Once again, this is all in my own subjective opinion. (But most views are backed up vociferously online :D ) Keep in mind, low-bitrate mp3's will stick out even more on a good source/headphone. I basically re-ripped my entire collection in a higher bitrate after I tried listening to the standard 128Kbps rip I had of Dark Side of the Moon on a good pair of headphones. I recommend either ripping with LAME or Vorbis encoders at a decent bitrate. (read 256 kb/s or higher).
For MP3 players: The ubiquitous iPod is virtually laughed at in every respectable hi-fi corner. A few great versions came out - the first-gen Shuffle and the 5.5-gen Video (with the GUI replaced with RockBox) are the two biggies, but anything since then, including the gorgeous iPod Touch are pretty well substandard in terms of pure audio-quality. So, the big winners here (all in my opinion, mind you) are:
Sansa Clip - for $30-50, this veritable Shuffle killer is king, with pricing and one of the best sounding players available. A recent update allows for playback of lossless "Flac" encoded files and the lossy (albeit vastly better than mp3) Ogg Vorbis. I've seen pics of people using this little bastard with $1,000 headphones and portable amps. Seriously. Pick one of these up for the gym.
Sansa Fuze - A bit better than the clip in every way, but a bit pricier and bigger. This is my new DAP. Same sound signature as the Clip, but with a bigger screen, expandable memory via the microSD/SDHC port, and larger internal memory versions. Also supports playback of FLAC and Vorbis. Got mine on Black Friday from Radio Shack for $50 (reg. $99) along with an 8Gb Sandisk microSDHC card from amazon.com for $20. Want an iPod Nano killer? Here's the real deal and it will save you some cashmonies!
Cowon D2 - Haven't pulled the trigger on this one yet, but I'm seriously jonesing for one. A 2.5" touch screen with a sound-quality equal to that of the Sansas. Supposedly the GUI is a bit quirky, but if you can get past that, everyone who owns one raves about the SQ and infinitely changeable EQ. Also supports the widest array of audio codecs, FLAC and Vorbis, as well as expandable memory with miniSD/SDHC cards. Downside? At least $150 with less peripherals available.
Headphones.
All these great DAPs will do you exactly squat if you're listening through the earbuds that typically come packaged with them. Unfortunatley, most people don't know that, but a growing few do, and I've sifted the pages of head-fi.org and anythingbutipod.com and grabbed a few good nods.
IEMs - "In Ear Monitors". Sounds scary. But if you're serious about your hearing, your music, and isolation. This is probably the best solution for you. The fit can be kind of alarming at first, as IEMs (also dubbed "Canalphones") are designed to fit snuggly into your ear canal. Mind you, not painfully so. Foam tips, rubber/silicone tips, and others are usually packaged with them to let you find the best fitting and comfortable wear. Why's the fit so important? Because if you don't have them snuggly and tightly in place, you'll lose all concept of isolation and soundstage. Buy a cheap pair of IEMs to see if you don't mind the fit before jumping into the abyss.
JVC FX-33/34s "Marshmallows" - For 15 American Dollars or so, these are a great entry level canalphone. Do a little bit of modification to them to open up the sparkle of the highs, and these are affordable beauts after a bit of burn-in.
JLAudio J2's - These are remarkably new phones, and I haven't quite received the 2 pairs (B1G1!) I ordered from amazon.com, but by all accounts can be compared to the bigger players in the iem world, including some 10 times the price. 25 bucks isn't bad, if they're this good. I'll report back.
SoundMagic PL-30s - Same goes as above, though they've been around a bit longer. Some seem to prefer J2's to these, but it's all subjective. And at $20, they're a virtual steal and will blow the Marshmallows out of the water as well. My father ordered a pair of these, so I'll give them a listen and once again, report back.
Now, if you're doing the listening in a quiet area and don't need the isolation, and won't bother people with sound leakage, you may as well go with full sized "cans". For that, you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars, unless you want truly "audiophile-quality" sounds.
First off, the can that everyone should own.
Koss KSC-75 - For a really low cost headphone these things sound brilliant. Once again an inexpensive mod (The so-called "Kramer" mod after the most read and one of the first poster of the mod on head-fi.org) really opens these phones up. At 60 ohms, they're a little under-driven by the typical DAP, so an amp can really make these things sing. Granted, none is really needed, but you'll find battery power goes down drastically without a dedicated headphone amp. (More on that later!) Also, if you don't like the "sporty" clip-on styling or fit, the same drivers that push these is in the Koss "PortaPro's" with a headband, which also beefs up the bass a bit. Granted, an extra 20 bucks for a headband without much change in SQ doesn't appeal to me.
Sennheiser PX-100 - These are almost the next step up from the KSC-75s, although some (myself included) prefer the former. At $30 they're pretty inexpensive but with a great sound. A good alternative to the people biased against Koss. They are collapsible and quite portable. Sennheiser's virtually always won't disappoint.
Okay, for the things I haven't tried out yet......but will eventually ;)
Grado SR-60/SR-80 - Grado, an American maker of audiophile quality headphones and cartridges came out with the SR-60 as an affordable step into high quality cans 20 plus years back and haven't changed a thing. The look tells this (although I kind of like the old-school styling) , but if you aren't set back by this these are reputably some of the best price-point/performance cans available. The 80 model changes a little, with the same drivers, but a larger, more spacious earpad and increased bass-responsiveness. A bit forward sounding to some, these are suposedly deadly for rock.
Granted, now we're moving out of the "affordable-to-starving-music-student" price range so I'll stop there. Sennheiser makes great can's in this range too, the HD515 and HD555. But I haven't had the opportunity to sample these either, but I have a sneaking suspicion you can't go wrong with either choice.
With the bigger headphones, more power will be needed to fully take advantage of the sound. Portable headphone amps come in all shapes and sizes, but two styles stick out with price in mind. The hand-made "CMoy" amps vary from maker to maker, but are relatively cheap and in large avail on eBay. Or, a new affordable alternative has recently reared it's head. FiiO, a Chinese manufacturer has released extremely affordable and portable amps, the E3 and more recently, the E5. Google those for the best prices, but they both have garnered relative praise from among the good folk from head-fi.org. I'll post my review of the E3 as soon as they arrive!
Happy Solstice!
