anyone using n900 as a mp3 player and double as a phone? i wanted to know how is the quailty of the sound on $150 earphones?

i been reading on the quality thread, but mostly talk about speaker sound.

i was planning to get a decent $150 headphones with fiios portable amp to go with n900.

If anyone have $100+ earphones with a portable amp, please chime in.

This thread is only in-earphones only.

Thanks in-advance

Has very good volume and sound stage from the 3.5 jack. Best "phone" I have listened to when all is considered. The audio is one of the reasons I am keeping the N900.

I borrowed my roommates nice earphones to compare them to the ones which came with the phone. I used to fancy myself a pretty decent audiophile but perhaps in my old age, I just didn't hear THAT much of a difference. The bass was definitely deeper but I actually preferred the high-end on the Nokia earphones. That being said, I am pretty picky still and I was VERY surprised with how nice supplied earphones were.

As for the audio quality I have never been able to afford a proper setup as you mention but that aside, the N900 is probably the best sounding phone I've heard. The audio player was lacking an equalizer for me to make fine adjustments and I was worried about that, but after listening the output I didn't really feel that it needed it at all. As this is a very subjective area your mileage may vary but I walked away pretty impressed.

the sound is great even with nokia's. tried sehnheiser and it's absolutely great. it doesn't compare to any other nokia but N91

Sorry to break the in-ear headphone only rule but I figured since we use the same phone and amp I could help out. (I switch between cheap sony earbuds for portability and convenience and Sennheiser HD-555's for when I'm not going anywhere for a while)

Sound on the N900 is very average. Don't let that fool you though, there has to be a standard set somewhere. The N900 is very listenable, but no more listenable than say, an iPhone. I find my G1 to have pretty good sound and my Cowon S9 to have excellent sound. The N900 is perfectly fine if you're walking/chilling between classes but won't be replacing any reputable media players anytime soon.

The sound is great. I use it almost everyday while working.

Definitely, this model is not a replacement for any serious portable music players, which, in turn, are no replacement for any real music setup. Depends on the class you are interested in.
Among phones, N900 is decent, ability to play FLAC is an advantage (yes, you can hear the difference even on a phone, provided you have bought a bit better headphones).

Key thing for me is the ability to index music between the internal storage and the SD card, amazing how rare this is in the MP3 player world even if they do have a SD card expansion slot.

how would you define listenable ?

ive had the cowon a3, the iphone, and an argos pmp earlier, dont intend to force my opinion, but N900 stands pretty solid against the above ive had in terms of clarity in sound/vocals and volume levels.
The only downside ive seen is it doesnt have an equalizer and its a bit heavier on the bass, but the equalizer is just a firmware update that we could expect soon.

btw changing the earphones could help that bass heavinesss a bit.


Also the fact that we cant change the volume when screen is off is a missing feature.
vote for that bug here
https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=6487

I don't think so. Sliding the lock switch is the same as pushing the power button and "Lock screen and keys." To change volume while locked just push the power button first.