[shasty]

I bought im716's on sale last week, they sound amazing but I found out my first gen nano is simply not powerful enough to drive it and sounds muddier than on my home setup. I think it's time for an upgrade; which flash player has enough juice in them? I need at least 16gb+, and I was thinking among Creative Zen, Sony A820 series, and upcoming Samsung P2 16gb.

Thanks

 

[Chri5peed]

Get one which has infinitely expandable memory, i.e. SDHC slot.

 

[novasol]

Sony will do it, I listen at around 23(out of 30) volume. Can't use the Clear Bass at that volume though so look elsewhere if you need your bass.

 

[HipHopScribe]

The Cowon D2 is the most powerful flash player to my knowledge, and with the SDHC expansion you'll be able to meet your storage requirement.

 

[yy2ry]

I THINK KENWOOD B9 or D9 is good for you

 

[shasty]

lol i could wish for a more unified response =P

 

[facelvega]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shasty /img/forum/go_quote.gif lol i could wish for a more unified response =P

Kenwood b9 output per channel into 16 Ohms: 6mW
Sony A818: 5mW
Cowon D2: 37mW

That might help clear things up for you.

 

[flibottf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by facelvega /img/forum/go_quote.gif Kenwood b9 output per channel into 16 Ohms: 6mW Sony A818: 5mW Cowon D2: 37mW That might help clear things up for you.

I wouldn't rely on these info...

 

[majkel]

Despite 37mW per channel, the D2 will distort at the highest volume levels on low impedance headphones (32 ohm for sure), so effectively without distortion any iRiver will play louder. The situation reverts when you take a >50 ohm pair of headphones. However, I'm pretty impressed with the iRiver E10 - it's the loudest iRiver, and probably the best sounding. For full enjoyment you need to encode your music with ogg Vorbis aoTuV R2 encoder. Q10 sounds like lossless to me, on lower grade headphones q7-q8 is probably the highest quality that makes sense.
Sony's - NWZ-A81x and NWZ-S61x series are inferior SQ-wise to the D2 and especially to the iRiver E10, iRiver clix2 or Teclast T39, so I wouldn't care for them. Good bass but overall muddy and blurry presentation with suppressed trebles and dull midrange. If you like it, you'll enjoy it, I don't.

 

[novasol]

Quote:

Originally Posted by majkel /img/forum/go_quote.gif Despite 37mW per channel, the D2 will distort at the highest volume levels on low impedance headphones (32 ohm for sure), so effectively without distortion any iRiver will play louder. The situation reverts when you take a >50 ohm pair of headphones. However, I'm pretty impressed with the iRiver E10 - it's the loudest iRiver, and probably the best sounding. For full enjoyment you need to encode your music with ogg Vorbis aoTuV R2 encoder. Q10 sounds like lossless to me, on lower grade headphones q7-q8 is probably the highest quality that makes sense. Sony's - NWZ-A81x and NWZ-S61x series are inferior SQ-wise to the D2 and especially to the iRiver E10, iRiver clix2 or Teclast T39, so I wouldn't care for them. Good bass but overall muddy and blurry presentation with suppressed trebles and dull midrange. If you like it, you'll enjoy it, I don't.

I'm curious what headphones you used with the Sony. I know they are very sensitive to the type of phone used, more so than any player I've heard. Since I'm looking for new phones I'd avoid what you used.

With the Altec IM716's and V0 lame, my Sony sounds just slightly better than my JVC HD500....even though the JVC is still my favorite player.

 

[Punnisher]

If you listen to volume level 50/50 with the D2 and 32 ohm headphones, you'll have permanent hearing damage in no time.

 

[shasty]

hmm i heard cowon's have cold and analytic sound,
would that have good synergy with im716s? I mean, the im716's are already so analytical , I wanted to go for a warmer DAP

 

[HipHopScribe]

The D2 has some of the best sound enhancement features and one of the best EQ's available on a DAP, without using these the sound may be kind of cold, but you can tweak it to achieve the sound you want.

 

[shasty]

hmm i see, D2 does sound decent. One more question though
I'm going to remove the pod in my IM716's and replace with 68Ohm resistors, would this make any impact on my decision?

 

[Punnisher]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shasty /img/forum/go_quote.gif hmm i see, D2 does sound decent. One more question though I'm going to remove the pod in my IM716's and replace with 68Ohm resistors, would this make any impact on my decision?

It depends on the sensitivity of them. I added 50 ohms to my sf3's and I use a volume level of 15-25/50. Hope that helps.