Right now I have a Sony Walkman NWZ A815 with Sony MDR-EX082 earphones, but I'm not exactly satisfied. Do you guys think I should change the mp3 player or the earphones. Which head/ear phones are the best out in the market and which ones will satisfy an audiophile for below $100. Should I get seinheisser or shure or bose head/ear phones? Simply put, which earbud under $100 is the best sound quality in market? All I care about is sound quality and they have to be significantly better than my current earbuds. BTW, my mp3 plays mp3 files 320kbps max and can also play wav lossless files.

Asking for something that costs less than $100 yet would suit an audiophile is problematic to start with.

I would suggest trying better ear/head phones.

This might be helpful:

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/ne...icle4487830.ece

I have some Sony headphones which are exceptional, but unfortunately they were discontinued many years ago so there is no point in me recommending them.

Like the poster above mentioned there is nothing that is considered "audiophile" grade for less then $100 bucks. The type of head phones you plan to buy will depend on how you plan on using them. If they are for your desktop computer you might want to consider something like a pair of Sennheister HD590's (not cheap). If you plan on travelling around quite often you might want to look into Sennheiser PXC250 with noise cancellation (they were quite nice I used to have a pair until I lost them). . Shure I have no idea about their headphones (I know they make tremendous microphones though). Anything from Bose is basically a rip off. Their products are "descent" at best. May I make a second suggestion? You might want to look into Grado's. They are top of the line right next to Sennheiser. In terms of the DAP, while I guess also that depends on what features you are looking for.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/



That's it!? no offense, but it sounds like a cheap player. A majority of the players out there are multi-codec now (even ones that support AAC like the IPod). WAV is uncompressed (no need for the lossless).

Said player appears to also play AAC and WMA, no word from a quick google on WMA lossless.
Google also tells me the player only has 10mW of output power - which is not very much at all. You are going to need to be careful and get high efficiency phones.

I thought my Shure E2Cs were quite a nice upgrade from stock buds for $70, I don't know what the equivalent model in their current line-up is, but they had very good noise isolation and if-anything a bit much bass (which is what many people seem to like).
Very durable as well. I wore and stored them in all sorts of rough conditions.

Are Grados earbuds cheaper than Seinheisser? What does DAP stand for? MY mp3 actually plays WMA, WAV, MP3, AAC (I was just listing the highest quality files that my mp3 could play so ppl wouldn't say to get better files instead of changing the mp3 or earbuds), and are WAV files really uncompressed because I heard that lossless isn't the same as uncompressed (WAV actually compresses to 16khz). Oh , and, would changing the mp3 player make a difference in sound quality - if so, which player would provide the best sound quality. BTW, how much would audiophile earbuds cost? Thanks!


What do you mean by high efficiency phones? And are the Shure E2Cs significantly better than my current ones? Thanks

I don't know if Grado's are cheaper then Sennheiser. That's a question best suited for Head-Fi. Around here it's called a "Digital Audio Player" if it has support for more then one codec. "MP3 player" is a cheap marketing term, well at least that's how I percieve it anyway. . a WAV is a WAV no offense, but I don't know who you are getting your information from, but uncompressed audio is uncompressed audio there is no loss of quality assuming a regular 16-bit 44 kHz sampling on a regular CD. Compresses to 16kHz? what exactly are you talking about? I don't understand what you mean there is a brickwall filter applied at 22 kHz that's what the spectrum looks as WAV on a CD. Lossless is a lossless there is no other way to say it. Which player would provide the best sound quality is a highly subjective topic that would require great scrutiny. You can't really measure the output quality of a DAP except using the Rightmark Audio Analyzer, which will really only gives you some number and figures to work and at best some idea (that is if you choose to go that route). You should mostly look at your choice of a DAP for the features. I recommend you start by checking out Cowon and working your way around the "loop" per say. If you really want a more useful resource I recommend you check out:

http://dapreview.net/news.php

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/

The later of which has forums dedicated to different models of players you are considering buying.



According to Soap they are seeing that your player is "cheap". I recommend you post to Head-Fi to get some idea of what earphones are recommended by people more focused in that area. I know Sennheiser makes a pair of earphones, although I do not know what they are called you would need to look around. I can look them up for you after if you are still interested. I don't have the time right now though.

The cheapest GRADO is the iGrado (~70 Euro in Germany), followed up by the SR60. Both use the same driver, and IMO are very good value for the price.
They are very open however which may restrict usability cause you may be disturbed by your surrounding and may disturb those who are close to you.

Ok, I would like to know which earbuds has the best audio quality avail. Thanks

???



Audio "quality" is subjective. I prefer flat response as I would rather hear the music as intended by the artist. Others prefer more bass, others prefer some other flavor. Which ice cream has the best flavor quality available?

HotshotGG was right - you're going to get a wider range of opinions on how best to spend $100 on Head-Fi.

As for what I mean by "high efficiency", I mean your MP3 player has very little output power and will likely have a hard time driving high impedance and low efficiency headphones at an adequate volume. This spec. is commonly listed in dBs SPL per milliwatt of input. You likely want 100 or higher.

I like ones with more bass. I don't really like flat responses. What is head fi? I need ear phones for my DAP. If I increase my budget what is the best earbud avail. thanks

There's a lot of talk on Head-Fi about the Soundmagic pl-30... not heard them myself yet, but they are supposed to be astounding for the price (you can get them for $20 shipped!!). Here's a link to a Head-Fi post discussing them:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f103/soundma...essions-363159/

I'd disagree about the Shures, I thought they had a lack of bass. Maybe it was because they're not very sensitive so my iPod had trouble driving them?

As I say you've already got 2 people disagreeing about the same phones which is why it's better to read around a lot. Don't just ask which are best.

They're actually quite sensitive, but 16 ohm, and the iPods (well at least prior to the Classic, can't speak for the Classic) had trouble driving sub 32 ohm phones w/o suffering from bass rolloff.

Did you post to Head-Fi yet? You need to decide for yourself.




I think I misunderstood what you meant by "high effciency".



It's quotes like these that made me wish I actually paid attention in Physics classes. . I will have to remember this for future reference.

Off-Topic: I have actually attempted to learn about some of this stuff though. I did manage buy an introductory DSP book after spending enough time on these forums following the S/R&D topics. I think I am slowly starting to catch on to the technical jargon and the concepts. The math though is way out of my league I could care less about complex variables.