Sonus Canvas

Maybe it is time to revive this thing.

2009-04-18T13:44:00.001-07:00

5 great Mp3 Players reviewed and compared!!!

2008-02-01T04:42:00.000-08:00

This is a review I made a while ago. I like to try exotic players (especially those considered "audiophile" players) and see how they fare.

The Review:

Rio Karma - 20 GB - discontinued

This player has been my first serious player. It features great controls, the famous Rio Avalon interface that has been recently integrated in Trekstor Vibez. It's able to create and edit playlists on the go, and modify the order of songs played with shuffle, at owner's will.
The equalizer was good and bad. I only used the Bass preset, and it was very muddy. The 5-bands custom equalizer, instead, makes people obtain every combination out of it, since it can be tuned on every frequency.
It had become a legend on headfi, but sound quality-wise it brought a lot less details than my first Kenwood (the HD20GA7), and even slightly less details than the Muvo V200. By that time, I used the Sennheiser CX300 with all the three players. Soundstage wasn't very good as well. On one of my reference songs, Moss Garden by David Bowie, there is a plane sound that goes behind the listener, from left to right. With the Rio Karma, there was a dead angle behind me, so I could hear the "plane" passing from a channel from the other.
The Karma didn't have any hiss, but it often had a random spinning sound, due to the hard disk mechanics.
The Karma suffered from HD issues. My HD broke after three months. Other issues seemed due to the battery, and its shortening life.
This player is very thick, and unconvenient to take out of the pocket.
The Karma is gapless, but actually a very small gap is easily audible in live albums.
Battery life on this player is 8 hours (poor).
It has a lineout cradle, though it isn't praised for its quality (iPods should be better).

Further info:
dapreview.net's "1000 Things about the Rio Karma"

Creative MuVo V200 - 256 MB - upgraded to new models

This is my very first mp3 player. When I passed from the MuVo to the Karma, I didn't notice any improvements. I thought I wasn't audiophile at all, since the Karma was so greatly praised at that time. When my Karma broke, I came back to the MuVo for few weeks - before buying the HD20GA7. I was surprised, to say the least, by the fact that I could here more details than on the Karma.
Today I can say that the MuVo, amped with a Xin Supermini can easily rival both Kenwood players.
It can be used as USB drive (without the cable). The equalizer has 5 bands, and is more effective than the EQ on both Kenwood players. Each band has 10 possible levels, from -14 to +14 dB (a LOT).
The MuVo is the only player I have never sold, and it's the player I come back to, each time that I sell my main player to try something new.

Kenwood HD20GA7 - 20 GB - discontinued (but easy to find at online shops) - Price: 289$-429$
Output power: 6mW+6mW

This player is my first true entry in Hi-Fi world. It's the first "toy" which allowed me to actually hear differences in sound. I'll resume some of my previous takes about it. I came from MuVo and Rio Karma, at the time, and still using the Sennheiser CX300.
"It’s lovely to listen to my songs: this dap makes them much more musical, and alive. It’s like a concert in which you can hear every single note and how they become part of something superior. [...]
Instruments are more distanced and songs are much more detailed.
Each note is crafted precisely."

What surprised me, at that time, was the Bass equalizer setting. It wasn't muddy at all.
"When a song shows a bass component, it is underlined making it more impactful, adding some power and vibration to the notes, without touching any other frequencies."

The Kenwood has clean bass and a slightly warm tonal balance.
Soundstage, like can be easily understood, is much better than Rio Karma's. David Bowie's "Moss Garden" plane sounded around me without any interruptions, nor dead angles.

Custom EQ is almost useless. It basically boosts all frequencies over/under certain fixed frequencies. I didn't like it.

The hiss is a real problem. With sensitive IEMs like d-JAYS (116 dB/mW sensitivity) and Shure E500 (119 dB/mW), it was easily audible when at home. The ER4P and Sennheiser CX300 are more forgiving, and the hiss could be heard only during quite passages. No worries from hiss on the road.
The interface isn't nearly as good as on the Rio Karma. I could make playlists only using Kenwood Media Applications, for example. Unconvenient.

The Kenwood Hd20GA7 doesn't have a lineout, but it can possibly sound better than iPod's lineout.

Kenwood HD10GB7 - 10 GB - currently available - Price: 300$-389$
Output power: 8mW+8mW

I traded my HD20GA7 for a Kenwood HD10GB7 to achieve more portability. The HD10GB7 features the Supreme conversion, to recover the high frequencies that are usually lost while playing music from a portable, but at the expense of any possible EQ-ing. It was no good for my Etymotic, since they needed a strong bass boost in order to sound lively, and not thin.
The HD10GB7 has slightly wider soundstage than his predecessor, and a three band EQ with switchable frequencies (better than the HD20GA7). Actually I never used the custom eq, since it is still poorly effective. Though, I become keen on the Rock preset, which made my Etys sound much more lively and natural than the Shure E500.

The hiss is the same on the HD10GB7 as it were on the HD20GA7.

Due to the small size, navigation is less convenient (and slower) than with its older brother.

I tried to amp the HD10GB7 with a Xin Supermacro LE. Sound signature remained pretty much the same, but I found useful to add Supermacro's bass boost to the chain (and over the Rock preset). The Etys sounded amazing, with bass that could be boomy when required.
I sold the Supermacro (too expensive to keep) and I couldn't go back to normal listening. Like I said to a fellow headfier, "After having sold the Supermacro, Kenwood + ER4P sound like if a crippled limb is being thrown to a wall".
This is what made me sell this classy and small player, in order to look for something with better sound options.
Still, it was the best combo I tried 'til that moment.
Like the HD20GA7, the lil' Kenwood doesn't have a lineout.

JVC Alneo XA-HD500 - 6 GB - discontinued, still available at some online shops - Price: 235$ (Japan) - 289$ (eBay)
Output power: 5mW+5mW

I was very interested in this player. The only other person who tried it on Head-fi, FenderP, sold it because it wasn't gapless (like all players but the Karma and Trekstor Vibez, actually, and Rockboxed players), but found it was the best player he ever tried.
I tried a selection of songs to AB against my neighbour's HD20GA7. I used the ER4P with both players without equalization. What I found at the very start was that the JVC was at least as detailed as the Kenwood (and, for prejudice, I was sure that the Kenwood was unbeatable in details). It took me a little more time to realize that the XA-HD500 is actually more detailed than the HD20GA7, especially in midrange, where I could discover more vocal layers in some songs that I used to think I knew well. Highs are slightly more sparkling on the JVC than on the Kenwood, while sibilance is slightly less, or perhaps the same. They are not sibilant players, anyway. They manage well treble peaks ("Radiohead - Subterranean homesick alien").
The JVC sounds slightly flatter than the Kenwood. I think the latter's lower midrange is a bit more pronounced (other people here think the Hd20GA7 is on the "warm" side).
Soundstage is on par with the HD10GB7, possibly wider ("John Cale - Dying on the Vine" is amazing) and more out the head (especially vocals). The JVC passes effortlessly the "Moss Garden" test, like expected.

This player still has hiss, but it's less audible than on the Kenwood. I can't hear any when I'm at home in the night, even during quite passages. Even at loooow volumes (10/30). It becomes noticeable only between the silent end of a song and the beginning of the next. I don't have the E500 anymore, but my guess is that they should sound fine.

The JVC XA-HD500 features a CC-converter, which makes up for lost high frequencies, just like the Supreme on the HD10GB7. Unlike the latter, the CC-converter can be used along with the Equalizer, and doesn't decrease battery life. The EQ has 5 bands, that can be adjusted from -6 to +6 dB.
I like a lot the Digital Hyper Bass. Activating it gives to the Etys a lot of bass slam, which is great since I listen to many of 70s-80s songs, that often aren't well recorded, while keeping the midrange and high sweetness of my Etys.
It's possible to toy with left-right channel balance, and even make the player sound as Mono.

The XA-HD500 doesn't have the on-the-go playlisting (the only thing I miss from my old Karma). Navigation is as good as on the HD20GA7, but the JVC has two shortcut buttons (I usually have one set to Digital Bass Boost, so I can switch it on/off).
It comes with a charger/lineout cradle, and a remote control to use the player when on it. Lineout has no hiss, and it is VERY powerful.
The JVC has also the best battery life out of all the players I tried (30 actual hours).

Ratings:

Pure sound quality
1 - JVC XA-HD500
1 - Kenwood HD10GB7
3 - Kenwood HD20GA7
4 - Creative MuVo V200
5 - Rio Karma

Features (size, capacity, battery life, interface)
1 - Rio Karma (+Rio Avalon, +EQ options, -Big, -battery life)
2 - Kenwood HD20GA7 (+20GB, +fast navigation, -Big)
3 - JVC XA-HD500 (+shortcuts, +battery life, -looks)
4 - Kenwood HD10GB7 (+smaaall)
5 - Creative MuVo (it's a pen-drive dap)

Ultimate Ears Triple fi 10 Pro

2008-02-01T04:21:00.000-08:00

This review has been thought using the Shure black foam tips. in other words, the Triple Fi have been enjoyed with a perfect seal.

At first I tried the silicon tips that came with the Triples. I didn't like normal tips, I was losing seal on my right ear every time. I switched to biflanges, which were better, but again, seal was being lost too often. Then I modded a pair of shure black foamies (cut them from their tube), and superglued them to the tubes of a pair of UE foam tips: perfect seal!

These are my sonic impressions (out of my JVC, a very good player, I think its nice built in amp was previously a part of JVC's MiniDisc line). Bass is lovely. Not "horizontal" (always present, like the shure e500 or the denon ah-c700), but "vertical", impactful. Drums are very pleasant to hear.
While Etys present bass in a way you hear it when it's there, the Triple Fi make you FEEL the bass. It's thunderous when it's there: deep, strong, but still very polite, clean. Never out of place.

Looking at Headroom's frequency graphs, it's easy to tell the Etys are deeper. What I can say is it may be true, but their deep bass is almost inaudible, as well as the rest of the bass.
Bass on the triple fi is deeper than what I used to obtain from equalized Etys and equalized Altec Lansing.
The midrange is not sucked out like some people said.
Maybe it's because I have the seal, but I don't think vocals sound sucked out at all. They are flat, detailed, not forward, not recessed.
Not insanely forward like the d-jays, not sweetly forward as the modded iM716, not as full sounding as the denon c700, not as poor/recessed as Atrios. More ety like. Unlike Etys, tho, midrange isn't the main character here: that role belongs to the bass and the highs.
Highs are more pleasant than using the Etys, never sibilant, and more forward than what I thought the Altec iM716 gave.
My impression is the midrange is the body of the song, it's honest, fast and detailed. It produces better vocals than the Shure E500 (where they sound syntetic, artificial... at the time I had them I used to say "vocals on the E500 sound like they are coming out of a subwoofer"). From this midrange, bass and treble raise and sound sweet, the former powerful and analogue/real, the latter just magical.
Soundstage is wide, probably wider than ER4P/E500 out of my JVC player. Its limit is the space of three heads, if it makes sense. Instrument placement (one of Etys strenghts, on of Atrios main weak points) is top notch and made me remember why people talk about "vertical soundstage" with the Triples. Soundstage has also some depth, but nothing insane. All the "head-space" is filled.

Bass and soundstage together give a real feeling of a full size headphone. What I mean is the bass sounds like it's coming from something big. I had this feeling only when I listened to my Koss A250, and it was what I loved most of those cans. Never experienced the same with any IEM.

They don't sound anemic at all, and are full of energy. Bass and treble energy. Since it was one of my main concerns when I decided to buy the Triples, I'll repeat it: vocals don't sound recessed. They are very present and detailed, and the singer isn't part of the background. He's The Singer, he's one of the most important "instruments" in the song. Tim Buckley's "Lorca" and "Starsailor" are simply awesome, his voice reaches peaks of sweetness and crazyness, his abilty to change and distort is followed by the Triple fi.

The Triples are very fun... meaning not a funny freqency response, which is actually very balanced. Enjoyable and not analytical.
Classical (Shostakovich, the 15th Symphony) with the Triple Fi is a religious experience, as well as Robert Wyatt's "End of an ear" and "Rock bottom". These are some of my favourite albums.

Update - Drawbacks

I've had a lot of problems with fit. By fit, I don't mean "reaching a good seal", but rather the way I can wear the Triple fi without discomfort. The cable is so stiff it's always in the way. It's impossible to move without having the cable pulling, or hitting against your face. It's so uncomfortable it spoils the listening experience and is very distracting.
I find it to be a real problem.
There is a solution, discovered ad HeadphoneHaven.com. It's possible to replace the stock cable (which is disposable) with a Westone ES2 cable. It improves comfort by a lot, since the cable disappears when the IEM is worn. The pins on the ES2 cable are longer than stock pins, but some shops (like Jaben) can trim them in order to fit the junction tightly and without them being left uncovered.

Sound rating: A (best universal IEM)

iBasso P2

2008-02-01T04:18:00.000-08:00

I received the P2 at the beginning of January. Out of the box I really liked its good finish, and footprint was smaller than I expected. It's a very fine looking portable amp, and is very sturdy.

Being a "portable" guy, I have listened to the P2 with three IEMs: a difficult to drive one (Apuresound ER4S); a crappy one (JVC FX-55); a good sounding, bassy one (Superfi 5 Pro recabled with Westone ES cable).

I have burnt in the P2 for a month, mostly listening to music, but also leaving it playing overnight. I've always used the 100 ohm Ety ER4S as load. Total number of hours is 250, and I keep playing with it.

This review has been done using the Apuresound Etys (wich are a recabled version of Etymotic ER4S, by Head-fi member [AK]Zip), apart from some experiments with the other two IEMs.
The P2 does its best with ER4S. Sound signature-wise, the iBasso is warm, full sounding, has pronounced midbass and slightly subdued highs. This frequency response matches incredibly well with Etymotic, which by themselves are bright, thin sounding and enormously detailed.
My P2 started to show its warm character after about 150 hours, while earlier it sounded more neutral and didn't settle yet to its definitive tone. Regardless the subdued highs, the overall detail this amp can provide is awesome. There are so many layers in music, that it's like listening to many different songs at the same time. This feeling of an "orchestra" is improved by the extreme sense of space and instrument separation the P2 is able to provide. The ER4S, thanks to their own speed and ability to separate instruments, do a their part in underlining iBasso's qualities.
I've listened to rock, jazz, classical, and each of these genres were very good with the P2-ER4S combo. The P2 makes even '60s-'70s rock music very pleasant, and has a forgiving attitude to the recordings, so that Etys are hardly harsh with any albums.
The album I had most trouble with is Charles Mingus' The black saint and the sinner lady, which is very difficult to follow and sometimes shrill sounding.
Depth of soundstage, instrument separation and imaging are enormous.

The bass boost switch is very well implemended and tight (at least with Etys, which don't have any midbass to start with). Bass is very clear and detailed. Bass can't be "felt" with Etys, like with Triple fi, but it has enough presence to became one of main characters of a "rock orchestra".

With JVC FX-55, the iBasso outputs tons of midbass, but I think this is the behaviour of the JVC's by themselves.
Using the P2 with the recabled Superfi 5 Pro improves warmth and bass presence (bass boost is off). Soundstage increases in width and especially depth.

Overall, I think the P2 is great bang for the buck, and it's a monster when matched with neutral cans. I intend to buy an AKG K500 and try it with the P2. The P2 is so organic it will help enormously the neutral K500 to sound more "fun", and bassy.
Bassy IEMs might find a better match in Headamp Pico or Lisa III (which I have not heard), while neutral IEMs like Etys, Shure SE310, Q-Jays and such are a great match for the P2.
I plan to try more neutral opamps and see how the P2 behaves: different opamp choice might make the P2 so flexible that I won't need any other amps in future.

For the record, I find the P2 to be much more awesome with ER4S than the two Xin amps I've had. The P2 is more clear and spacious sounding, making the songs bigger and richer of details and tunes. The three position bass boost also adds a lot of options to play with.

P2's only limit for me is battery life, which being rated 10-14 hours leaves something to be desired. Anyway, since I don't have to change AAA batteries (the P2 has an integrated lithium battery), to plug it into the charger overnight is not a big deal.

The most fun feeling I had with the P2 is that it really makes a difference in sound, while I have never felt this before. I always preferred to try different players and headphones, but wasn't a believer of sq improvements with portable amps - mostly because I use IEMs.

Tony

Review: Etymotic ER-4P

2007-10-30T13:18:00.000-07:00

ETYMOTIC ER4P

This is a review of one of the most loved high end IEMs in the market. The Etymotic ER4 are also one of the oldest IEMs, and haven't needed to change over time.

Presentation
The Etymotic ER4P come in a metal box, and are provided with tri-flange eartips and black foamies.
They feature a silver cable and are very well built, even if they retain a sort of "geeky look". Some people consider them to be "built like a tank", but there have been cases in the past when nozzles broke. This is an extremely common problem with IEMs, so caution is advised when changing eartips.
The left and right wires on the ER4P are very microphonical, so, if one is walking and they are free to tangle, the noise will propagate to the ears disturbing the listening experience, expecially in the bass department. For this reason, many people choose to loop the wires around the ear, managing to get rid of all the microphonics.

Eartips
I initially tried the ER4P with the provided triflanges and black foam tips. Both are extremely isolating, but I found the triflanges can be painful to take out of the ear, especially the first times, I found the foams provide a much more natural sound. While the triflanges enhance the treble peaks, they don't help the Etys to represent bass, resulting in a shrill and plasticky sound. Unlike triflanges, the black foamies give the ER4P a noticeable bass impact, more natural midrange and high frequencies. They still retain sibilance (which is also present with the triflanged tips).
Each pair of Etymotic's black foamies last about 2 weeks, but will sound the best only for the first week.
Having the relatively new Shure black foam tips, I found that they help to further enhance the sound. While bass impact and isolation are almost on par with etymotic's foamies, a good seal is much easier to obtain, the Etys lose all their sibilance and gain in soundstage. Shure foam tips are washable, extremely comfortable and durable (lifetime is more than two months for each pair).
This review was carried out matching the ER4 with the Shure foamies, which release probably most of their potential.

Sound quality
The Etys have a sound signature well known among audiophiles. They are light in the bass department (even with foam tips), very deep, have a sweet midrange and more treble energy than almost any other IEM. They are also the most detailed universal IEM on the market, at the point where many others sound veiled in comparison. Their speed and transparency, as well as the lack of bass, make some people call the ER4 "analytical".
With flat sound settings on the mp3 player, the bass is deep and detailed, but has a low volume which makes difficult to "feel" the sound. Midrange is incredibly clear, and vocals are very well textured and natural. Treble, as stated, is well presented and offers lots of details.
The Etys present instruments like if they all have the same weight. This is also noticeable looking at the flat frequency response. Such a presentation improves the perception of clarity, but sometimes makes the sound uninvolving. The ER4 do their best with jazz and classical music, and with well recorded rock tracks. Old rock recordings are often light in bass, and the ER4 may sound harsh with them.

Soundstage is on par with most good IEMs, and depends strongly on the source. If the source provides a spacious sound, the Etys will bring it to the listener's ears. Imaging and instrument placement in/around the head resonates with surgical precision.

I found, due to their flat sound signature and transparency, the Etys grow immensely with sound coloration. They scale up with source and amplification, sounding awesome with warm, beefy tube amps. They are prone to equalization, but the equalizer must be effective (like on Kenwood mp3 players, which have a preset, called "Rock". This couples very well with the ER4Ps). Some mp3 players (like iPods) don't have a very well developed EQ.
The Etymotic ER4 were created in the early 1990's, when mp3 players didn't even exist, and they were thought for home amps. Their flat sound signature is like an empty box which can be changed with sound coloration/equalization. When well matched, they are an awesome IEM, and one of the few IEMs worthy of their price tag, even compared to full size headphones (which usually, at lower price points, can provide the sound quality of more expensive IEMs).

Etymotic ER4S (100 Ohm)
The ER4S are the original ER4, and have higher impedance in order to be better driven by desktop/portable amps (the ER4P, 25 Ohm, are a later tweak, thought for mp3 players). Technically, ER4S and ER4P differ only in impedance and sensitivity, and it's possible to switch from ER4P to ER4S using a 75 Ohm impedance adapter.
The ER4S are even more detailed than the ER4P, especially in upper midrange and treble regions, so that a musician who's touching an instrument, or a singer who's whispering or disclosing his lips can be easily heard. This focus on nuances becomes even more apparent than with the ER4P. The ER4S are lighter in bass than the ER4P. While a few people think the ER4S go deeper in bass than the ER4P, I found them to represent deep bass equally well.

Rating: B+

2007-10-29T15:46:00.000-07:00

Tadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa