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lewislink
10-12-2008, 08:34 PM
The current portable gear I'm using is a 4G iPod Nano > Headphonia Line Out adapter > RSA "The Hornet" > several models of canalphones.

I like best the Westone UM2 for their overall quality of sound. The midrange punch is outstanding and the clarity and soundstage are second to none. I also like the Ultimate Ears Triple fi-10 Pros and Shure SE530s as well as a great many other models in many different price and quality classes.

For example, SoundMAGIC's PL-30 are around $40 and are superior in sound quality than a great many others at much higher prices. They are a chinese brand that truly sound wonderful, especially for their cost.

Sleek Audio's SA6 from this start up company have sound adjustable features that are truly amazing for their quality of sound. The best feature I've seen of them so far is their customer support. It is outstanding.

Klipsch Image X10 are another favorite with an amazing bass output from such a tiny, single driver canalphone. The bass is very controlled and powerful ad the overall sound quality is in the high end of the audiophile canalphones.

UE Super fi-5 V.2
UE Super fi-3 & 4
Sennheiser CX300 through CX500
Jays q-Jays
Klipsch Custom-1 & 2
V-Moda Vide & Bass Freq
Harman Kardon EP730
Altec lansing iM-716
Etymotic HF2
Denon AH-C751

and many other models and brands are what delights me.


I have a number of DAPs including:

COWON D2 & i7, U2
iriver Clix 1 & 2, E10, E100, LPlayer and various others
Samsung T10
Zune 8 & 80GB version
Many Sony DAPs
Sansa C250, E250, E280, View, Fuze
Apple iPod 3G, Nano 3G, Nano 4G, iPhone 1G
Creative Labs Zen Vision,Zen Vision W, Zen, Zen V
Meizu miniPlayer SL white & black versions

and many other smaller time brands and models.

Of all of the DAPs, I prefer the iPods primarily because of the portable Line Out functionality. Not all brands...actually only 3, currently...have this portable line out functionality. A couple brands, Sandisk and Zune prefer to malisciously prevent the portable line out functionality with requiring the DAPs be plugged into power before the Line Out will work.

I'd love to see Microsoft issue a firmware that allowed the use of the built in Line Out feature to work portably. Sandisk, I seriously doubt they will ever allow such a feature in any of their newer models because of their involvement with the movie industry and hindering even the use of their latest PMPs to play any video file not converted with thier very sorry Sansa Media Converter. And SMC will not do anything with MPEG-2 files...the DVD format.

My Fuze that I bought several months ago initially did play all of the video files my Sansa View would play, which were AVI files. But after a later firmware update, that video playing functionality went south. Some time after or before this, I can't remember, I read an article on a news site that stated Microsoft and Sandisk were teaming up with the movie industry in an attempt to prevent piracy and their PMPs would no longer support many of the video files they used to support.

After the Fuze update issue, I make certain my View never gets updated because it plays non-proprietary video files just fine, thank you.

Laptop battery is running out so I need to cut this short.

See you alll next time.

Mr Peabody
10-13-2008, 05:27 AM
I didn't realize Klipsch made earbuds or do anything with portable at all. Who carries them?

lewislink
10-13-2008, 09:09 AM
I didn't realize Klipsch made earbuds or do anything with portable at all. Who carries them?
Quite a few retailers carry them. One of the best places to buy them is SoundEarphones.com. Amazon is also an authorized dealer...Amazon, the seller and shipper, rather than the sideline stores on Amazon.

They are quite amazing earphones and incredibly comfortable for most people. I, myself, had issues with the Customs. They just didn't fit well enough with the stock gel sleeves so I used some Comply "P" Standard foams and all went well thereafter. The gels are outstanding on the Image X10s, though. I also use them on my Shures and whatever else I can fit them on...my SA6 and such.

captjamo
10-14-2008, 07:28 PM
:14: I liked hearing about your portable gear lewislink. You could star in a movie titled "The Phone Collector". he he Don't know what I would do without my 3G Nano and SE420's

Mr Peabody
10-15-2008, 05:18 AM
Have you heard the Creative Labs Aurvana? They are the only in ear I've heard and was impressed with them. I'm leaning toward trying an in ear, thinking they may be more convenient to carry around with me. My thing is do I get the Aurvana which I know sound quite a bit better in most aspects than my current over the ear or do I try another brand based on recs. Local stores only carry crap like Bose or cheaper brands. You'd think in the day and age of mp3 stores would carry a better variety. I checked amusicdirect but they no longer carry Shure or Etymotic. It was interesting to see that Grado and Goldring now offer in ear buds. I do not like Grado headphones at all and I don't think my opinion would change of their in ear phones. Ever since my first pair of Sennheiser I have been a die hard fan. I like my calapsible Senn's I'm currently using for the most part but the highs seem to be a bit rolled off and the sound is not as open as I thought they would be. Considering $60.00 I was hoping for a bit more when you can get a decent regular headphone for not much more. They may have been trying to compensate for the typical portable sound though. The bass response is very good, it's tight and deep when the content is there. The Aurvana had a large open sound with good fidelity. Reviews are scoring about average though for the Aurvana as the other brands as well. I think either people don't give the phones enough break in time or write before they figure out how they fit in the ear properly. I haven't seen Weston yet. I'll have to do a search to see who carries them. I'm not a big fan of Klipsch speakers but I would be interested to see what their idea of a headphone should sound like. They are about the same price as the Aurvana but more than one reviewer claimed they were "muddy" or lacked resolution. I like resolution/detail, a balanced and extended frequency response.

Any guidance based on my rambling would be appreciated.