Both my MP3 player and headphones died on the same day, amost to the same minute. While most people would see this as an annoyance, I see it as a chance to finally get something decent. But I have no idea what any of the numbers mean. So I have come to Bit-Tech to ask people much wiser and knowledgeable than me: what is the best audiophile setup I can get for a total of £100? I know that there are some "Best headphones for £xyz" but again I have no idea if the MP3 player makes a difference to the playback quality, so I thought it would be best to create a new threat in case it does.
Imo a PMP isn't worth spending audiophile-money on (which is a lot more than £100 btw) since you'll be outside in the noise of the world. For £100 I'd grab an iPod of some form from eBay and invest in a pair of in-ear headphones with the rest, probably Sennheiser or Sony.
Or you can buy any cheap Windows Phone 7 16GB, which is about the same price as an iPod Touch. And you can get to enjoy Zune Pass (10$ per month (or 100$ per year, so 2 month free), you get unlimited music access/download high quality WMA/MP3, and you have the whole package.. apps, and so on. Just don't get a contract, obviously... unless you want a new phone as well. Just an out of the box idea. Note: I have not tried it, I don't know if you need a SIM card absolutely to make the phone work.. probably... but I guess you can go with pre-paid, and simply never renew. As you'll have a valid SIM card in, it should continue to work, and use it as a MP3 player.
Just get an iPod nano (old or new) and my brother just got some £30 senneheiser in ear headphones that are pretty good.
I would say give it a 75-25 priority split between headphones and player. Had ordered mine from here: http://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/best-headphones-top-10.html Going by their top 10 guide. U CANNOT GO WRONG. I have an Ultrasone HFI-580 which sounds amazing on my galaxy s. If you have a decent smart phone, I would suggest to invest all into the headphone. U will be amazed by the difference.
What do you want to use it for? Where would you use it? What file formats do you want to use? Do you prefer in ear monitors, headphones or buds? Check on Head-Fi for portable source equipment. Your could start by looking at a Sansa Clip+ which has superb sound quality and has expandable microSD card memory for about £35. The price is dependant on the version you get as they range from 2GB to 8GB internal storage. Audiophile headphones are going to be a stretch though but I would be inclined to look at reviews of the Phonak Audéo PFE 012 for about £75. Both of these are going to push you a little over budget but audiophile for a ton isn't easy. This.
I defiantly prefer headphones to in-ear sets. The idea of pushing something that far up my ear gives me the creeps. And I tend to just listen to music on the way to and from work and while doing homework. And the music has definatly taken a more dunderpatrullen/Skillex turn recently. I currently have a HTC Desire, so I am gunna just sink all the cash into the cans. What do you think of these? I would get them off the strength of the reviews, but I have been fooled by that before
+1 for the Sansa Clip. Great little mp3 - superb sound quality and a host of formats supported inc flac. Use mine snowboarding when I don't want to bash the cowon j3 about too much.
Push ur budget up by a bit more and get the legendary Audio Technica ATH m50. Read up on some reviews of it & ull know.
got a sansa recently, mainly used for audio books but music sound quality is also decent with a pair of EX300.
If you're looking at Audio Technica, then as has been suggested up your budget a little and think about looking at the ES7s as well but be careful as there are a lot of cheap Chinese knock offs doing the rounds.
If you're just going for headphones and you've got a £100 budget, I'd go for the Grado SR80i. I managed to get Richer Sounds to go down to £95 on these.
Yes I can say for sure that the quality of the components in an MP3 player definitely make a big difference in the sound, but to appreciate it you need decent quality earphones and the MP3's need to be encoded well. I recommend the using Lame VBR 3.98+ at highest quality as it is a more advanced algorithm than CBR that keeps much more of the music and reproduces it more faithfully to the original. For headphones around £40+ you can get the Sony MDR ex310's, replacements for the MDR ex300's which you can now get for around £20+ if you look in the right places. These give excellent sound for the price, balanced frequency range and excellent soundstage. I can even feel right down to 5hz with them. You can probably pick up the EX500's for around £40 nowadays but they only add a little treble, not worth the extra. These phones easily rival other earphones that cost around £100 Not to up to date on MP3 players but I've yet to hear anything better than what Sony have to offer.
Brilliant though they are the SR80s are open backed and not really suitable for commuting as the op has indicated will be one of the primary uses for them. The Shure SRH440 are closed back semi-reference studio headphones, they can be easily driven by a low powered source ie mp3 player or smart phone and offer an extremely well balanced sound once burnt in.
