Do "Audiophile" players make sense?

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esanthosh

esanthosh

Herald
Right now, with my collection of IEMs across the price range, I've either owned or had an opportunity to try out a few of the better universal IEMs (thanks to loaners from here and head-fi). Now, what's left to explore is the custom IEM territory. It's a bit too costly for me to jump in without thinking. I might explore them someday, but not in the immediate future. With so many manufacturers joining the bandwagon, we might see lot more variety in customs going forward. But, this thread is not about that.

How about the other important end of the chain i.e., Source files and the source? I have the source files covered and sources part - well almost covered. Much like my IEM collection, I've got a sample each of the consumer brand DAP/PMPs - Sansa, Cowon, Apple, Sony, Creative and then, Nationite / Cube.

I've not been a big fan of clunky bricks which pass off as "audiophile" players so far. But, that's changing. The divide is surely there - on one side people claim that audiophile players are great and look down on players like Clip+, iPod and the like. The other camp says that it's all placebo and players actually don't differ much in a blind ABX. Fact is, leaving out any bias, I would like to hear and test one of them myself and see if the so-called SQ increase is indeed present. Now, the question is ... which player? Thought I'll put in my initial thoughts and get some feedback from the few who actually have owned / tried such players.

Basics:

Requirement: Better SQ, As far as possible a Flat frequency response (I can use IEMs for coloration)

Don't mind: Battery life, Difficulty of use, poor UI, weight (lack of portability), Lack of LO / Optical out, DAC functionality, 24/192 support, Lack of gapless

Want, but not necessary: FLAC and MP3 format support

HM-60X and 80X are out due to coloration. That retro looking Colorfly C4 is also out due to the hefty price tag.



S:Flo2 16GB ($160-180) (Link -- to nowhere)

Pros: Affordable price, File format support, microSD card slot, Line out, Can buy Teclast T51 off eBay if needed, EQ (?)

Cons: Bad UI, no integration of card into main library, quality issues (recently MP4Nation took it off their site as an entire batch turned out to be duds), hard to get (lot of waiting), Not so great experience with their life

HiSoundAudio Studio-V ($450-500) (Link)

Pros: Long battery life (80-100 hours), File format support, microSD card slot, can change sound with firmware

Cons: Bad UI, very costly, Hisses pretty badly, bulky, Unpredictable life span, only 8GB internal capacity available

QLS QA350 v2 ($250) (Link)

Pros: Does not hiss, Compares decently against HM-80X according to Headfonia, Line out, Optical out, Charging circuit separate so can be plugged to mains and used while battery is being charged, said to sound better than S:Flo2 according to few users who have used both.

Cons: No internal storage, which means additional investment for SD Cards (would need a printed index of each SD card as well :P), Supports only WAVE file format in 16/44.1, not portable for sure due to weight and size, Bass is not as great, Battery life would be only 5-6 hours

FiiO X3 ($180?) (Link to Head-fi thread)

Pros: Affordable price, Line out, Optical out, File format support, Might support SDXC cards (untested expectation)

Cons: Not yet released, May not turn out to be great as this is their first player, No internal storage so need additional microSD cards



Shut the F'up and keep quiet. You already have more players than you need

Pros: Saves lot of money

Cons: Curiosity will still remain, I'll never be an "audiophile" :ashamed:

Any thoughts / opinions / options?
 
If you have golden ears pull the trigger else go with the last option.I gave up on audiophile players as its irritating to carry phone+Player all the times ,with IEM+player on i used to miss 90% of my calls .I am way happy with my iPhone+ TF10.

PS:Before starting Apple Vs Others wars regarding music quality ,please do your home work.
 
No use blindly getting an 'audiophile' player. I believe source is important since its the first step of the audio chain and if its rubbish you are going to end up with rubbish but it should also be about matching componentns. Entire chain should compliment each other. So you could need an expensive source or you may find a 10 year old Akai unit in your closet sounding the best (Something similar did happen to me :P)

Considering the number of IEM's you have I think this could be tough :lol:

What Metal says makes a lot of sense too. For on the go and even otherwise the convenience of a single unit plus iems is tough to beat.
 
i understand HM 60x out due to coloration but hm801 is very neutral ( give me links that show its otherwise ( the hm801) )

and yeah, IMO HM602 has great improvement over sflo in terms of imaging . so it does matter . ( sflo is already better than most in imaging )

of all these, i will suggest , qls qa350 . it has physical buttons and has very good soundquality .
ofcourse that WAVE only thing will be irritating and engaging !

NOTE : that "low battery life" con is a BI|G one ...trust me , batteries take as much time to charge as to discharge.
 
Try the iPod Classic 160gb -> Cypher Labs AlgoRhythm Solo (CLAS) -> Your portable amp -> IEM.

I tried it for a few minutes with my Sm3 and tbh I couldn't tell much of a difference compared to the Sflo2(although few mins isn't really fair) although it was a tad warmer(although compared with the ipod directly connected to the sm3, I feel there is a congestion in the mids, where I personally feel the mids straight outta the ipod is rather less dynamic and cramped, which seemed non-existent with CLAS in the chain)

It does sound like a pretty good rig considering u would be getting 160gb of music on the move and the CLAS bypasses the ipod's DAC completely and it should be able to drive anything depending on your amp.

Revolutionary: The Cypher Labs AlgoRhythm Solo (CLAS) | Headfonia
 
Metalspree said:
PS:Before starting Apple Vs Others wars regarding music quality ,please do your home work.
Click to expand...

I don't know if I have "golden ears". All I can do at max is to A/B the players and see if there are audible differences. Secondly, iPhone 4 has a lower output impedance even when compared to iPod Touch 4G, so it should match with most IEMs easily more than many. It is not a bad source by any means.
bottle said:
No use blindly getting an 'audiophile' player. I believe source is important since its the first step of the audio chain and if its rubbish you are going to end up with rubbish....

What Metal says makes a lot of sense too. For on the go and even otherwise the convenience of a single unit plus iems is tough to beat.
Click to expand...

Yep! Spending money is no guarantee that the SQ I get will be better than the players I already have, which is why I had not bought an "audiophile" player so far.

No! This one is not for on the go. For that, the little Clip+ which can go into the earphone case is enough for me. For touch players, I have S9 and iTouch 3G. So, if I go for any of the above-mentioned players (except for S:Flo2), I'd call it a "transportable rig" than a portable rig.

@strategy,

But, HM-801 and Colorfly C4 are very costly. If I could spend that money on an amplifier in the speaker rig, it will sing much better :P. Or I could upgrade my TV. May be up-to $300-350 is decent enough for an experiment like this, may be $400 at best. Anything more than $500, I am better off buying a custom than trying sources.

@benny,

I considered CLAS for a while, but it is still a "iPod SQ enhancement" than a stand-alone source by itself. There's also iStreamer for a relatively cheaper $200 if I can live with a desktop rig with iPod as source. I will think about these if all those players turn out to be clear duds at the end of my 'research'.
 
CLAS is very costly ...and you also need to add another amp ....|CLAS is only for those who want the best |( money no bar) + you can hardly call the setup portable ( i mean ipod+CLAS+amp) ....call the setup, "transportable" not portable
 
Think about it, nothing beats the UI of an ipod, nothing beats the storage of an ipod, use it just for those purposes and take the sound straight outta the ipod and what you have is an incomparable rig.

And I know i'm saying the above for the sake of conversation but tbh, I feel its time for u to get a Denon D5000 and stop playing around with portables :)

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---
strategy said:
CLAS is very costly ...and you also need to add another amp ....|CLAS is only for those who want the best |( money no bar) + you can hardly call the setup portable ( i mean ipod+CLAS+amp) ....call the setup, "transportable" not portable
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Keeping in mind esanthosh already has a good portable amp.
 
Even i can vouch for my HM-601 . If i go through a few reviews on headfi , then HM-601 sound signature is somewhat similar to HM-801 .

I have tried achal's HM-602 also , and found my HM-601 more towards neutral and warm sounding .

Also , For you question in thread , i would like to say , its best to go with the last option .

i.e - You already have a lot of player ..... So , Just Forget getting more messed up .

P.S- My opinion is , after being so much deep into audio , what we have acumalated in mind is a habit to find a flaws of our new hardware , which gives us a reason to buy a new one :bleh:
 
titana said:
What about this ?
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That again is an iPod specific device for $800.

I asked Hisound Audio about Studio-V. The price is $450 + $20 shipping by DHL, which is kind of steep. I was also told that they hiss less than the Sony X1060 and their first gen player, Amp3 Pro 2 (which I think Brendon has/had). It was an interesting player, but in the end too costly.

I am likely settling for QA350 V2. It will be as much fun as watching paint dry what with it's long instructions to care for fire prone LiPo battery, SD Card and WAVE only support - a clear throwback to the very early days of cataloging audio cassettes. But I'll at least know whether the whole thing is worth for the "SQ".

anubhav2345 said:
i.e - You already have a lot of player ..... So , Just Forget getting more messed up .

P.S- My opinion is , after being so much deep into audio , what we have acumalated in mind is a habit to find a flaws of our new hardware , which gives us a reason to buy a new one :bleh:
Click to expand...

Then, there's my curiosity. If I can't find a reason to buy anything, I'll create one -- like now :P
 
qa350 v2 is the best i think . ( under 400 )

above that i would say hm801 or CLAS or HP-P1 ( thanks for a new gear to look at titana :@ )

and IF you get the CLAS or qa350 ...get the jh3a please .

( WAIT.... !! drop all and get the 3a NOW!! you get amp+dac+IEM at just 1750)
 
No JH3A for me. I've read what James444 had to say about JH13 Demo and based on certain overlapping preferences, I think my choices would be UM Miracle, UE IERM, Westone ES5. I am yet to read up on the plenty of customs average_joe has covered of late. May be this at "only" €999 + shipping is the way to go for me :P
 
I got my miracle today (oops ,.. yesterday ) so yeah miracle is AWESOME, MADE FOR ME signature i think ...:D

..but santosh if you go for "that" ..you will have to be extra clean at your ears if you dont want to send them back just to clean the 5 bores of ear-wax. i eman look at those 5 bores ..how small they are ..there is bound to be wax blockage there . ( and there is no way to clean them ( i have to be extra careful of my 2 bore miracle's wax build up )
 
Alright! The "brick" is here. Tons of usability issues, but I'll get around them. I don't know if I like the sound signature. It is said to be similar to S:Flo2, but better. But, I am still liking my Clip+ so far. Will give 'em time, do comparisons and try to come up with a write-up later.
 
Ahem! QA350 v2 is an audiophile player. So, I am "burning it in" - actually that would be the long unused Superlux HD668B, but in true audiophile sense call it 'player burn-in' anyways. It's a long story, so at some point of time when I am still in mood, expect a long review popping up somewhere.
 
Congrats ! Frankly I hated the Amp3 mp3 player out of the box but after a few days of burn in (without listening to it) I found I magically started liking the sound. Not sure if its actually burn-in but I believe its very possible.
 
Yep! Very much possible. When I bought the Cowon S9 (my first player after owning Zen V+ for 2 years), I hated it. It took me nearly three weeks of constantly tweaking EQ to get it anywhere near what I wanted and it still fell short. QA350 could go the same way adjusting from Clip+.

If after a few days, I start liking it, I will unload a lot of stuff on TE :ohyeah:. But, no time for QA this week, as clock is ticking for RE272 review.
 
when the hm602+re262 combo arrived, it really did not sound that good, something was off.
when i got my hands on the fx700, the hm602 was amazing with it.

very choosy DAP ..the hm602,

very choosy IEm ..the RE262 ( really, great on the sflo2 )

..i donno why they made a combo out of these two ( ...I do know why , though )
 
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