[gerelmx1986]

  I'm in the process of deciding between the F887 and A17, sound quality is #1, but I really hate Android bloatware and battery life also important of course - sounds like the A17 is the best compromise and it's cheaper to boot (no need for 20 day Japan import).  I'm running SE846 with a Fiio E12 - I would never run any Sony DAP without an amp, they lack power.  Any review should include a good amp as well.

I haven't never heard an F series tough the guy who sold me the Fiio x3 had an F806 but didn't bother to ask for it, now i regret LOL, however i Had an X1060 which has the classic sony UI of the A17, and to me the x1060 was superb sounding on it's time, pretty musical.
 
Now i can say A17 is an upgrade form the X, despite it gets rid of the warm sound but is not that completely neutral it has yet still nice warm sound but more neutralish, more details, huge soyundstage.
 
Now if we compare a fiio x3 which are known for their DACs made by Wolfson microeectronics, still the A17 blows the fiio out of the water (fiio is more warm class A-like sound) more details, big soundstage better separation of instruments, has no more floatinh instrumenst and/or voices that have plagued the fiio (IMHO i hate hearing a Madrigal by palestrina, monteverdi etc and hear floating female voices).

 

[audioxxx]

My Mrs takes note of the new purchase, then slowly guilt trips me over a period of time, depending how much I like the gadget.
It's going to be hit and miss, as long as the device isn't expecting to see a voltage on the plug, it should work.

Agreed. I wonder if they keep count of the gear bought and then rant when the day comes.
Yeah there should be some space and flexibility esp. towards that mini adapter and whatever dac/amp it's going to connect.
BTW will that work with HP-P1?

 

[Dzemo]

My Mrs takes note of the new purchase, then slowly guilt trips me over a period of time, depending how much I like the gadget.

It's going to be hit and miss, as long as the device isn't expecting to see a voltage on the plug, it should work.

 


So its like you bought this, this and this, alltogether amounting to this sum - so I am going to buy myself shoes, make up, etc for the same amount?!

I read here some guys counter attack when asked by Mrs why they need so many headphones by answering "for the same reason you need so many shoes/bags". I wish the argument would work for me but unfortunately (or fortunately for our budget) my Mrs does not collect shoes (I think I have more pairs than her) or bags, hehehe.

 

[Sonic Defender]

My Mrs takes note of the new purchase, then slowly guilt trips me over a period of time, depending how much I like the gadget.
It's going to be hit and miss, as long as the device isn't expecting to see a voltage on the plug, it should work.
 

Death by a thousand cuts I call that. That is one reason divorce is so popular! If women were more reasonable and realized that often their men have given up running to bars and live shows in favour of staying home with headphones .... I say wake up and smell the good deal ladies. I'm happy if she has a hobby.

 

[audioxxx]

^ the biggest concern right now is that these DAP prices are starting to head north in the direction of ak240 pricing, in this escalating in value hobby,
it seems like a trap to keep trying to find a holy grail in audio.
But I'm learning to keep the excitement of a new purchase away from the Mrs or it adds to the guilt appllied in mediation time.

 

[Sonic Defender]

The A17 is a very reasonable $299 with 64GB of included memory. Seems reasonable enough. I was lucky to get a new A17 Christmas gift sold by a jilted lover for $225 Canadian, plus the matching unopened MDR 1A headphones for $200!

 

[audioxxx]

Death by a thousand cuts I call that. That is one reason divorce is so popular! If women were more reasonable and realized that often their men have given up running to bars and live shows in favour of staying home with headphones .... I say wake up and smell the good deal ladies. I'm happy if she has a hobby.

Haha, so true.

 

[fish1050]

Future of headphone design! and playing A17 through Blu-Ray player USB port.
 
I just watched a fascinating video on the future of headphone design and have included the link here
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/754530/an-interview-with-paul-barton-of-psb-and-nad-head-fi-tv#post_11308414.
 
Basically research has been done for several years at the Canadian Research Council in Ottawa to try and design headphones that sound more like loudspeakers in a good listening room than actual headphones. The NRC has the most advanced acoustic research facilities in the world.  Most of the Canadian speaker manufacturers like Mirage, Paradigm and PSB utilize these facilities to design their speakers and now headphones. Since all music has been and is currently recorded to optimize listening through loudspeakers in a good listening room, producing headphones that can sound like this will let us hear the music the way it was intended to be heard.
 
Back in 2012 and 2013 Canadian companies PSB and NAD (now Canadian owned) released headphones based on this research.  Namely the NAD Viso VP50 (2013) and the PSB M4U1 (PASSIVE) and M4U2 (NOICE CANCELLING) (2012) headphones.  They were the most acclaimed headphones produced at the time receiving several innovation and headphone of the year awards by several magazines and audio review web sites including Sound and Vision. 
 
I am now looking at the NAD Viso VP50 which is sold at a couple of stores in Toronto as my next headphones.  PSB and NAD headphones are all in the $250 to $300 range.  If you are in the market for headphones in this price range you should read the reviews and take a listen if you can.  Once I get my TAX refund I will be taking a serious look at these bad boys!  They are sensitive enough to use with portable devices but I will probably use them as my home listening headphones,
 
I also tried plugging my A17 into the USB port on my OPPO BDP-93 Blu-Ray player which is also an amazing audio player.  Just like plugging the A17 into my computer the BDP-93 treats the A17 as an external drive (using the stock Sony charging cable).  So I can listen to music from my A17 at home and utilize the high end DAC's in my BDP-93 and play the sound through my Yamaha receiver and Boston Acoustic speakers or my B&W P3 headphones.  I can view the album art and song information on my tv screen or engage the Audio direct function on the player to deliver a pure audio output.  The other benefit is my A17 is charged by the BDP-93 while I am playing music.
 
Needless to say the sound is so much better through the BDP-93 than listening to the A17 through bluetooth speakers.  The only negative is that I can only access songs either from the internal memory or my microSD card but not both at the same time.  Eventually I might upgrade to a 128 GB card and stop using the internal memory so I can access all my music all the time.
 
I would be interested to see what would happen if you plugged the charging cable for the A17 into the OPPO HA-2 DAC/Amp.  I wonder if it would treat the A17 as a storage drive  like their BDP-93 Blu-Ray player does?  This would allow you to utilize the DAC and Amp from the HA-2 without having to buy another expensive cable. 

 

[gerelmx1986]

  Future of headphone design! and playing A17 through Blu-Ray player USB port.
 
I just watched a fascinating video on the future of headphone design and have included the link here
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/754530/an-interview-with-paul-barton-of-psb-and-nad-head-fi-tv#post_11308414.
 
Basically research has been done for several years at the Canadian Research Council in Ottawa to try and design headphones that sound more like loudspeakers in a good listening room than actual headphones. The NRC has the most advanced acoustic research facilities in the world.  Most of the Canadian speaker manufacturers like Mirage, Paradigm and PSB utilize these facilities to design their speakers and now headphones. Since all music has been and is currently recorded to optimize listening through loudspeakers in a good listening room, producing headphones that can sound like this will let us hear the music the way it was intended to be heard.
 
Back in 2012 and 2013 Canadian companies PSB and NAD (now Canadian owned) released headphones based on this research.  Namely the NAD Viso VP50 (2013) and the PSB M4U1 (PASSIVE) and M4U2 (NOICE CANCELLING) (2012) headphones.  They were the most acclaimed headphones produced at the time receiving several innovation and headphone of the year awards by several magazines and audio review web sites including Sound and Vision. 
 
I am now looking at the NAD Viso VP50 which is sold at a couple of stores in Toronto as my next headphones.  PSB and NAD headphones are all in the $250 to $300 range.  If you are in the market for headphones in this price range you should read the reviews and take a listen if you can.  Once I get my TAX refund I will be taking a serious look at these bad boys!  They are sensitive enough to use with portable devices but I will probably use them as my home listening headphones,
 
I also tried plugging my A17 into the USB port on my OPPO BDP-93 Blu-Ray player which is also an amazing audio player.  Just like plugging the A17 into my computer the BDP-93 treats the A17 as an external drive (using the stock Sony charging cable).  So I can listen to music from my A17 at home and utilize the high end DAC's in my BDP-93 and play the sound through my Yamaha receiver and Boston Acoustic speakers or my B&W P3 headphones.  I can view the album art and song information on my tv screen or engage the Audio direct function on the player to deliver a pure audio output.  The other benefit is my A17 is charged by the BDP-93 while I am playing music.
 
Needless to say the sound is so much better through the BDP-93 than listening to the A17 through bluetooth speakers.  The only negative is that I can only access songs either from the internal memory or my microSD card but not both at the same time.  Eventually I might upgrade to a 128 GB card and stop using the internal memory so I can access all my music all the time.
 
I would be interested to see what would happen if you plugged the charging cable for the A17 into the OPPO HA-2 DAC/Amp.  I wonder if it would treat the A17 as a storage drive  like their BDP-93 Blu-Ray player does?  This would allow you to utilize the DAC and Amp from the HA-2 without having to buy another expensive cable. 

The answer tot eh Oppo HA-2 may be nope dude, because it's a portable amp/DAC with no interface to slect msuci, probably we are out of luck woth the expensive and unavailable cable

 

[gerelmx1986]

 

My Mrs takes note of the new purchase, then slowly guilt trips me over a period of time, depending how much I like the gadget.
It's going to be hit and miss, as long as the device isn't expecting to see a voltage on the plug, it should work.
 

Death by a thousand cuts I call that. That is one reason divorce is so popular! If women were more reasonable and realized that often their men have given up running to bars and live shows in favour of staying home with headphones .... I say wake up and smell the good deal ladies. I'm happy if she has a hobby.

That's why i love being GAY becaue we are both dudes (my man and I) and we like to spend haha on nice stuff and we both work

 

[luck002]

 
That's why i love being GAY becaue we are both dudes (my man and I) and we like to spend haha on nice stuff and we both work

You are lucky to have that kind of partner. I've seen so many one sided gay love in my life (a nice hard working guy with a gold-digger partner). Sometime it scare me to find my own partner.
 
----------
 
I've tried using Fiio E11k and E12k in audio store and I barely feel any improvement for my IEM, guess I dont need one which is good.

 

[Mmet]

  You are lucky to have that kind of partner. I've seen so many one sided gay love in my life (a nice hard working guy with a gold-digger partner). Sometime it scare me to find my own partner.
 
----------
 
I've tried using Fiio E11k and E12k in audio store and I barely feel any improvement for my IEM, guess I dont need one which is good.

i always find no benefit from pairing walkman with a fiio amp except the power thing .... other than that i prefer the headphone out straight from Sony  

 

[Sonic Defender]

  Future of headphone design! and playing A17 through Blu-Ray player USB port.
 
I just watched a fascinating video on the future of headphone design and have included the link here
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/754530/an-interview-with-paul-barton-of-psb-and-nad-head-fi-tv#post_11308414.
 
Basically research has been done for several years at the Canadian Research Council in Ottawa to try and design headphones that sound more like loudspeakers in a good listening room than actual headphones. The NRC has the most advanced acoustic research facilities in the world.  Most of the Canadian speaker manufacturers like Mirage, Paradigm and PSB utilize these facilities to design their speakers and now headphones. Since all music has been and is currently recorded to optimize listening through loudspeakers in a good listening room, producing headphones that can sound like this will let us hear the music the way it was intended to be heard.
 
Back in 2012 and 2013 Canadian companies PSB and NAD (now Canadian owned) released headphones based on this research.  Namely the NAD Viso VP50 (2013) and the PSB M4U1 (PASSIVE) and M4U2 (NOICE CANCELLING) (2012) headphones.  They were the most acclaimed headphones produced at the time receiving several innovation and headphone of the year awards by several magazines and audio review web sites including Sound and Vision. 
 
I am now looking at the NAD Viso VP50 which is sold at a couple of stores in Toronto as my next headphones.  PSB and NAD headphones are all in the $250 to $300 range.  If you are in the market for headphones in this price range you should read the reviews and take a listen if you can.  Once I get my TAX refund I will be taking a serious look at these bad boys!  They are sensitive enough to use with portable devices but I will probably use them as my home listening headphones,
 
I also tried plugging my A17 into the USB port on my OPPO BDP-93 Blu-Ray player which is also an amazing audio player.  Just like plugging the A17 into my computer the BDP-93 treats the A17 as an external drive (using the stock Sony charging cable).  So I can listen to music from my A17 at home and utilize the high end DAC's in my BDP-93 and play the sound through my Yamaha receiver and Boston Acoustic speakers or my B&W P3 headphones.  I can view the album art and song information on my tv screen or engage the Audio direct function on the player to deliver a pure audio output.  The other benefit is my A17 is charged by the BDP-93 while I am playing music.
 
Needless to say the sound is so much better through the BDP-93 than listening to the A17 through bluetooth speakers.  The only negative is that I can only access songs either from the internal memory or my microSD card but not both at the same time.  Eventually I might upgrade to a 128 GB card and stop using the internal memory so I can access all my music all the time.
 
I would be interested to see what would happen if you plugged the charging cable for the A17 into the OPPO HA-2 DAC/Amp.  I wonder if it would treat the A17 as a storage drive  like their BDP-93 Blu-Ray player does?  This would allow you to utilize the DAC and Amp from the HA-2 without having to buy another expensive cable. 

I had the HP50 from NAD, and it was very good, a little rolled off similar to the 650. It was the looks that I sold them for as I purchased them as my portable headphones and damn were they odd looking. At first I really liked the look, but felt so weird wearing them in public. Sound wise though, pretty damn solid up and down and they sounded so much better than the momentum over-ears when I compared them directly. Anyway, the HP50 is very good, but it isn't giant killer good, just a top-notch, excellent value for the $300 good.

 

[spatzi]

My Mrs takes note of the new purchase, then slowly guilt trips me over a period of time, depending how much I like the gadget.

It's going to be hit and miss, as long as the device isn't expecting to see a voltage on the plug, it should work.

 


So its like you bought this, this and this, alltogether amounting to this sum - so I am going to buy myself shoes, make up, etc for the same amount?!

I read here some guys counter attack when asked by Mrs why they need so many headphones by answering "for the same reason you need so many shoes/bags". I wish the argument would work for me but unfortunately (or fortunately for our budget) my Mrs does not collect shoes (I think I have more pairs than her) or bags, hehehe.

It works for me as my wife is into photography so that means her hobby is even more expensive than mine. while I buy a $1300 audio player like zx2, as the absolute top end and rare expenditure, she will be regularly eyeing a new $1500 lens or canon camera body that costs $3000.

 

[Levanter]

Interesting info for those who claim the latest F series sounded better than the A10 series.

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0315/Interview_Yoshioka_Sony_NW_ZX2.htm

Looks like the A10 might be the successor and have better components e.g. POSCAP capacitor, improved thicken wire in battery and better chassis build for sound. All missing from the F series.