Advice needed: Going for Cowon J3 + RE ZERO

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aditya_v

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Hi all,

I have been wanting a decent audio system for ages, and now with my 1st salary, I finally have an opportunity to get one.
After browsing a lot, I am thinking of buying a COWON J3 + RE-ZERO
COWON J3 because its one of the few players which support flac and ogg, which I have a lot of. External speaker was kinda necessary and the memory card slot is a useful extra.

For music, i generally prefer tight punchy bass over muddy, thumpy ones. I like detail in highs and vocals and it seems re-zero fits the bill. However, my previous experiences are with Hd202 and sony walkmans IEMs. I suppose these would be my 1st IEMs.

I am looking for comments and advice on these decisions. Also, I am wondering whether J3 can drive the RE-ZERO, or RE0 for that matter.

And some suggestions from where to buy this stuff would be welcome. :)
 
Thats a good combination and should fit your sound signature requirements. :)

For vocals however you might be disappointed as I personally did not like the rendition of vocals on the Re0s.

I liked the Soundmagic PL-50 for vocals but did not like the bass.

The Brainwavz M2 has very nice vocals but the highs are simply OK.

PM Faheem for more info. :)
 
I too love vocals on PL50. Perhaps an IEM with PL50 like vocals, softer highs than RE0 but almost as detailed and better bass than RE0 or close to RE1. Asking for too much? Perhaps RE252? CK10?
 
Re252 is close to a RE0/RE1 hybrid. But it lacks the awesome soundstage of the RE1. :)

CK10 has a closed soundstage as well and its not too great with mids. Ah no perfect earphones. :(
 
If I am not concerned with soundstage, do you think RE252 would be a good option? Please keep in mind that vocals are my biggest concern. :)
 
haraakiri said:
If I am not concerned with soundstage, do you think RE252 would be a good option? Please keep in mind that vocals are my biggest concern. :)
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The SE-530 will be a good buy for you. Its the one place where the TF10 is a bit of a let down isn't it? :S
 
I think re-zero's would need a balanced output?

Better go for RE0 or RE252 if you can get used to the weird shape

You will need an amp with RE0's...something like fiio e7 is good enough

they have very good clarity in the mids and highs...bass is improved by amping else it sucks
 
Ritvik said:
The SE-530 will be a good buy for you. Its the one place where the TF10 is a bit of a let down isn't it? :S
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SE530 currently is beyond my budget. Hope there comes a good deal for it. :)

Yes, TF10 really is a let down when it comes to vocals/mids.

nukeu666 said:
I think re-zero's would need a balanced output?
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re-zero comes with an adapter, you could then use it with any "normal dap"
 
^^ Thats true with the stock cable. When I heard Benny Sachdevs TF10 with the modded cable I was surprised at the reviews that the TF10 had a V shaped sound as it sounded pretty neutral.

I am a believer in cables after that. :P

@haraakiri - The RE252 is neutral and its not the best for vocals. Try the SE530 as Ritvik suggested for the best vocals. :)
 
RE-252 \RE-0 both being close to ruler flat neutral are not the best with vocals. No idea about RE-Zero though.If OP can spend he can look at S530 as suggested by Ritvik or save money by getting a Brainwavz M2.
 
BF1983 said:
^^ Thats true with the stock cable. When I heard Benny Sachdevs TF10 with the modded cable I was surprised at the reviews that the TF10 had a V shaped sound as it sounded pretty neutral.

I am a believer in cables after that. :P
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Really? That would really be great. Would send pm to Benny about the modded cable. :)
@haraakiri - The RE252 is neutral and its not the best for vocals. Try the SE530 as Ritvik suggested for the best vocals. :)
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Everyone here is hell bound on emptying my wallet. :@ :P
 
^ By the way is that M6 , the MEElectronics M6 ? How does it fair against other IEMs of its price range ? I might be getting it soon .;).
 
That's MEElectronics M6. Bass is not controlled, that's the biggest gripe. Sometimes bleeds into mids. If you can ignore that, it really is great VFM. Has decent mids and highs. I mostly agree with Mark's review on head-fi and not much with joker's. For me M6 > NE6 for sure. But I am not an audiophile, so cant comment much on them. I use M6 with -5db bass. :P

@Brendon: If I sacrifice portability, do you think ortho headphones might satisfy my need for good vocals? How do they fare in highs? Low bass quantity is not a concern but bass shouldn't be boomy.
 
^ Orthos are great in everything. :P But do keep in mind, you're gonna need a good amp for driving them.

@OP - Your choices seem to be great. I think it would suit your requirement perfectly.
 
^Actually I was planning to get Orthos(titana's suggestion) because of which ordered audio gd sparrow(Brendon suggested Fun). I hope that would be enough. Brendon suggested me to go with used Yamaha YH-1 or HP-1 but couldn't find it on head-fi. Any other sources to get them? Or perhaps opt for fostex T50RP?

@OP re0 has got great highs, very details and got sparkle. FWIR RE-zero seem similar just a bit smoother(I didn't hear re-zero). RE0 doesn't have great vocals but definitely good enough. You could buy these from lynx-india.com, notorious here, but generally just make sure that they are in stock on chat or perhaps ask them to list them on ebay. I don't know where you could buy J3.
 
I think you should make a phone call. RE1 currently is in stock I think, you could just place the order and select to list it on ebay. They generally do it within a day.
 
RE0 isn't even listed on lynx-india. they only hav RE ZERO.

RE0 has an impedance of 64ohms compared to RE-ZERO's 16. Which i think makes it necessary to use an amplifier for RE0.

Can you bargain on these sites?
 
^^ Yup, I bought an RE1 from him 2 weeks back. Got it in a few days. :)

Also if you are interested I am selling my Yamaha HP-2 orthos in a week or so. I bought them for 6k from Titana and I am selling them for same amount (shipping included). They are 30 years old but are modded with damping on the drivers and the cable is changed to a Mogami mini quad cable. (By a head-fier and then by titana)

Its a fast headphone and sounds best with rock music and classical music (Violins, flutes and trumpents sound just amazing with Orthos !). The Sparrow should be able to drive them. Bass does not extend too low and stops around the 35 hz mark. Treble is nice and a strong point of the phones along with the mids. Audio-GD amps are slightly bright so you might face some sibilance. To counter this I EQ down the 10 khz band and the sibilance is gone.

Faheem has heard these headphones too so you can ask him about his opinion. :)
 
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