Music Banter - View Single Post - A small guide on how to listen to high quality music spending very little money.

SATCHMO · 04-16-2013, 12:36 PM

In the case with 320kbps mp3 vs. any sort of lossless file the difference in audio quality is rarely perceptible to human ears and even then the difference can only be discerned by a discerning ear with ever part of the signal chain being of high quality: recording>music player>DAC>amplification>transducer (headphone, speaker). The sampling rate of the file plays a much bigger factor in sound quality, but sadly most people don't have DACs that will deal with 24 or 32 bit integers.

Okay, as far as portable music players go, if you you want to dish out $830 on an iBasso DX-100, more power to you. I've done A/B tests with my iPhone through a line out dock into my Fiio E17 portable amp/DAC into my Hifiman HE400 planar-magnetic headphones (through this method, the iPhone's internal amp is bypassed, but it's DAC is still utilized) compared to my Macbook Pro's USB> Fiio E17 (bypassing both the MBP's amp and DAC) and the differences were beyond negligible. Even still, on a lower impedence pair of headphones or in-ear monitors which require less power to drive, the sonic differences between the line out of my iPhone into the E17 and taking the signal directly from the iPhone's headphone jack are equally, if not more negligible. Apple puts very good internal components in their products.

I liked my Skullcandy Titans. Sure, one can really do better, but I also owned the Klipsch S4i and found that the issues it had with sibilance in the 8-12k region made them completely unlistenable. I'd much more recommend spending $100 on a pair of Thinksound TS02s or MS01s. They're a small, American company run by the chief engineer and he responds to any and all customer service requests, including my own, personally. I sent him an email when I purchased the MS01 telling him I was sad that I'd lost the only pair of tips for the TS02s that fit my ears. He quickly replied asking what sized I used, and when he shipped the MS01s he sent 10 pairs in my size! Sure, they're roughly double the price of the Klipsch, but you can't bitch about sound quality and at the same time not be willing to part with some money.

04-16-2013, 12:36 PM	#14 (permalink)
SATCHMO Al Dente Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Texas Posts: 4,708	In the case with 320kbps mp3 vs. any sort of lossless file the difference in audio quality is rarely perceptible to human ears and even then the difference can only be discerned by a discerning ear with ever part of the signal chain being of high quality: recording>music player>DAC>amplification>transducer (headphone, speaker). The sampling rate of the file plays a much bigger factor in sound quality, but sadly most people don't have DACs that will deal with 24 or 32 bit integers. Okay, as far as portable music players go, if you you want to dish out $830 on an iBasso DX-100, more power to you. I've done A/B tests with my iPhone through a line out dock into my Fiio E17 portable amp/DAC into my Hifiman HE400 planar-magnetic headphones (through this method, the iPhone's internal amp is bypassed, but it's DAC is still utilized) compared to my Macbook Pro's USB> Fiio E17 (bypassing both the MBP's amp and DAC) and the differences were beyond negligible. Even still, on a lower impedence pair of headphones or in-ear monitors which require less power to drive, the sonic differences between the line out of my iPhone into the E17 and taking the signal directly from the iPhone's headphone jack are equally, if not more negligible. Apple puts very good internal components in their products. I liked my Skullcandy Titans. Sure, one can really do better, but I also owned the Klipsch S4i and found that the issues it had with sibilance in the 8-12k region made them completely unlistenable. I'd much more recommend spending $100 on a pair of Thinksound TS02s or MS01s. They're a small, American company run by the chief engineer and he responds to any and all customer service requests, including my own, personally. I sent him an email when I purchased the MS01 telling him I was sad that I'd lost the only pair of tips for the TS02s that fit my ears. He quickly replied asking what sized I used, and when he shipped the MS01s he sent 10 pairs in my size! Sure, they're roughly double the price of the Klipsch, but you can't bitch about sound quality and at the same time not be willing to part with some money.