Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Portable Source Gear › Best sounding MP3-player
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Best sounding MP3-player - Page 2

post #16 of 143
3/20/06 at 1:08am
Any newer Sony Minidisc player with music with ATRAC3plus at 256kbps or 352kbps will kill just about any MP3 player
Reply

Head-Fi's Best Sellers

post #17 of 143
3/20/06 at 5:46am
And tonight's Head-Fi deathmatch will consist of the Anti-Podders, The Pod Fanboys, The Ultra-Critical Ultra-Cynical Audiophile, and the MD Fanboy!
Reply
post #18 of 143
3/20/06 at 9:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bangraman
I very much doubt beyond placebo that you'd be able to make out any significant differences between the current leading players at the moment... including the 5G iPod.
I agree with bangraman. Rather than worry so much about the quality of the sound, think about:

The firmware (useability)

The screensize

The software (does windows recognize the player so you can drag and drop? ... if not, is the transfer software easy to use?)

Does it have a dedicated lineout?

Does it have infrared remote capability? (the answer here is no, unless you have a Creative JB3, heh)
Reply
post #19 of 143
3/20/06 at 12:50pm
Thread Starter 
I listened to EBTG - a piece of my mind and corcovado, Jaques Brel - Mathilde, Emmanuel Top - Generation and Buena Vista Social Club - Dos Gaedenias when I compared the ipod to the monolith. Both players eq's were "flat" (I am of the opinion that the player should be able to produce the best sound when the signal from the dac is not manipulated). Headphones - portapro.

So, I think the bass is not as accurate on the ipod as on the monolith. The treble is probably more or less the same but the mids on the monolith is in a different league. IMO. Clarity, detail etc speaks for the monolith. Also, I think the monolith is way better than ipod for those who like to manipulate the signal. On the ipod I compared to (nano europeen version), the bass got distorted when I added more bass which really gave it a "toy" kind of feeling. This is all IMO, but then again, this is my opinion =)

Iaudio X5 is HDD based, I really prefer the smaller players, so flash is probably my thing. Anything like the X5 but flash? I must stress that I intend to (if the reviews go well) buy shure e500 so it has to be something that can drive these...
Reply
post #20 of 143
3/20/06 at 4:28pm
The Monolith (both II and 7000) uses a Wolfson WM8750, so you might want to look out for other players with this DAC, e.g. Qoolqee K7. (That being said, the 5G iPod also uses a WM8758. Implementation is probably more of an issue than the DAC itself.) Then there's the Crystal CS42L51 as found in the iAudio U3 (reportedly good-sounding, if a bit hissy on very sensitive IEMs).
Reply
post #21 of 143
3/20/06 at 9:42pm
The iPaq 4150 is by far the best mp3 player Ive used - the sound is at a different level. With programs like GSplayer and iPlay you can customise sound so much more than I can with a normal dap - its gapless - plays almost anyformat - the amp is more powerfull than any DAP out there
Reply
post #22 of 143
3/21/06 at 2:52am
I thought everyone here said the Rio Karma was the best-sounding mp3 player.
Reply
post #23 of 143
3/21/06 at 6:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by z-iron
I thought everyone here said the Rio Karma was the best-sounding mp3 player.
I certainly do
I use it as my primary home and portable source! It works great both ways.

,
Abe
Reply
post #24 of 143
3/21/06 at 12:24pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by sgrossklass
The Monolith (both II and 7000) uses a Wolfson WM8750, so you might want to look out for other players with this DAC, e.g. Qoolqee K7. (That being said, the 5G iPod also uses a WM8758. Implementation is probably more of an issue than the DAC itself.) Then there's the Crystal CS42L51 as found in the iAudio U3 (reportedly good-sounding, if a bit hissy on very sensitive IEMs).
True that ipod 5g uses WM8758, which kind of underline my statement that monolith has way better sound quality, since it uses wolfson sigma delta, which is the wm8758's big brother

I think I am going for Meizu E3. A little bit of a compromise - is has good sound quality and is very small (which i like) and runs on AAA-batteries (now I can run my player on rechargeable AAA's and never ever do I have to worry about the battery getting bad and get a replacement), but it does not have line in and not very high output (18mw per channel at 16 ohm). It is very nice looking!

Reply
post #25 of 143
3/25/06 at 9:45pm
Thread Starter 
Ok, so now I have got the Meizu (E3) and have been able to do some comparison between Iaudio U2, Meizu E3 and Monolith MX-7000 (also called Monolith Premium).

The Meizu is somewhat clearer then Iaudio but don't have the same bass imo, there is the option to raise bass in both eq and "p.bass" (don't know what p stands for) but to me, it sounds muddy if I raise it too high. Overall, I prefer the Meizu's sound signature over Iaudio.
Monolith however, beats both Iaudio and Meizu hands down. It provides clarity, detail, bass in another league accourding to me. The male vocals have a totaly different depth and crisp to it then the other two. Now, if I manipulate the sound signal on the Meizu with the eq a lot, I manage to get closer to the sq of the monolith, but since the monolith's sound signal is untweaked in 'flat' eq, this tells me something about the sq and amazing decoding abilities of the monolith. Acctually, I am willing to go as far as saying that a original wav file on the Meizu sounds more or less as a 256 kbps mp3 file on the monolith. I have an old Panasonic CD player that I used to compare the wav file on the meizu with, and the meizu sounds about the same when playing the exact same wav file. After I encoded that wav file to a 256 kbps mp3 file to run on the monolith (monolith doesn't play wav), I still thought it sounded a little bit better on monolith. I am soo amazed by the sq of the monolith that I don't know what to do . But it has some flaws. I think the Meizu has way better build quality (the buttons on monolith are plastic and a little loose and if one shakes the player it sounds as something is loose inside the player) and the koreans that put the monolith together obviously don't know too many words in english. In general, I feel the monolith will brake unless I treat it like a baby (not the aluminium shell though, which is very sturdy - but everything else - it is kind of like a tank, if you run it into something that won't give in to the force, the person(s) inside will get crushed against the tank's inside *I know, really bad comparison but it's late *)

Any way, this concludes my comparison and sound quality wise, monolith is still unbeaten.
Reply
post #26 of 143
3/26/06 at 12:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by JT22
Any newer Sony Minidisc player with music with ATRAC3plus at 256kbps or 352kbps will kill just about any MP3 player
Oh how I miss MD. I still have my players but I never use them anymore. I like having my whole library in one unit.

Wanting to replace my 2G iPod, I tried several players, sound quality being my number one desire, and I landed on the Sony HD5. Great sound, gapless, and lineout (and I love ATRAC.)
Reply
post #27 of 143
3/26/06 at 12:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by SgtE
Lol, I askted NOT to get stormed by ipod fanboys and thats all I get =)
Well, it's because you made in ignorant, narrow-viewed comment in your initial post, so don't be surprised if people call you on it. The iPod can smoke alot of other mp3 players if you use the line out to a portable amp.

You didn't specify in your initial post if you'd be using it with an amp, and I think that would make a big difference in what mp3 player sounds best.

good luck w/ your search!
Reply
post #28 of 143
3/26/06 at 2:21pm
Hallou iPod lovers

I´ve bought an ipod nano 4 gigs -> flashed to rockbox. The roxbox firmware has alot of features which the default firmware lacks. (check www.rockbox.org). It´s still early in the development process, but it´s already very usable.
Just to mention some things: 5 band EQ, crossfeed (buggy) and gapless playback.

EDIT:
+ flac, wavpack
Reply
post #29 of 143
3/26/06 at 3:50pm
I don't understand, he has tried ipods, doesnt like the sound and is asking for opinions on better sounding players. Why when anyone says anything the least bit negative, or implies that some other player may actually be better in some area do the ipod fanboys all have to come raining down upon them? This is not a discussion of why he should use an ipod. He doesn't want to, if you don't have a suggestion then don't thread-jack.

With that said, my own personal favourite is the rio karma. I understand that you prefer non-hdd units, and I would suggest you try out the rio carbon, as I also enjoyed the sonic qualities of it. If you can't find one, most iaudio flash units hold their own quite nicely. Don't give in my friend, seek out the player that suits you the best, and don't look back!
Reply
post #30 of 143
3/26/06 at 5:19pm
RedLeader - I think it is quite natural that an iPod owner would be distressed by the words in the original post:

"Ipod fans please don't bother posting! Looking for quality sound here!"

Not only did he indicate that iPods were incapable of delivering quality sound, there also seems to be an intent to bait those who own iPods. The reaction his post engendered was entirely expectable, and appropriate, imo.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Portable Source Gear

Head-Fi's Best Sellers

Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Portable Source Gear › Best sounding MP3-player