A Way To Increase Volume

I’m wondering if there is a way to get more volume out of my Clip?

It’s fine for walking but when I ride my bike it’s just not loud enough even with the head set I’ve

been using which has a wheel for turning up the volume.   The road noise and wind makes it almost

impossible to hear certain songs.

I don’t blame the Clip for this as my hearing is terrible from years of mis-using my ears on the job (I’m

a DJ).    But I’d love to be able to turn it up a bit.   Not to ridiculous levels…just enough where I wouldn’t

have to strain to hear the music.

I’m thinking that the answer I’m going to get will be that there isn’t and if that’s the case is there a 

headset with a decent volume enhancer on it that I can buy?

Another option I’m going to explore is an MP3 enhancer (my word)…and application that I can run my 

files through to enhance the volume.

Regards,

Len

Fiio makes a Headphone amp that is about the same hight as the clip and half as wide (again I am guessing as to exact size) and many people use them with good reasults.

mp3gain can increase the volume of tracks, but watch out for clipping.  I level the volume of everything because I hate having to adjust the volume when listening to music on shuffle.

First off, I am an avid cyclist and must say that using headphones while riding a bike is not only dangerous, but against the law in many areas. You need to use all your senses to keep yourself safe while sharing the road/streets with the ‘cagers’ (people in cars). If you rockin’ out to AC/DC at full volume, you can’t hear that car coming up behind you that has drifted into the bike lane because the driver is looking at that nice-looking girl on the other side of the street. :wink:

I wish this weren’t the reality today, but unfortunately I read and hear on the news all too often of accidents involving cyclists and cars. And right or wrong, the person on the bike loses. Always! (2 amateur racers were killed near here just last year by a County Sheriff’s Deputy who feel asleep at the wheel and drifted across the center line & hit them head-on).

I agree that it’s easy & fun keeping a cadence or steady rpm while pedaling to certain tunes, but please . . . do this only on a trainer or stationary bike, like in the gym. When you’re on the street, replay your favorite songs & pedal to them only in your head. Leave the mp3 player at home.

OK, lecture over . . . when you get home, you can boost the volume with a headphone amp. Two very popular ones due to their small size, price and excellent output are the FiiO E3 (AAA battery-powered basic model) and E5 (re-chargable battery, volume control and clip for attaching to clothes, also about the same size as the Clip).:smiley:

@tapeworm wrote:

First off, I am an avid cyclist and must say that using headphones while riding a bike is not only dangerous, but against the law in many areas. You need to use all your senses to keep yourself safe while sharing the road/streets with the ‘cagers’ (people in cars). If you rockin’ out to AC/DC at full volume, you can’t hear that car coming up behind you that has drifted into the bike lane because the driver is looking at that nice-looking girl on the other side of the street. :wink:

 

I wish this weren’t the reality today, but unfortunately I read and hear on the news all too often of accidents involving cyclists and cars. And right or wrong, the person on the bike loses. Always! (2 amateur racers were killed near here just last year by a County Sheriff’s Deputy who feel asleep at the wheel and drifted across the center line & hit them head-on).

 

I agree that it’s easy & fun keeping a cadence or steady rpm while pedaling to certain tunes, but please . . . do this only on a trainer or stationary bike, like in the gym. When you’re on the street, replay your favorite songs & pedal to them only in your head. Leave the mp3 player at home.

 

OK, lecture over . . . when you get home, you can boost the volume with a headphone amp. Two very popular ones due to their small size, price and excellent output are the FiiO E3 (AAA battery-powered basic model) and E5 (re-chargable battery, volume control and clip for attaching to clothes, also about the same size as the Clip).:smiley:

I see the same thing with runners with IEM’s inserted, and wonder how the heck they know if a car is coming up behind them. I feel safe walking through town with my ksc75’s because they are an open phone, and I can hear the cars…and I don’t crank the tunes to block out the traffic noise…but I would never do it with IEM’s. 

KSC75 smiley–>

Thanks for all the replies…and the brief ‘lecture’. :)   I will check out the two amps mentioned.   I thought

the replies would be toward amplification rather than enhancement and am happy to hear that they are very 

small units.

As to the listening when riding.   I am at the mercy of the vehicles regardless of whether I’m listening to music 

or without head sets.   I ride with traffic so have no advanced warning if someone is going to whack me.   I ride 

as far to the right as possible and hope for the best.   I have been fortunate up to now.   Any incidents I’ve 

had (one already this year) have been due to my not keeping my head up.    I seem to have an affinity for non-

moving objects…lol.   

BTW, I ride over 2000 miles a season and have done so for over 30 years but I recognize your thought and appreciate

it.   Thanks.

Regards,

Len

Any thoughts on which of the two amps. mentioned is preferable?

The more expensive of the two looks a lot larger.   Is it worth the extra money?

Regards,

Len

The main difference between the 2 for me is the rechargeable battery. The E5 is rechargeable. Thats what I used as my factor.

@djlen wrote:

Any thoughts on which of the two amps. mentioned is preferable?

The more expensive of the two looks a lot larger.   Is it worth the extra money?

 

Regards,

Len

The E5 is better overall. Rechargable battery, twice the power, selectable bass boost. volume control, and the handy clip, which the E3 doesn’t have. Also, it’s much sturdier. Well worth the $$.

@marvin_martian wrote:


@djlen wrote:

Any thoughts on which of the two amps. mentioned is preferable?

The more expensive of the two looks a lot larger.   Is it worth the extra money?

 

Regards,

Len


The E5 is better overall. Rechargable battery, twice the power, selectable bass boost. volume control, and the handy clip, which the E3 doesn’t have. Also, it’s much sturdier. Well worth the $$.

2nd that.

For moving about, the clip on the E5 really comes in handy (although not needed if everything just is going into a pocket).  Plus the on-off switch and volume switches are very handy as well. 

Ok, thanks.  I’m pretty much set on the E5.:slight_smile:

One more question.  It seems that the only issue some users have experienced is the

turnaround time between ordering and getting the unit.   Is that an old issue or does it still take weeks to

get it?

Regards,
Len

@djlen wrote:

Ok, thanks.  I’m pretty much set on the E5.:slight_smile:

 

One more question.  It seems that the only issue some users have experienced is the

turnaround time between ordering and getting the unit.   Is that an old issue or does it still take weeks to

get it?

 

Regards,
Len

It depends on where you get it from. I ordered mine on Amazon.com and it came in about a week, but I paid $8 more…for me, it was worth it, rather than wait an unknown amount of time. Dealextreme, focalprice, mp4nation…these I have heard can take much longer, but will be cheaper…depends on your patience level, which way you go.

I suppose you are listening the Clip with the headphones you got with it.

If you want it louder and want to cancel surrounding noise you could for a start get noise-canceling earbuds with a decent sensitivity - the one with rubber bulbs to push them deeper in the ears. I have an pocket amp (cmoy) for home listening with a big headphones. But when working around the house (cutting, grinding and welding steel or doing other noisy works with saw and big hammer) I don’t want extra stuff in my pocket. So I got some half-decent 50€ Sony earbuds which souns rather good to my surprise (way better then the Clip headphone I must say) and doing nice job to cancel most of the noise from arround. They are also handy when I play games and I want to cancel TV and other surrounding noise.

Thanks giltic but I hated those things right out of the box and use a set off an old Archos player

that have a wheel for more vol. on them.   I don’t like ear buds.   These Archos phones hang off 

the ear and fit loosely, which I like.   They are ideal for around the house or walking but not good 

for biking due to wind and road noise.   Hence the need for an amp.

Regards,

Len

As a general matter, Dealextreme and MP4 Nation will take 2-3 weeks to the U.S. (although you could get lucky and it take a bit less).  It’s Customs in Hong Kong that seems to delay matters.  Just order it, and forget it for a bit …

I found it on Ebay and they are usually much quicker than the times I’ve heard here.   I may use that

route.  Just have to make sure they are new in package…lol.

Regards,

Len

Prices really have come down on these at eBay in the last 6 months.

I boost my eq up by porportionate levels. That is my preference and it helps a little.

Thanks folks for the help.   I just ordered the E5 from Ebay…$17.99 with free shipping.

They say it’s 3 - 5 day shipping.   I will let you know how long it took when it gets here.

Regards,

Len