Tony's looking for a new player: it's over! - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

antonyfirst · #1 (**permalink**) 11-28-2008, 03:05 PM

Aloha guys. After having enjoyed this subforum for my first months on Headfi, and trying the most exotic players on the market (the Kenwood was back then, the JVC still is), I took the iMod route only to sell it after a few months... it wasn't to me, especially being too bulky, and because I couldn't really find a portable amp that made it worth the cost and bulk... and I tried many of them.
The iMod made a real difference only with my Stax SRS-005, showing its superior sound quality when paired with the electrostatic amp, and the unmatched speed of those little drivers.

Anyway, I sold it and got an iRiver E10: lovely player, smooth, extended, soundstage on par with the best, and endless deep bass. Very neutral player. It has two main limits: one is that the Shuffle option is quite rubbish, offering the same songs again and again. The other problem is the limited storage capacity, 6gb, and the fact that it's a microdrive.
What happened is that yesterday it fell out of my jacket, and the player kept freezing the whole day. I suspect it's the hard drive, hence I am out to sneak a new player.

Currently, I am tempted by these:
-iRiver H140: for its Rockbox capabilities. Downsides are the sound quality, which I suppose to be inferior to todays offerings; and the size.
-Cowon iAudio 7: nice, high capacity, supports tons of file formats... it has almost everything to love it... anyway, I don't know how good its sound quality is, especially in two regards: 1-if it has the same bass rolloff with low impedance IEMs (it would be no good for me), 2-if it's sibilant. I'd like if you could elaborate on this.
-A lovely Kenwood HD10GB7, to go back to my origins, but only if it can accept a CF card in it, so I won't have to be paranoid of its hard drive to die.
-One of this new and overpriced 8gb JVC flash players: I am tempted only because no one has one here on the board, but such player costs more than a 16gb iAudio 7 and it would be stupid to limit myself.
-Samsung S5: Zarim says it's the best player he has ever found, and he tried many. Anyway I don't know in what it has to be so good, so someone who likes to describe sound would have to chime in.
-Sansa Fuze: meh, this one seems a FOTM to me, but I want to hope that it really delivers what people say it can.

If you know about other esoteric players with wonderful navigation ability, pretty much flawless sound quality (like the iRiver E10 or the Kenwood are), and flahs player, please add them to the ring.

Tony

UPDATE!

The winner is: Cowon iAudio 7, 16gb

mrarroyo · #2 (**permalink**) 11-28-2008, 03:10 PM

Hi Tony, you may wish to send HiFlight a PM. He has a couple of H140 and H120 which he has modded w/ a SS card replacing the hard disk. Also you may want to check the iBasso site, they are working on an smaller replacement of the D1.

The new unit will be the D10 and it will be a DAC/AMP w/ optical input. Thus you would only have to carry the H140/120 and the D10.

Good luck.

antonyfirst · #3 (**permalink**) 11-28-2008, 03:25 PM

Thanks mate. I'll shoot a pm to HiFlight, but I'd also like to have a nice player with good unamped sound.

32y0 · #4 (**permalink**) 11-28-2008, 03:28 PM

Quote:

iRiver H140: for its Rockbox capabilities. Downsides are the sound quality, which I suppose to be inferior to todays offerings; and the size.

Did you mean the sq from the hp-out, or also the sq from line-out en optical-out?

EDIT: didn't see your last post, so the awnser would be from hp-out.

antonyfirst · #5 (**permalink**) 11-28-2008, 05:49 PM

Looks like I might really go for a Sansa Fuze. Do you guys know if it accepts 32gb SDHC cards? That would be awesome. And which card should I get to have the best performance?

Thankssss

gp_hebert · #6 (**permalink**) 11-28-2008, 06:01 PM

Have you considered a iPod touch? The sound quality is very decent for a portable and I can't see myself getting anything else now because I'm addicted to many of its features, especially the ability to connect to wireless networks and the video playback.

DJGeorgeT · #7 (**permalink**) 11-28-2008, 06:03 PM

Tony, downside of the fuze is that it only takes microSD and microSDHC and currently the max size of microSDHC is 8GB, but toshiba unveiled a 16GB microSDHC two days ago, which will cost a small fortune when released.

antonyfirst · #8 (**permalink**) 11-28-2008, 06:08 PM

double.

antonyfirst · #9 (**permalink**) 11-28-2008, 06:10 PM

Hey guys,

The iPod Touch is pretty big and I am not sure it would sound as neutral as I'd like.

George,
Have you ever had a chance to try the iAudio 7? How would it sound against the Fuze? If everything is equal, soundwise, I'd rather going with the iAudio which gives me 16gb of stock capacity without spending a fortune.
Also, does the i7 have the same bass rolloff the D2 has? I have never heard of any roll-off for the i7.

DJGeorgeT · #10 (**permalink**) 11-28-2008, 06:20 PM

I'll be honest. I am not the guy you should ask about the Iaudio7.

I have the Cowon D2, and it is a love-hate relationship. From what I recall, the IA7 sounded more detailed, full bodied and better than the D2, but it could have been my imagination. I actually never had both D2 and IA7 side by side to make a comparison.

The Fuze has been FOTM, but I would recommend trying both the Fuze and IA7 before settling with one. An 8 GB microSDHC is $17. The fuze can be purchased for under $100. With the built in memory + 8GB microSDHC you will have 16 GB (sort of) with the fuze.

Most players, all cowon and Iaudio players perform poorly with low impedance phones. But add a 75 ohm resistor and the D2 can drive it fine...not sure about the IA7 since it has lower output power. The fuze is pretty flat at all frequencies no matter what headphones you throw at it.

antonyfirst · #11 (**permalink**) 11-28-2008, 06:28 PM

Nice, thanks. Where can I buy the 8gb microSDHC for so cheap?
Does the Fuze have quick controls when the SDHC is used? Are there any firmware issues I have to be aware of?
Does is have good shuffling capabilities? The E10 was crap in this regard, since it always plays the same songs. I live with the shuffle, and it's something I won't give up.

Regarding the i7, what headphone did you try with it? Did it have deep bass?

Thank you.

montell · #12 (**permalink**) 11-28-2008, 06:48 PM

If you think that the ipod touch is big then you will be hugely disappointed with the iriver H120. That thing is huge compared to the touch

antonyfirst · #13 (**permalink**) 11-28-2008, 07:04 PM

Hey George, regarding the Fuze interface: how rich is the menu? Is it remarkable, or pretty poor as far as options are concerned? I am especially interested in playback features.

antonyfirst · #14 (**permalink**) 11-28-2008, 08:08 PM

OK! In the end I got a 16gb iAudio 7. The iAudio has a mix of features that I like, not last a sort of geeky feeling to it.
George, your comment about it having better bass (and so, probably, no rolloff compared to the D2) helped me in my decision.

DJGeorgeT · #15 (**permalink**) 11-28-2008, 09:28 PM

The IA7 is nice. Your triple.fi are 32 ohms (1kHz) instead of 16 ohms, so that helps. I don't think you will have too much problem with bass roll off, but if you want beefier bass, you can always connect the ety 75 ohm adapter provided the IA7 can drive this combination to volume levels of your satisfaction. An headphone amp will pretty much take care of any issues with bass roll off.

The other option I would have suggested is the Sony s639 with 16GB. I need to do more listening before I can comment on how it sounds.