[violeta88]

Here's a link to a forum with all of the information on that player you could possibly need, and where you can ask questions about it. And it is also Mac Compatible (it shows up as a hard drive on the Mac, but of course doesn't sync with iTunes).

MP4 Nation Forums • View forum - Nationite S:Flo Series Discussion

 

[CronosX9x9X]

I've read some things and it seems the 1.2 firmware is alot more stable and i heard of a 1.3? can't confirm but the player seems to have superb audio and that what i want and i wanted expandable memory so I will def purcase this hoping for it to last for awhile considering I can't really resell it lol.

 

[violeta88]

I figure even if the amp section is so-so, the line out will be a nice upgrade from my iPod Touch. I hope it works out for you.

 

[CronosX9x9X]

what does the line out do? sorry but i never knew why even though I love audio. Oh and ona side note outta the 6 reviews for the 448 and the 438 many favor the 438's over the 448's and it seems to me they loved the non pleather pads too maybe even though its the middle it might be the top one outta the 400 series to get in my opinion anyways. I seriously hope My cans at least sparkle lol I would like that shine that wow I can't believe the quality thing but eh If I don't like them in like a month and a half of use i'll just resell them on amazon for lil bit cheaper.

 

[violeta88]

A line out jack bypasses the headphone amp section and provides a cleaner signal when using a home stereo or an external headphone amplifier. On another note, I have a pair of the velour pads on my HD448 right now (I special ordered them from Sennheiser) and they make the bass on the HD448 more coherent, but it could be better. Sennheisers usually need some time to "break-in" to sound their best, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. I may end up giving the HD438's a shot before I invest in the K701's, though I am definitely getting a better amp than I have already.

 

[CronosX9x9X]

The K701's are those closed or open? And are they supreme? lol And yea the velor pad that came with the 438's are so nice and soft and comfy lol I wanna listen to them now but gotta work til 11 ugh. And the bling on these the wheel type chrome on the sides arn't as bad as I thought kinda good in a wierd way.

 

[violeta88]

Actually I meant the K702's (they have a different cord than the K701's), and they are open. I used to have a pair of K701's but didn't have a good amp at the time and they sound extremely clear and airy, but are a bit light on the bass in terms of weight, but the bass is very well defined and the seperation of instruments and other sounds is phenomenal. The HD448 reminds me of the K702 in terms of its midrange clarity, but can't compete in terms of detail or soundstaging (the K701 has a very wide and deep soundstage), but the HD448 is much easier to drive as it is more efficient than the K701. The K702 is a dark matte blue with matte chrome colored accents, while the K701 is a bright shiny white with shiny chrome colored accents. I used to wear the K701's portably so that's why headphones like the HD438 don't even phase me in terms of feeling self-conscious. Also the K701 has a very neutral sound signature, and can even sound a bit sterile with the wrong amp and source, where as the Sennheisers are more warm, even the HD448 with its lean bass has a warm midrange, but unlike the other Sennheiser's I have heard, (HD580, HD595, HD650) the 448 has both a clear sound and is not "veiled" in the highs to my ears (the HD580 and HD650 have clear mids but can sound a bit veiled in the highs and lacking in midrange detail with their stock cables). Anyway, if I were you, I'd focus on first getting a good portable source, then a good headphone amplifier before getting a headphone like the K701, and also get good interconnect cabling between the source and headphone amp as it can also make a significant difference in terms of sound quality. Very few portable headphone amps can power the K701 properly, as they need both a good amount of voltage and current to operate correctly. The HD438/448 need more current than voltage, but can usually operate well with opamps with 40 mA of current or so if not pushed too hard. High current headphone amps have at least 100mA or higher of maximum current supply capability. The headphone amp chip in the S:Flo 2 supplies around 40 mA of current. My Corda Move in comparison supplies around 40ma in best cases and my Porta Corda III only supplies around 30mA. The Corda Move has a nicer opamp in it than the SFlo 2, especially compared with the headphone amp chip, but the SFlo has a better headphone amp circuit than the one-chip solutions that most portable players have. Anyway, hope this helps, even if I have to translate some of it later

.

--Eric

 

[priest]

^There's Eric, dropping some science on the HD 448 thread.

 

[violeta88]

Quote:

Originally Posted by priest /img/forum/go_quote.gif ^There's Eric, dropping some science on the HD 448 thread.

LOL. You wouldn't guess that I'm a former graphic design major (now an Economics major) amongst other things, would you?

 

[CronosX9x9X]

I've been doing some research about the S:Flo 2 and some reviews seem like it has bugs but its cool but some people say they got totally screwed on the product and when they tried to get thier money back the mp4 nation screwed them over and took thier money actually the sflo is the one they got screwed with but all I've heard about the 2nd one is that its buggy and the music is awesome so I'm on the fence cause the touch screen is alil unresponsive at times and the bugs really slow down the music listening and some of them down right crash and that sucks or freeze up.

So Even if its great at audio I would like to have a guarentee that if it dies randomly like alot of people mention that it does or freezes hella I can within a resonable amount of time get a new one or my money back altogether.

It seems better to get a mainstream player because of these gripes ya know?. Like a zune hd or the samsung p3 that I stated earlier.

 

[violeta88]

Ironically I was thinking the same thing as well just a few minutes ago. Personally I use a iPod touch 2nd gen with a line out dock adaptor and a cardas mini to mini cable into a good headphone amp. I've had good luck with iPods in general (at least the ones I haven't taken apart

) and the newer generation units sound fine, if a bit underpowered driving headphones. Oh well, it was a thought.

 

[CronosX9x9X]

an update on My HD 438's they have actually started to sound better the bass is kickin in and the soundstage got alil brighter and alil louder I like em and will keep them hoping for even more burn in goodness.

 

[violeta88]

I'm glad you're liking them better. You'll probably notice more change in the openness of the soundstage over time. It's a little ironic about the bass though, as on my HD448, the bass got leaner over time as the treble became more open (most likely due to the difference in tuning of the HD448's driver.) Do you notice that the bass overpowers any of the midrange or treble (high frequency) detail? I ask this because some people have noted this in "professional" reviews, but it could be that they were listening to badly encoded mp3 or other lossy music formats, as is often the case with non-audiophile reviewers.

 

[CronosX9x9X]

Well since it's only like 2hours of burn in I would say the bass does not over power as long as you don't put bass boost on or put a very bassy eq upon it I've been playing around with the eq and the bass boost on it and found that without the bass boost the soundstage becomes alot leaner but the bass is still there in a flat clear tone with out any boom and the music placement is very nice not as wide as I would want but nice all the same. The packege says extreme bass but not really its just clear flat toned bass unless you put the bass boost on and amp it up to slightly overpower the mids and highs.

My reaction is that they used a player with a normal 128kb song and went from there lol. Alot of my songs are just 320kb and about 200 or so are wma lossless. I hear more of a wider soundstage with lossless though

 

[violeta88]

It sounds you are hearing more of what the actual file sounds like when you listen without bass boost and soundstage enhancements, so I wouldn't fault the headphones for that. Lower bitrate material usually has a collapsed soundstage with good headphones like the Sennheiser (with lesser headphones there is very little soundstage anyway so you don't notice it as much). Sometimes I think Sennheiser's marketing department is on crack when they write the product package copy, especially with the HD4X8 series, as none of the series of headphones sounds like what it is described as on the package. The HD448 for example has "lifelike, balanced sound" if your idea of lifelike and balanced is lean in the bass. Personally I think balanced headphones have a more flat bass response that isn't artificially boosted (though the midrange sennheisers have a boosted bass in my opinion). I may have to check the 438's out before I invest in higher end cans (I am buying a better amp first though). I'm thinking now that the 702's might not have the tonal qualities I am wanting (I like warmth along with clarity and extreme amounts of detail), and I'm almost afraid that there is not a headphone on the market to this date that is in the midrange price realm ($300-400) that has those qualities.