[LowtoHigh]

  Thanks in advance to any replies.. Newbie here, I've been lurking around and decided to finally ask my first ? after trying to obtain knowledge by reading many posts.  I don't consider myself an audiophile by any means but decided to start my system when I saw the Shure SRH 440's on sale for 60 bucks new online.  I got them and thus are am a bit dissapointed in the bass, but I realize that sometimes they need many hours of burn in to loosen the drivers.  Otherwise Im pretty happy with them thus far as the build quality is good, I wanted the closed setup as not to disturb others around me, and even though these is no active noise cancelling it does a pretty good job of blocking out other noise.  I ordered the earpads for the more expensive shure srh840s for 20 bucks so that should help as I plan on listening to my music for many hours at a time.  After reading these forums I realized that the entire system is only as good as its weakest link, and I was listening to mp3s at a crappy bitrate and off an old ipod nano.  I have ordered the COWON s9 that is coming in soon, so hopefully that will improve things quite a bit.  Anyhow I have just 2 simple questions.
 
With my cowon s9 mp3 player and mp3 tracks that have a superior bitrate, paired with my shure srh 440 headphones, do you think I would need or benefit greatly from a headphone amp?  Ive seen cheap filo's on amazon for 20 bucks but read that basically there isnt any real quality amps for less than 100 bucks. Im hoping the bbe enhancements and customization in terms of the equalizer on my cowon will help with my lack of heart punching bass on the srh440 headphones I have.  Also I want portability and before I even get to this whole amp buying process I am questioning if I would even need one?  I mostly listen to pop, rock, r and b, rap and dance music, not really classical or country or jazz.
 
And lastly, I'm going to start buying my mp3's online, not a fan of itunes or apple so ill go with napster or amazon.  I have no problem paying for high quality mp3s but then I read about flacs?  Is there really a discernable audio difference between a high bitrate mp3 that is standard on lets say, amazon and a flac?  If so, can you recommend any good sites with a great music selection that has flacs to download or can any mp3 be converted to a flac?  My cowon s9 is 32 g so I'll have enough room I assume for flacs if they are noticeably higher quality to a non audiophile like me compared to the standard high bitrate mp3 off amazon's site where I'll be purchasing my music. 
 
Thanks again! 

 

[Crenshaw]

Complete newbie myself.. Just got my first pair of 440s too.. At first I was a tad disappointed with the bass.. But after a few days of listening.. The bass has definitely come into it's own ..And it's quite well extended. Try listening to some massive attack. Thats what first made me notice that the bass was by no means weak.


Crenshaw

 

[Digital-Pride]

As a fellow Cowon S9 and SRH440 user, I can assure you that both pair extremely well, especially when you start to utilize BBE+ and Mach3Bass.  This combo sounds great unamped, but even Fiio's E5(the amp I use) offers improvements to the sound quality.  And there are excellent amps that under 100 dollars like Cmoys or Electric-Avenues PA2V2.

 

[petlifesaver]

i m a newbie too and i need a tip.
i'd like to buy them but i want to be sure that they'll work fine both with a sansa clip+(maybe without amp) and with a Marantz 1050.
thanks for help
 
A.

 

[charli3]

Quote:

i m a newbie too and i need a tip.
i'd like to buy them but i want to be sure that they'll work fine both with a sansa clip+(maybe without amp) and with a Marantz 1050.
thanks for help
 
A.

You will be fine, they are easy to drive. 

 

[petlifesaver]

Quote:

You will be fine, they are easy to drive. 
 
thanks!i'm going with them

 

 

[5thDimension]

Just got the SRH440's, and im loving the clear audio!

 

[REDH0RN]

Quote:

  I mostly listen to pop, rock, r and b, rap and dance music.
 
Try an amp. My PA2V2 made a huge difference. I toss my ancient 20GB iPod and amp into a small camera bag then wear it over shoulder or on belt.
 
Second thought have no idea how good s9 is. Had your iPod Nano in mind.
 
Report back on your 840 pad mod to let us know how that works out.
 
As for music, just visit a quality library and check CD's out. Obviously you will have to 
buy specific tunes / artists, but library is cheap easy way to pad collection. 

 

 

[peskypesky]

i would not spend the money on an amp. low-impedance headphones like the SRH440 are designed to use low voltage (and the SRH440s are super-low, at only 44 ohms). I've bought a CMOY and a Nuforce uDAC 2 and haven't noticed any significant improvement in sound on any of my low-impedance phones.

 

[5thDimension]

So if I wanted to buy an amp for my Ipod  to go along with the SRH440's I just bought, would I have to carry that equipment with me to school and elsewhere? I've never used an amp before so im kind of a noob at this sorta stuff.

 

[Rawrbington]

i haven't experemented with the 440s as much but the 840s sound improves nicely with a little power, and they are both the same impedance.  The sound gets fuller, richer, with more behind the bass

 

[REDH0RN]

Quote:

So if I wanted to buy an amp for my Ipod  to go along with the SRH440's I just bought, would I have to carry that equipment with me to school and elsewhere? I've never used an amp before so im kind of a noob at this sorta stuff.

 
Depending on which iPod, a simple amp like PA2V2 and a LOD to connect amp to bottom
of iPod (bypasses internal amp) may yield nice improvements. My old 20GB w/Koss PortaPro phones sounds better configured this way. Impedance on the is 60 ohms. 
 
 

 

[peskypesky]

i don't know how anyone can think the 440s don't have strong bass. i'm blasting some dubstep right now and my skull is vibrating nicely.

 

[gobs]

i bought the srh440 two days ago myself.  i thought bass was weak on the srh440 but even after only 35hrs of burning in, the bass response has improved significantly.  definitely wait until the 100hr burnin point to evaluate the bass.  that's what i'm going to do. 
 
i also noticed that the balance between low, mid, and highs change drastically depending on the volume level.  the mids and highs dont hit their potential until the phones are driven to a loud volume (much higher than conversational level, for sure).  is this expected?  To reach the level of balance I find pleasing, I have to listen at a volume level that is too loud for me.  anybody else feel this way?  would getting an amp help?  I'm currently playing through my 13'' macbook pro.  with volume up to one notch below half.  i really don't want to start losing my hearing...

 

[Germancub]

440's have tons of impact just not tons of quanitity. The 840 pads definitely help smooth out the mids and make the low end more present... Plus the comfort and isolation of 840 pads is leaps and bounds over the stock 440 pads. To anybody with 440's who feel there is something lacking, buy 840 pads, trust me.