[tds101]

^^Thanks.
Looks more like Pandora I guess.  After a very quick browse it looks like you have to be able to stream the music, it's not cached to the device.  Do you use the service? 

I've only ever tried Pandora & Slacker Radio. But I personally would use a Zune Pass before this,...on my Lumia 900.

 

[Tinie temper]

I've recently got my Sony A867 and have been pleasantly suprised with the sound quality so far. But... i'm using the stock headphones.
 
Can anyone recommend a decent pair of all-rounder in-ear headphones for me please? My budget is upto £50 unless it's a strong recommendation.
 
Also, is an external amp like a FiiO E6 necessary or would a decent pair of headphones increase the volume that little bit more?
 
I'm new to this and would appreciate any advice

 

[maporter]

Hi Tinie,

The stock headphones are not that bad, but do need to be burnt in, I found they became less harsh over time.

There's a massive IEM review thread to be found here:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/478568/multi-iem-review-239-iems-compared-alclair-reference-added-05-24-12

As for a decent set of IEM's I'd go with Fischer Audio Eterna's which can be had for exactly £50 from Frogbeats:

http://shop.frogbeats.com/fischer-audio-eterna/

If you take a look at the first link for the reviews, you find the Eterna's have a very favourable review. I purchased a couple of Fischer Audio products from Frogbeats over the last month & I've been impressed with both the service & product.

For the record I have no connection with Frogbeats, other than being a happy customer!

As for the question of using an amp, I wouldn't bother. I wasted my money on a FiiO E11 for use with my A865, it didn't improve it at all; made it worse if anything. If you go back a couple of pages in this thread you see a couple of posts from myself & another member who pretty much came up with the same conclusion as me.

Hope this helps?

Cheers

Mark

 

[Berkovajazz]

CKS77 works great with Sony.

 

[Szadzik]

Quote:

I've recently got my Sony A867 and have been pleasantly suprised with the sound quality so far. But... i'm using the stock headphones.
 
Can anyone recommend a decent pair of all-rounder in-ear headphones for me please? My budget is upto £50 unless it's a strong recommendation.
 
Also, is an external amp like a FiiO E6 necessary or would a decent pair of headphones increase the volume that little bit more?
 
I'm new to this and would appreciate any advice

 
For the money you are willing to spend, I truly doubt you are going to find anything better than the stock ones - unless of course their sound signature is not to your liking and you want to change that.
 
Low-end amps are not going to improve the A Series in any way, the built in amp is pretty good.

 

[Achmedisdead]

Anyone using this player with regular headphones, not IEM's? Just wondering how the volume will be with 32ohm, or 60ohm headphones....and yes, I understand that sensitivity varies from headphone to headphone. But IEM's are not an option for me.

 

[Szadzik]

Quote:

Anyone using this player with regular headphones, not IEM's? Just wondering how the volume will be with 32ohm, or 60ohm headphones....and yes, I understand that sensitivity varies from headphone to headphone. But IEM's are not an option for me.

 
I tried them iwth my Saony SA5000 at 84Ohm and there was no problem with volume.

 

[Achmedisdead]

Quote:

 
I tried them iwth my Saony SA5000 at 84Ohm and there was no problem with volume.

Good to hear! My A867 should be here Tuesday. I'm hoping it matches well with my ATH-WS55's. 

 

[maporter]

I'm using a pair of 32 ohm Cans along with my EU capped A Series & no it's not fine, the volume has to be cranked up to 27/30 without an amp. They are really weak sounding unless I use my FiiO E11.

Where as the standard EX300's are too loud at anything above 17/30 (Un-amped)

For that reason I've got to take issue with Szadzik's comment, I can't agree with him. Although I'm not getting into a flame war over it, I'm just expressing my opinion & findings,

 

[Szadzik]

Quote:

I'm using a pair of 32 ohm Fischer Audio FA-004's along with my EU capped A Series & no it's not fine, the volume has to be cranked up to 27/30 without an amp. They are really weak sounding unless I use my FiiO E11.
Where as the standard EX300's are too loud at anything above 17/30 (Un-amped)
For that reason I've got to take issue with Szadzik's comment, I can't agree with him. Although I'm not getting into a flame war over it, I'm just expressing my opinion & findings,

 
Not all hpones are made equal and I mentioned that in my earlier posts. 

 

[tds101]

Good to hear! My A867 should be here Tuesday. I'm hoping it matches well with my ATH-WS55's. 

I've used mine with my hd25-1 ii & Incase Sonic hp's, and it was more than loud enough. I averaged 20 out of 30 clicks with the volume. Normally I use 15 of 30 on my Sony S639. The volume cap on the A867 I owned is minimal.

 

[Tinie temper]

Quote:

I'm using a pair of 32 ohm Cans along with my EU capped A Series & no it's not fine, the volume has to be cranked up to 27/30 without an amp. They are really weak sounding unless I use my FiiO E11.
Where as the standard EX300's are too loud at anything above 17/30 (Un-amped)
For that reason I've got to take issue with Szadzik's comment, I can't agree with him. Although I'm not getting into a flame war over it, I'm just expressing my opinion & findings,

 
FIrstly, thanks for the advice people.
 
However, your point about significant difference between headphones is part of the reason why i'm browsing for alternatives headphones.
 
I find the stock earbuds to be a bit too quiet - i'm averaging 25/30 to 27/30 on quiet (acoustic songs) with my A867.

 

[nonsupremous]

I use my M80's at 9 out of 30.  But that is also with the EQ engaged...so there's certainly a DB boost there.  Wouldn't exactly know how much, but 9 is plenty loud enough with those M80's.  It's been a long time since I had my HD251-ii's, but if I am remembering correctly I used to have my S639 at about 12.  They were a little hard to drive. 
 
 
Quote:

I've used mine with my hd25-1 ii & Incase Sonic hp's, and it was more than loud enough. I averaged 20 out of 30 clicks with the volume. Normally I use 15 of 30 on my Sony S639. The volume cap on the A867 I owned is minimal.

 

[Achmedisdead]

The few songs I played last night on the A867 appeared to show that I won't have any volume issues. I still have to go through and check the EQ status, and whether or not the dynamic normalizer is enabled, but it did come with an LOD cable so I'm covered either way.

 
Update......
 
Listening to Radiohead's "In Rainbows" on my A867 with no EQ, Dynamic Normalizer and other effects disabled, and 15/30 is pretty loud on my Audio Technica ATH-WS55 headphones, and also my ATH-FC700 for that matter. So the EU cap isn't as extreme as I expected it to be.
 
A very nice sounding player, I think.....but it's been too long since I had a USA-spec player to be able to remember if there was a different sound or not....and I didn't have these headphones back then either. Love how the touchscreen can be disabled while you still have buttons to control it.

 

[Tinie temper]

@ Achmedisdead
 
How have you found the volume with the stock earphones?