Will superior earphones matter with my Nano

Hi Warren- IMO, the answer is yes you will hear the diff (I did with Ety 6s) but I would not go to far up the line, esp. if you use the Nano as portable, travel type music or background at work. If you go to a high res earphone, you will be able to hear the limitations of the format and machine more and more clearly.

Agree with all above, I went for Ultimate Ears Super Fi5 (2 way driver system).

This was my fourth set of ear buds before settling on these.

My first were the Apple buds (suck), second was the next to most expensive Shure, then the best Shure and then the Sennheiser CX300 before settling on the Ultimate Ears.

Don't let anyone tell you these headphones don't sound radically different, some have serious inconstancies in tonal balance and on some music make the iPod unlistenable.

The Ultimate Ears (to me) have low distortion and a pleasant top end. They don't like the bass boosted nor do they need to be played at high volume to sound balanced. They are not impressive on a 30 second audition, but have staying power to last through a two hour workout without making my ears hurt.

Even with lossless files and moderate volume the iPod can be brutal with bad phones.

I'll go for the Shure E3C. Should be able to nail them for $100 (maybe less?) on Ebay. Thanks guys.

warren :)

swampwalker, it appears, from the reviews, the ETY6is are soncially superior to the Shure E3Cs. Construction wise, the Shure seem to be the winner. Hey, brand spanking new with delivery they were $40 less than the best price I could find on the E3C Shures. Got to better than the cheapo buds I'm using, now.