[RedJohn456]

  Well it only took about 7 days, but I didn't have a chance to listen to it until today which is almost a week later.  So do you know what is this extra earbuds that they throw in now? I dont think it's the Asura cause Asura has a black cable, this one is red.
 
I dont know but this extra earbuds with the red cable that they threw in is just as good as the Zen? What am I dreaming?
The Zen def has more bass than this though.
 
Also, anyone recommends a good quality but slim profile amp for my Zen? Price can be between $100-300

7 days is quick! where are you located by the way? are you in north america? if so, that is really fast shipping.
 
Also, Zen is one of the ones that I found REALLY benefited from burn in. It sounded average out of the box. Also, it needs a lot of power to sound its best. Since you're looking for a new amp you're in luck. They are making an amp called the RunAroun which is being made specifically for the Zen. It costs 75 usd for zen owners and 150 for non zen owners. It is designed to have enough juice to do the zens justice. bad news is that it will be released in June, so its a bit of a wait. Do you have an amp to tide you over meanwhile? Or perhaps get a budget amp to hold you over. Or if you can't wait get a powerful class A amp for it

 

[jincuteguy]

 
7 days is quick! where are you located by the way? are you in north america? if so, that is really fast shipping.
 
Also, Zen is one of the ones that I found REALLY benefited from burn in. It sounded average out of the box. Also, it needs a lot of power to sound its best. Since you're looking for a new amp you're in luck. They are making an amp called the RunAroun which is being made specifically for the Zen. It costs 75 usd for zen owners and 150 for non zen owners. It is designed to have enough juice to do the zens justice. bad news is that it will be released in June, so its a bit of a wait. Do you have an amp to tide you over meanwhile? Or perhaps get a budget amp to hold you over. Or if you can't wait get a powerful class A amp for it

I can't wait, i need a good amp bad, but it needs to be slim and small or at least not bulky, do u have any in mind/

 

[RedJohn456]

  I can't wait, i need a good amp bad, but it needs to be slim and small or at least not bulky, do u have any in mind/

breeze e11 was mentioned earlier i think. I am not familiar with class A portable amps to be honest. 
 
But in general the ones that spring to mind are:
 
Fiio e12 e12a
Cayin c5
 
I am not sure if they will make a perfect match for the zens however.

 

[ricesteam]

The earbud with the red cable is the 'gift' in lieu of the out of stock Asura Beta.  I gave them a quick try and just as quick stopped using them.  They are generic earbuds that you can just buy in a store.  Can't even compare to Asura.
 
As for the Zen you need an amp.  I'm currently using the Minibox-ES amp made to combo with the PK1.  They seem to drive the Zens pretty good since it can decently drive my HD650s. I'm not sure what the "sound" of Zen are supposed to sound like but my amp may be a bit on the warm side.  I'm waiting for the Roundabout for comparison.

 

[jincuteguy]

  The earbud with the red cable is the 'gift' in lieu of the out of stock Asura Beta.  I gave them a quick try and just as quick stopped using them.  They are generic earbuds that you can just buy in a store.  Can't even compare to Asura.
 
As for the Zen you need an amp.  I'm currently using the Minibox-ES amp made to combo with the PK1.  They seem to drive the Zens pretty good since it can decently drive my HD650s. I'm not sure what the "sound" of Zen are supposed to sound like but my amp may be a bit on the warm side.  I'm waiting for the Roundabout for comparison.

The MINIBox u have is too expensive, i need a slim + small one but within the $100-$300 range

 

[RedJohn456]

  The MINIBox u have is too expensive, i need a slim + small one but within the $100-$300 range

https://www.oppodigital.com/proddetail.asp?prod=HA2
 
The Oppo HA-2 might be a good option

 

[mochill]

No fiio x5ii

 

[jincuteguy]

No fiio x5ii

Isn't the X5 is just a music player? not Amp? 

 

[RedJohn456]

  Isn't the X5 is just a music player? not Amp? 

If you want to get one of the best amps for price check out the Headstage Arrow at http://www.headstage.com/Arrow-5TX:::1023.html?XTCsid=287ed1caa182b5d59e0a95d2eba3694b
the Arrow 5Tx is their latest model but another one is slated to come out sometime soon. Not sure exactly when. Only catch is that it takes a few months to get the amp. Its one guy in germany making them but from all the reviews they seem to be superb. If you can stretch the budget, this would be the one to get.
 
Although I plan on getting their latest arrow model sometime in the distant future, I will be use the RunAround for till then as its shaping up to be quite the little amp from what I have read. 

 

[jincuteguy]

Thx for the infos.
 
Has anyone use their Zen with the Creative ZXr sound card?

 

[zhibli06]

  Thx for the infos.
 
Has anyone use their Zen with the Creative ZXr sound card?

If you have them already, give it a shot , might work out , might not work out.
 
If you don't have them already, I won't bet on it.
 
Cheers 
 
Lee

 

[jincuteguy]

 
If you want to get one of the best amps for price check out the Headstage Arrow at http://www.headstage.com/Arrow-5TX:::1023.html?XTCsid=287ed1caa182b5d59e0a95d2eba3694b
the Arrow 5Tx is their latest model but another one is slated to come out sometime soon. Not sure exactly when. Only catch is that it takes a few months to get the amp. Its one guy in germany making them but from all the reviews they seem to be superb. If you can stretch the budget, this would be the one to get.
 
Although I plan on getting their latest arrow model sometime in the distant future, I will be use the RunAround for till then as its shaping up to be quite the little amp from what I have read. 

What about the Sony PHA-1A?

 

[Toom]

This is ridiculous. If anything is truly this picky, it's a joke surely.

 

[RedJohn456]

This is ridiculous. If anything is truly this picky, it's a joke surely.

lol dude why are you so critical of something you haven't heard yet?  It is picky because it needs a good class A portable amp. I think it has a High impedence and low sensitivity iirc. So to get the best out of it, you would need a capable amp no? Not very complicated
 
The popular amps such as Fiio e12/e12a, cayin c5, while they are amazing amps in their own right, are not class A portable amps. From my understanding they simply don't have the juice to push it to the max.
 
So thats the crux of it essentially. I am telling you dude, it sounds epic out of my crappy Fiio e17, and so I can only imagine how much better it will sound out of the RunAround. They are a bargain for the price imo. They don't look all that special but don't judge a book by its cover  

 

[ClieOS]

 
lol dude why are you so critical of something you haven't heard yet?  It is picky because it needs a good class A portable amp. I think it has a High impedence and low sensitivity iirc. So to get the best out of it, you would need a capable amp no? Not very complicated
 
The popular amps such as Fiio e12/e12a, cayin c5, while they are amazing amps in their own right, are not class A portable amps. From my understanding they simply don't have the juice to push it to the max.
 
So thats the crux of it essentially. I am telling you dude, it sounds epic out of my crappy Fiio e17, and so I can only imagine how much better it will sound out of the RunAround. They are a bargain for the price imo. They don't look all that special but don't judge a book by its cover  

 
Well, Class A isn't the be-all-end-all in portable amp. Let not falls into the same trap for 'being critical of something you haven't heard yet', so to speak. It is the implementation that matters, not what class it is run in. A well implemented Class AB will still beats a poorly implemented Class A all days.
 
... and I won't call Zen picky at all. It is fairly demanding compared to most earbuds and therefore it is in its nature to be more revealing to its source's power.