I've owned 4 of these players now, not to say four have broken but I went through a bit of an ebay buying spree and ended up with several at once. Compared to newer players they are left wanting in many ways, sound quality isn't as good as my a846, for example. Battery life isn't as good as some players, especially when they are more than a year old. The 8gb capacity of the largest isn't much by today's standards, considering this was Sony's premium player at launch. Also there's no large, touchscreen, no apps, no phone, etc..   However, this was...

  Well, what was I expecting on hearing these at first? Very hard question to answer really, probably a darker sound than the w2’s, an altogether more complete sound than the dtx100, less detail than the hf5 (courtesy of Benny) and a rather dodgily put together earphone which will apparently wow me like no other earphone. Was this what I got? In short, pretty much, no, if you’re not bored yet then read on. If you are then I doubt it’ll get better.   My first thoughts on opening the parcel from Benny was along the lines of: “Ooh, Radius do nice...

I love the look of Sleek's sa1, the rosewood body of them and the overall build quality is unsurpassed at their price. That is enough in a lot of people's eyes to convince them, they do, however, have a few problems.   The sleek customizability is not one of them though. They come with quite an array of tips of several types as well as sizes and two tuning filters. You may argue that the whole system is superfluous and whether someone can tune the sound to their liking is up to the user, but it is hardly a hindrance of them. When I got these I...

Ultimate ears metro.fi range are often overlooked on these forums. There is a simple reason for this, they are not worth the price they quite often retail at. They are, however, frequently on special offers and very good deals, i've even seen them being given away with other things costing only about £50. Obviously when earphones are on special offer they should be compared to others in their new price range and when they are they fare much better.   I bought the metro.fi 200's quite a while ago for not much less than retail price and...

Rega have been producing turntables for a long time and this one is a credit to the brand name. I consider myself to own a good dac which can be passed through a reasonably good amp and to some good speakers. I listen to most of my music this way. I also, however, have a wide taste in music and some record labels still release all their music on vinyl only and i have one of these beauties for such music.   As much as I enjoy music when it's played through my dac, the whole process of getting an lp out of the sleeve, setting up the turntable and...

I bought my pair of cx400 to replace my cx300 and was expecting it to be a more refined version. I was, it's pretty safe to say, disappointed. The sound you get from these is far too similar to the 300's for their own good. I had the same problems with the cx400 as the 300. So I got boomy bass which drowns out the rest of the range.In this day and age I can't think of one good reason why you should buy the cx400's, there are earphones out there which are just as cheap and do everything better. They're certainly not worth the full retail price.  ...

Like many other people, I got my cx300's as they were widely available on the high street with not much competition at the time. They are mostly known for their bass which is very abundant. The problem with that much emphasis on bass is the rest of the range suffers. Treble, in particular, suffers quite badly and is drowned out. Add to this very little clarity in the bass which doesn't have great extension anyway and for sound you are soon left wanting.   The trusty cx300's are quite comfortable to wear but isolation is not that good due to the...

These earphones have been on the market for a long time now and as such, good though i'm sure they were when first released, things have moved on a bit since. They are a single BA driver iem which on first sight are very good with an impressive array of accessories, the hard case, in particular, is very nice.   They use a memory wire over the ear system to achieve their fit which I found to be ok though it's down to personal preference. Micro-phonics are low as a result and isolation once a good fit is achieved is also good. I can wear these for...

  Beyerdynamic's dtx100 is their top of the line dynamic driver iem. It has a bass driven sound very similar to the 60/80 which is a signature I like. Bass heads may be left wanting as will detail freaks but they are fun with a punchy attack and very user friendly. They exhibit marginally less bass than the 80's but extension is, if anything, better, as is clarity. Because of this bass reduction the highs are not prone to be harsh and because of this the sound feels more balanced and natural. Sound stage is wide and mids are strong and prominent as...

Beyerdynamic's dtx80 is a dynamic driver iem. It has a bass focussed sound which unlike the dtx60 I like. Bass heads may find less than, for example, Sennheiser's cx***, but the doesn't need to take over the music when it provides a nice mattress for the rest of the layers to lean on. I don't enjoy massive bass but these are fun to listen to! With those solid underpinnings the mids sound strong and realistically take centre stage. As the frequencies get higher the dtx80's do get a bit more dependent on source and are prone to be occasionally harsh...

Beyerdynamic's dtx60 is a dynamic driver iem sitting below the dtx80/100 in the range. It has a bass focussed sound which may be fine for some people but I don't enjoy massive bass when there is little definition which is what this earphone is lacking in that department. Mids and vocals are fairly well presented however and come across as good for the price. Highs to me seem harsh rather than detailed. The effect is worsened when listening on an ipod nano 3g although it is still a problem to me on my Sony sources.   These earphones are of a very...