Though smartphones can be used to listen to music, they can't compete with high-end music players. Toward the top of that list is Sony's NW-ZX707 Walkman.
No no, I use the beats fit pro that are recommended in the article underneath. They actually suck hard, but the review seems to think they’re the second coming. So take all this with a grain of salt.
I unironically love my beats fit pro for phone calls and any kind of workout or yard work. They aren’t my best sounding headphones, but they’re the most versatile and stay put in my Dumbo sized ear holes.
If you haven’t done it already, there’s a calibration in iOS that will set a sound balance to your liking. That solves a lot of the overpowering bass that Beats loves to use.
Yea, I have found by far the biggest effect for me (and I have to imagine most people) is the speakers / headphones, not the digital processing or even the audio converters.
headphones or speakers can't add the detail that mp3 (or streaming in whatever format) eliminates. Compare a CD and mp3 of the same track with a decent headphone (or a speaker) and you will hear that compression changes sounds.
but it all depends on what kind of music you listen to. For some of today's music even laptop speakers are enough 🤷
Nah come on, bro. You and I both know laptop speakers are trash. Good headphones are a must. I've heard so many sounds I've never noticed before with good headphones.
My point is just that most headphones that are cheap can't reproduce MP3 quality, so until you get good enough headphones to hear the difference, getting a FLAC of the same song isn't going to really be noticable.
That depends: proper Shure IEMs usually do a good job covering ambient noise. Somewhere north of 200 USD you usually get proper in ear monitors… but only if it's from one of the regular professional equipment brands, otherwise you'll probably pay for design or the name and little else.