Just bought a D2 so checking in!

[Tim Steer]

Hi,
Last week I ordered myself a D2 from Advanced MP3 Players in the UK (I live in the UK) and I also opted for the screen protectors, Shure SE110 Sound Isolating Earphones, i-nique Tuff-Luv Slim & Lite Cowon iAudio D2 Silicone case. I also ordered a couple of 16Gb transcend SD cards.
It all arrived in good time last Friday but as its a Christmas present I can't get my hands on it...
I spent about 3 weeks researching on the internet and before opting for the D2 I was going to get an new Touch 32Gb but after researching I decided the D2 was a much better bet, so here I am. I can't wait to get my hands on it although I have a question. Sorry for it being a bit of a newbie effort but I am really quite new to Digital audio and this is my first player..
What do you guys find to be the best format of music for playing on the D2? I have researched a little and understand that MP3 is probably the most common but is a lossy format, then there is Ogg which is still lossy but better quality and then there is Flac which is lossless but obviously file size increases accordingly. I know there are others but these seem to be the big 3..
I had planned to go with Flac as it is lossless but is that overkill or not?

One of the main reasons I went for the D2 was that it is rated as having great sound quality but I also love the fact that I can use SD cards to supplement the memory..so file size of Flacs shouldn't really be a problem as I could have different cards for different genres or something...I guess I may have answered my own question about formats but what is the best software for converting CD's to Flac? I'd like to get a head start before I get my hands on the player....
Would appreciate any guidance .
Cheers
Tim

[CrowdAds]

[WalkGood]

Your right, Flac is an overkill for a portable player use, it’s great for archiving your cd collection. Try a few different rips to see if you can hear the difference, personally I use 192 VBR and sounds great to me. Best software to rip cd’s is EAC and if your determined on flac look here.

[Leroy Bad]

Flac is only overkill if you're not prepared for it, if you're not then you're still living in the mid 1990s. It looks like you most definetly are ready! These days most people have hard drives; internal or external in the computers large enough to accommodate the disk space needed to store a collection in flac.
And two, the space availible on the D2 is expandable, you've bought a couple of 16GB SDHC cards, so while will you may not be able to add your entire collection, you'll have enough to last you through any trip or vacation you might need.
And third, not only did you buy one of the best sounding DAPs on the market you also bought a pair of high-end IEM earphones with the Shure SE110. So why bottle neck your great sounding music with lossy formats?
Lastly I like to think outside the box and I remember that in the future I may want to play my flac files outside my D2, on a hi-fi stereo systems, in my car, burn a CD, or upgrade to an even better sounding D3 . I'll be prepared for the best sound quality I can get instead having to re-rip or transcode from lossy Mp3s.

The most popular software to use that supports flac is called MediaMonkey. It can rip to multiple formats, allow you to sync to your D2, and tag and organize your entire collection.

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by Leroy Bad

And third, not only did you buy one of the best sounding DAPs on the market you also bought a pair of high-end IEM earphones with the Shure SE110. So why bottle neck your great sounding music with lossy formats?

The SE110 are what I would call "low-end", actually... And the D2 is only a good sounding player with an amp, without it's quite flawed with low impedance IEMs, all things considered. BBE is what makes it great, though - and I sure like the D2 more than any other player.

This being said, I cannot hear any difference with high-end IEMs (UE11, SE530, etc) between FLAC and properly encoded LAME VBR MP3s on the D2. Not even if you would hold a gun up to my head. It's mostly placebo and people wouldn't hear a difference in a double-blind ABX test anyways... but to each his own. If one believes FLAC sounds better and the brain interprets this assumption accordingly, then so be it.

[The DarkSide]

Lame v~0: Ftw!!!

[Leroy Bad]

Originally Posted by dfkt

And the D2 is only a good sounding player with an amp, without it's quite flawed with low impedance IEMs, all things considered. BBE is what makes it great, though - and I sure like the D2 more than any other player.

So is this a flaw with the D2 or high-end earphones? Why do they create these expensive high-end earphones and give them low impedence if they're not going to sound right?
Which DAP would be a good match for low impedence earphones?

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by Leroy Bad

Which DAP would be a good match for low impedence earphones?

Sansa Clip.

[Leroy Bad]

Does the BBE setting correct the bass roll off issue?
Also my Triple.Fis came with some sort of adapter. I think a sound level attenuator, is that the same as an impedance adapter?

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by Leroy Bad

Does the BBE setting correct the bass roll off issue?

http://rmaa.elektrokrishna.com/Compa...%20MP3+WAV.htm
http://rmaa.elektrokrishna.com/Compa...2016%20Ohm.htm

No.

Originally Posted by Leroy Bad

Also my Triple.Fis came with some sort of adapter. I think a sound level attenuator, is that the same as an impedance adapter?

The UE airplane adapter is pretty bad, it will fix the roll-off, but it will make everything else sound bad.

[Tim Steer]

Thanks for all the opinions chaps....The earphones - Well lets just say that I didn't want to spend loads of money on those at the get go and whilst I looked at quite a few reviews I appreciate that everyone has there own opinions...I got a good deal on them from Advanced MP3 as part of my bundle so I thought I would give them a go and then maybe go for some top end 'phones in the future...
From listening to the valuable opinions received so far, I think that my best course of action may be to start encoding my CDs into FLAC (If for no other reason than backing them up in a lossless format) and I can store them on my 1Tb external drive...and then have a listen on the D2 and compare and see if I can tell the difference (probably won't be able to) between the Flac and a vbr MP3...Let my ears be the judge so to speak..

I have just downladed EAC and trying to get my head around the interface for that but still need to understand about what strings I have to put in the box to get a decent variable bit rate mp3.
I also downladed dbpoweramp and us that for converting to Flac...I'm still learning but I'll get there in the end...
"dfkt" - You mention about getting an amp for the D2...I did believe that the D2 offered quite a powerful delivery in comparison to other players but I of couse accept your perspective..I would appreciate it if you could provide names / links to the sort of thing you are talking about as I am still pretty new to this...One of the things I found most confusing and difficult was the ear phones choice so I did just go for an easy option with the understanding that I will almost definitely need to upgrade in the future..These are my first "canal" phones aswell...What sorts od 'phones are people primarily using these days..I remember when "sound isolating" meant those big thing with padded parts that totally enclosed your ears..and I guess they would be quite comfortable but would a D2 with / without amp power such headphones...I also appreciate that it is very much "horses for courses" with ear phone / head phone choice in respect to when and where you want to use them...Any tips on good choices there for the future?
Thanks again for all the opinions and tips.
Cheers
Tim