I've planned to buy this device, but what confused we was absence of ANY info about output sound specs neither on their site nor in manual.
So I wrote to their customer service the following:

Before I buy this device, Id like to know audio output specs. I didn´t find such information on your site. The most important is output power per channel, as I use high impedance headphones and I want to be sure this device will able to drive them. Also Id like to know SNR ratio. Thank you!

And this is their reply.
Dear Dennis,

We cannot give you such details.
We can just say to you that the device is prepared to drive high impedance earphones.

Kind Regards,
Archos Technical Support

What!??
All manufacturers provide at least output power!
I know in Europe there are limitations (15mw per channel), and Archos is French, what do you think?
Also, can somebody who has AV500 and decent sounndcard test it with RMAA? Or just say something about SQ in comapred to, say, iAudio X5 or something?

Thank you!

Bump.

I'd like to know as well. All I've heard since the AV500 came out is how amazing the screen is, but never heard anything about the sound quality. Can someone compare it to other players out on the market today?

Thanks.

I have the av500 100gig and would be happy to test......just tell me how. I do really like the sound quality though....esp over my 4g pod.

Please note that the quality of your soundcard and cables/connectors will affect this test very heavily. If your card costs less than, say, $70-100 you will not obtain objective results.

For example, Terratec DMX 6Fire 24/96, Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum should suffice.

Download RightMarkAudioAnalyzer (http://audio.rightmark.org/downloads/rmaa55.exe)
Download LAME mp3 codec.
(http://www.free-codecs.com/download_soft.php?d=50&s=22)

1. Start RMAA
2. Click fourth button in the bottom toolbar
3. Save two files, one with calibration signal, the second with test signal.
4. Encode test signal (second file) with lame (use command line lame -b 320 -q0 -m s -k "test signal.wav" "test signal.mp3"
5. Download all three files to a player
6. Using Windows volume control or your soundcard mixer enable line-in only and disable all other inputs.
7. Disable any sound adjustments on the player (EQ, effects)
8. Connect your player to the soundcard
9. Click third button on the bottom toolbar
10. Start playing calibration signal and adjust levels until red square becomes green.
11. Stop playing calibration signal.
12. Click start test
13. When prompted, start playing test signal.wav
14. Save results
15. Repeat the test using test signal.mp3 file. You can skip calibration at this point
16. Save results.
17. Generate reports.

It will be ideal to test both headphone out and line out, and also test headphone out loaded and unloaded. But if you test just headphone out, It wold be great!

Thank you!

P.S.: Should you encounter any problems with RMAA, feel free to ask.

Hey! Will anybody perform this test?

Wave mapper
Wave mapper
RightMark Audio Analyzer test

Testing chain: External loopback (line-out - line-in)
Sampling mode: 16-bit, 44 kHz




Summary
TestWave mapperWave mapper
Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB: +0.08, -0.18+0.10, -0.18
Noise level, dB (A): -77.6-77.0
Dynamic range, dB (A): 75.975.2
THD, %: 0.00400.0044
IMD + Noise, %: 0.0430.044
Stereo crosstalk, dB: -75.1-73.0



Hmmm I discovered I'm a total noob at rmaa so I hope I did it right. The wire used was radio shack crap at 2 feet. The 500 was set to flat and around 70% volume. The right numbers represent the mp3 file.

Thank you very much!
What's your sound card? Noise level and dynamic range are quite frustrating...

Anyway, thank you!!!

Audigy 2 zs
No prob it was a learning experience for me. But feel free to clarify those numbers. But like I said, a non noob would have probably done a better job and got better results. I think I should run the test again with the eq all the way up as I think the 500's eq cuts the frequencies instead of boosting them. So on the 500 to get a flat eq it would mean the eq is all the way up. That's just a guess though.

EQ affects Frequency response only...So I think it's not EQ to blame.
Can you zip and attach detailed report (with graphs) or RMAA report files?

No I don't think my tests are very reliable and should not be used to spec the 500. Hopefully someone with better equipment and more knowledge can test a 500.

Quote:



Firmware 1.5.10
Case 1: 44.1/16b WAV:
Freq: +0.02, -0.13
Noise dBA: 93.1
Dyn. Range: dBA: 89,3
THD%: 0,0040
IMD + Noise%: 0,065
Crosstalk: 86.3

Case 2: 44.1 MP3 (Lame 320 CB)
Freq: +0.29, -0.30
Noise dBA: 93.3
Dyn. Range: dBA: 89,1
THD%: 0,0046
IMD + Noise%: 0,066
Crosstalk: 85.1

Case 3: 48khz/16 bit WAV
Freq: +0.03, -0.13
Noise dBA: 93.4
Dyn. Range: dBA: 89,6
THD%: 0,0032
IMD + Noise%: 0,064
Crosstalk: 90.3

Case 4: 48khz MP3 (Lame 320CB)
Freq: +0.49, -0.31
Noise dBA: 92.8
Dyn. Range: dBA: 89,5
THD%: 0,0044
IMD + Noise%: 0,068
Crosstalk: 90.1

...all specs are pretty close to the soundcard in loop-back-mode...so the Archos should be pretty ok.

Thanks Ulfonzo