Forum menu
I want a music player for the car, train journeys etc.
I was thinking of a basic 16gB Philips/Sandisk/Creative mp3 player...(£25 odd on't 'bay)
...but I wonder if adding a FiiO A1 amp (£26 new) is worth it, or just getting a FiiO M3 (8gB, takes sd, £50)...
..I presently use basic earbuds and mp3, might it be worthwhile? I could fit FLAC with 40gB on the FiiO.
I got one for Christmas a few years ago. It had given up working by new year
If your just using basic earbuds then there isn't much point in buying a headphone amp.
I have an older sandisk clip, fiio e07 and a pair of ultrasone headphones. Works with FLAC files and sounds great. The only issue I've found is that the headphones jacks always end up failing on both the sandisk and the fiio.
If you're using basic earbuds then £40 spent on some Shure SE112's will revolutionise your listening experience.
Does depend what you call basic though.
Get some nice ear or headphones first..
forget the amp and invest in better headphones - in-ear monitors will sound better than your buds for a start and won't bleed sound out to your neighbours if you are using them for train journeys, etc.
Shure is a good bet but the cheaper Sennheisers are pretty good.
Only get cans if you're really serious about your music though.
I use closed/sealed earbuds but find they fail very quickly, even pricey ones, so buy cheapish ones (sealed in ear types). Compactness is good for travel.
OK I tried some £70 Shure in ears, they sounded awful, sold on quickly.
Had some 90s Sennheiser closed back cans, sold them, regret it.
I had some Sennheiser in-ears but I sold them on for some reason, might have been fakes, can't remember.
Where did you get the Shures, there are a lot of fakes around - I tried some E4c that were from ebay and they were awful.
I've had E3c, Se530 and SE535 and they have all been excellent.
I have some Sennheiser CX300s and they are OK.
I had some Etymotics, the ones they did for the ipod, and they were a real funny balance, I had to EQ them a lot to get them 'flat' (my hifi is all based on BBC monitor speakers so I know what 'flat' is...).
All driven from various Cowon players.
The sandisk players are good but don't have a lot of power apparently, so they don't work so well if you have to apply a lot of EQ.
Are the £70 Shure's what you class as pricey? They are at the cheaper end really. The prices of top end head/ear phones gets ridiculous
http://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/earphones.html?dir=desc&order=price
http://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/headphones.html
Zero DAC headphones inner ear
The creative mp3 players have the best sound signature of the cheaper players, pair it with a pair of the [url= https://www.rha-audio.com/uk/headphones.html ]RHA M600 earbuds[/url] and you'll have a decent sound with good isolation, I use the RHA T20i ear buds and i'm impressed with them but the cheaper models are every bit as good and well regarded in the world of headphone geekery, they also have a good no quibble 3yr warranty
OK I tried some £70 Shure in ears, they sounded awful, sold on quickly.
Which ones? What didn't you like about them?
The 315's I passed on pretty quickly. My 535's are a fantastic sound. My wife enjoys her 215's although I find them a little light on the low end.
On a budget you can't go wrong with 112's though.
They sounded forward, hard, compressed
Which ones?
215 rings a bell.
Was a few years ago. I got a replacement under a 3P warranty so I'd hope they were legit.
These were so good I bought three more pairs for presents.
I got a FiiO amp to use in my last car as the car's hi-fi couldn't play my iPod loud enough. It was great, still works fine 3 years later, although since I changed cars has been sat in a drawer. Tried it with headphones but it was bit pointless and inconvenient.
Also have had Sennheiser CX300s for about 4-5 years and they're still good.
Don't be temped by anything with braided wires (like I have in now - Fischers) they may have great sound, but everytime you move the noise of the wire comes through the earbuds. What a shite design!
Thanks for the rec, but I struggle to buy something unheard on the bais of 1 or 2 testimonials.
SHame hifi shops won't let you listen to them (IME), it's the only chance they have to take advantage of having physical premises.
Chucking in my 2p:
- do check out earphones as a first port of call. Shure 215s seem to be the gold standard these days for "affordable-ish" and excellent sound. Personally I have etymotic hf5s - I gave up on Shures a couple of years ago because every pair I got lasted exactly 1 year. It will make a huge difference, to the point of thinking "I didn't realise this track had that bit in there"
- for MP3 players, I looked at Fiio, but the battery life was a bit of a kicker for me. Creative, Sony and Cowon get good reviews for their sound (with decent earphones); personally I went for a Cowon M2. The UI is a bit odd, but the battery life (90+hrs), microSD expandability and EQ, for the price, was unbeatable for me.
- I'd love a valve headphone amp for work, but realise it'd be totally impractical elsewhere. Although tbh, any earphone amp on the move is probably less practical than a good MP3 player and set of earphones