I own a J3, Archos 32 and 43 and 70_250
I also own the older Archos 5it and their sad 3 Vision.
I have listened thoughtfully, in an otherwise quiet room (my clothes closet), to them all using my Sennheiser HD595s just to add to this conversation.
I listened to the same music (three seperate songs) on every device, with NO EQ settings or "Normal" chosen. Boof, by Tony Remy. Infatuation, by Christina Aguilera. and Chitlins con Carne, by Stevie Ray Vaughan. All were MP3s at 320kbps.
I set the volume level on each player to the same using a volume level meter with a white noise file. The standard was at 20 (out of 40) on the J3 volume scale.
I'll skip the tedious details. The Archos 43 stood out as the best of the Archos players. Used the stock music app. Bass frequencies were all there, and details were discernable that were not discernable on the other Archos players.
The J3 was the one that I enjoyed coming back to. Not only were the bass notes there, they were there with no distortion. I could pick out each instrument and voice where there were muddled tones on the other players. Absolutely no pitch distortion in the highs or lows or in-between. I could hear when Christina leaned into the mic, feeling as if I was siting on her side of the wall in the recording studio. In Chitlins you catch the echo/reverb from cymbal hits that doesn't make it to the headphones from the other players. You can almost see the walls of the room they recorded in, defined by the echo delay off the walls from every drum tap. You pick up the "Ah ha ha" in the distance that you missed everywhere else. Stunningly better the J3. To my ears, that is.
4D
