Cowon S9, Sony X, Samsung P3, Sansa, iPod...? Overwhelmed, need advice.

I want a dedicated MP3 player with the best SQ and best performance (UI, capacity, battery life, etc.). I don't care about extra features like video, document viewing, radio, apps, etc. Any of those would be a nice bonus, but not required. Also, I run a Macbook, so some level of compatibility would be nice--the more friendly the better.

After my research, I had initially settled on getting a Cowon (probably the Cowon J3), but the $280 price tag curbed my enthusiasm, it may be more than I need. Then I started reading about some people amping Sanzas (Fuze? Clip? Zip?). Then I saw recommendations for the Sony X-10 series, Samsung P3, or the Sony Walkmans. I can't find much info on the Sony X-10xx or the P3, neither appears to be available on Amazon, but I'd be curious to learn more.

The J3 seems the most appealing but I'm worried about compatibility. After clicking around, it seems most Mac issues can be bypassed with a few tricks, but it would be nice to not have to worry about potential bricking at all. Do Sanza, Sony, or Samsung offer any more stable Mac compatibility? If not, should I be skipping ALL of the above and instead looking at an iPod, and then just downloading apps to try to boost its SQ?

Couple other bits: I use iTunes but have no problem manually transferring files. Most of my MP3s are 320 kbps, but I may start going to lossless in the future. I would mainly use this MP3 player for travel, so reasonable portability is also a consideration (in other words, if amping a Sanza or anything else becomes burdensome, that may be a strike against it). Also, this will be my FIRST MP3 player (yes, believe it or not), but I'm relatively tech savvy and am not too worried about any learning curves.

So that's my dilemma, and maybe some who have more experience with these players can help me out. The bottom line is, if there's an option out there that can match the Cowon J3 in sound quality, but offer a more affordable price, that's what I want--as long as there's not too many trade offs. Or should I skip it all and just go with an iPod for compatibility reasons, if there's not a significant drop off in SQ. Also, what is a rockbox?

THANK YOU in advance. I'm a long-time reader of this forum (off and on) and have ended up here while researching before, but I never got around to posting until now.

Are you talking about the Sony X-1060 or a different model?

How big is the drop off in SQ from something like a J3 to a Rockboxed Clip+? Is it close to the same?

Also, is this what you guys mean by Rockboxing: http://www.rockbox.org/ the open source firmware upgrade? It looks like it, but just making sure. Also, if I did go ahead with a Sansa Clip or Zip, would I want to amp it for any reason or is that unnecessary?

Thanks.

I'm kind of leaning towards the Sansa Zip now, just because it's cheaper, compact (I'm thinking about taking up jogging too, so it would be nice for that), and it sounds like there's not too much drop off in SQ. The Cowon J3 is still the sexier option though, and some of its features would be nice, so I'm still a little torn.

Anybody else have any input? I won't bump this again, just hoping for one or two more responses. Thanks.