antonyfirst
Headphoneus Supremus
Aloha guys. After having enjoyed this subforum for my first months on Headfi, and trying the most exotic players on the market (the Kenwood was back then, the JVC still is), I took the iMod route only to sell it after a few months... it wasn't to me, especially being too bulky, and because I couldn't really find a portable amp that made it worth the cost and bulk... and I tried many of them.
The iMod made a real difference only with my Stax SRS-005, showing its superior sound quality when paired with the electrostatic amp, and the unmatched speed of those little drivers.
Anyway, I sold it and got an iRiver E10: lovely player, smooth, extended, soundstage on par with the best, and endless deep bass. Very neutral player. It has two main limits: one is that the Shuffle option is quite rubbish, offering the same songs again and again. The other problem is the limited storage capacity, 6gb, and the fact that it's a microdrive.
What happened is that yesterday it fell out of my jacket, and the player kept freezing the whole day. I suspect it's the hard drive, hence I am out to sneak a new player.
Currently, I am tempted by these:
-iRiver H140: for its Rockbox capabilities. Downsides are the sound quality, which I suppose to be inferior to todays offerings; and the size.
-Cowon iAudio 7: nice, high capacity, supports tons of file formats... it has almost everything to love it... anyway, I don't know how good its sound quality is, especially in two regards: 1-if it has the same bass rolloff with low impedance IEMs (it would be no good for me), 2-if it's sibilant. I'd like if you could elaborate on this.
-A lovely Kenwood HD10GB7, to go back to my origins, but only if it can accept a CF card in it, so I won't have to be paranoid of its hard drive to die.
-One of this new and overpriced 8gb JVC flash players: I am tempted only because no one has one here on the board, but such player costs more than a 16gb iAudio 7 and it would be stupid to limit myself.
-Samsung S5: Zarim says it's the best player he has ever found, and he tried many. Anyway I don't know in what it has to be so good, so someone who likes to describe sound would have to chime in.
-Sansa Fuze: meh, this one seems a FOTM to me, but I want to hope that it really delivers what people say it can.
If you know about other esoteric players with wonderful navigation ability, pretty much flawless sound quality (like the iRiver E10 or the Kenwood are), and flahs player, please add them to the ring.
Tony
UPDATE!
The winner is: Cowon iAudio 7, 16gb
The iMod made a real difference only with my Stax SRS-005, showing its superior sound quality when paired with the electrostatic amp, and the unmatched speed of those little drivers.
Anyway, I sold it and got an iRiver E10: lovely player, smooth, extended, soundstage on par with the best, and endless deep bass. Very neutral player. It has two main limits: one is that the Shuffle option is quite rubbish, offering the same songs again and again. The other problem is the limited storage capacity, 6gb, and the fact that it's a microdrive.
What happened is that yesterday it fell out of my jacket, and the player kept freezing the whole day. I suspect it's the hard drive, hence I am out to sneak a new player.
Currently, I am tempted by these:
-iRiver H140: for its Rockbox capabilities. Downsides are the sound quality, which I suppose to be inferior to todays offerings; and the size.
-Cowon iAudio 7: nice, high capacity, supports tons of file formats... it has almost everything to love it... anyway, I don't know how good its sound quality is, especially in two regards: 1-if it has the same bass rolloff with low impedance IEMs (it would be no good for me), 2-if it's sibilant. I'd like if you could elaborate on this.
-A lovely Kenwood HD10GB7, to go back to my origins, but only if it can accept a CF card in it, so I won't have to be paranoid of its hard drive to die.
-One of this new and overpriced 8gb JVC flash players: I am tempted only because no one has one here on the board, but such player costs more than a 16gb iAudio 7 and it would be stupid to limit myself.
-Samsung S5: Zarim says it's the best player he has ever found, and he tried many. Anyway I don't know in what it has to be so good, so someone who likes to describe sound would have to chime in.
-Sansa Fuze: meh, this one seems a FOTM to me, but I want to hope that it really delivers what people say it can.
If you know about other esoteric players with wonderful navigation ability, pretty much flawless sound quality (like the iRiver E10 or the Kenwood are), and flahs player, please add them to the ring.
Tony
UPDATE!
The winner is: Cowon iAudio 7, 16gb