ROADRUNNER

All great advice - many thanks. I've already noticed a small improvement in quality by swapping the Shure's tips for the orange foam type, and I think the next move may be to upgrade to the E310s. I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile, any suggestions on walkmen amps - this poor little unit is making hard work of driving my home system (Naim pre & power amps).

Then it looks like I may need to experiment with earphones - the Shure E2C's are known to be lacking in bass response, so the question is what do I upgrade to ?

Yes, its genuine, although made in China, not Japan. Do you recommend the Shure 310Ss over the 500s ?

Yes, and.....?

A friend picked them up for me in New York three months ago.

Dynamic Normalizer is on, AVLS is off, and I'm normally listening in relatively quiet surroundings ! Furthermore, all my MP3s are recorded at least at 256, and then I use MP3Gain to increase to 99 db.

I've just bought a Sony NW-808 in the States to replace my I-River, and I'm afraid I have to say I'm really disappointed. Quite apart from a distinct lack of bass & 'punch', I'm astonished at the lack of volume in the unit - its permanently on 30, ie max, with lots of experimentation with EQ settings. My question is this - in the absence of an available 'volume hack', should I upgrade from my existing Shure E2Cs to the E500s, and should I consider a small headphone amp. If so, any recommendations for the amp ? Looking forward to replies / help - I love the interface and 'feel' of the unit, so I'm reluctant to give up just yet ! www.fluidimages.co.uk