I originally had a Creative Zen 4 gig that was great. but ran out of room  I bought the 32 gig version and it's great. It sounds great especially with good headphones. The equalizer is fine when I'm using my cheap knock around phones. I don't use the equalizer at all with my good headphones.
This player has enough power to push 60 ohm Koss Portapro phones to levels that could mess up your hearing. With low impedence IEMs I set the volume limit out of fear of bumping up the level accidentally. I have a set of Superfi 3's rebranded Alltec Lansing, and I usually have the volume at 8 out of 25. I set the volume limit at 10. The Zen also handles my Grado SR 60i great.