to be used with an amp. However i just find the sound quality too robotic and not as to my liking as the Sony player. Just wondering if anyone could tell me if the sony could be used with a portable amp from the headphone out like the Cowon D2, since it lacks a true line out. I just couldnt find any info on this perhaps because its a newer player. I really want to go back to the Sony, its just so slim and sexy and if i could use it with a portable amp i would be in heaven, thx guys.

 

[cbw]

What headphone's are you using with it? It's possible you don't need to use an amp with it. Besides, if the Sony sounded ubertastic then you should probably just use it.

 

[synaesthetic]

The Sony's internal amplifier is not very powerful; if he's trying to drive low-sensitivity, high-impedance headphones, he may run into volume issues.

An amp doesn't care what kind of signal you run through it, but obviously amplifying a line-level signal will sound better than amplifying a signal that has already been amplified once.

 

[Deadneddz]

sennheiser hd 595 and shure se530, both are driven pretty well but i still want to get a portable amp with usb dac, i will eventually get a harder to drive phone like the hd 650s or comparable model...

 

[Deadneddz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by synaesthetic /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Sony's internal amplifier is not very powerful; if he's trying to drive low-sensitivity, high-impedance headphones, he may run into volume issues. An amp doesn't care what kind of signal you run through it, but obviously amplifying a line-level signal will sound better than amplifying a signal that has already been amplified once.

Yeah, even the hd595s are not super loud on the sony at volume 30 which is the highest, i couldnt imagine using hd650s without an amp

 

[Deadneddz]

Basically my main question is wheither or not i can use a portable amp with the sony and get good results like people have had with portable amps with the cowon player since i prefer the Sony

 

[synaesthetic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deadneddz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah, even the hd595s are not super loud on the sony at volume 30 which is the highest, i couldnt imagine using hd650s without an amp

What confuses the hell out of me, though... at the same percentage of volume, my A728 is louder on my ER-4P than my old 3g Nano was. When the Nano was at 50% of the volume slider, it was a lot quieter than the A728 at 15/30.

I'm not sure how this can be, unless the Nano's volume slider isn't attenuating evenly. I routinely had my Nano's volume slider on 60% for most songs, and 70% for some particularly cool-mastered albums and older CDs.

The A728 never needs more than 16 for even the coolest album I own, and especially "hot" albums force me to back it down to 12 or 11.

 

[cbw]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deadneddz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Basically my main question is wheither or not i can use a portable amp with the sony and get good results like people have had with portable amps with the cowon player since i prefer the Sony

If you plan on getting a portable amp, then why worry about how the cowon sounds with the HP out? Until you get the amp and test it with the Cowon, i wouldnt judge its sound.

The Sony can be used with the amp but i doubt the results would be as good as with the Cowon.

 

[Punnisher]

Try it out, you never know.

I think that people around here freak out too much about amping the headphone out. The goal of an amp is to provide more current into your headphones than the DAP can provide on it's own. You are accomplishing this when amping the headphone out, and any SQ decrease that comes from the built-in amp will most likely be trumped by the extra power from your amp.

I say just go for it. Set everything to flat/off and amp away.

 

[shigzeo]

the cowon has an excellent hp to drive an amp: maybe best in business as even at 50 volume (top) it drives it clean. amp will massively clear away just about any of the defects of the headphone out but at the same time, make the portable experience into a very lumpy affair.

the sony is slim and sexy and loud for its 'weak' amp. remember in the world of amps, everyone says they have a powerful amp but often amps with lower wattage rates are louders. it is not all face value.

that said, the d2 has this over the sony for portable listening: low amount of hiss, comparable to nano 3g. the sony is hissy even with ibuds which is quite a shocker. i use impedence adapter to kill most of the hiss (with it, the sony performs similarly to the d2) but of course, gives out much better bass resolution and thunder.

ive owned both (well, 828) and despite shoddy software that i have to use with sony and having to load up windows just for it, the experience is far better. volume is no concern even with the dt770 or ultrasone dj1pro

 

[synaesthetic]

Sony's shoddy software temporarily rendered my A728 unusable. =D Until I uninstalled that Media Manager thing, I couldn't even see the DAP in Explorer.

I'm really glad they made these drag-and-drop capable. It just makes everything easier. And no more iTunes to screw with.

 

[Deadneddz]

ok, thanks guys for your responses so far. One more thing, if an amplifier is used with the cowon will its sound signature change? Becuase this is the whole reason i want to go and risk amping the sony, i just like the way it sounds so much better, i dont want to be making the current sound of the cowon JUST louder. I mean unless the cowon w/amp sounds much better, i.e., more open and less robotic then i might just keep it. But i still despise the touch screen and the ease of use as a portable haha.

 

[Punnisher]

It makes a large improvement in the bass areas, adding more quantity and lower frequencies. This is no surprise though, because low frequencies require much more power to generate.