Any mp3 players w/ good sound at low volume?

[powderific]

I think I may have a somewhat unusual problem in that every portable music device I have ever owned with a headphone output has needed to be turned up too loud in order to get stereo/good quality. I will turn it down, and right before it's about quiet enough for my tastes the stereo will cut out, or there will be a horrible hiss. I use a headphone amp when I'm at home, and have no problems whatsoever with getting the correct volume on those, but I'd like to be able to carry around a small mp3 player for portability sake.

In that vein, can anyone reccomend a decent flash based mp3 player that isn't too expensive, will hook up to my linux computers, and has good quality output at low volume? My last player was a Neuros, but it has died for some reason and it's pretty bulky anyway (though I do wish it still worked

). I was looking at some of the I-River offerings and they looked pretty nice, but I'm not sure of the quality. Thanks!

 

[Filburt]

If you're willing to go with something obscure, check out the Nextway/DCube series players. I play mine at low volume at night and it retains the same sound signature as when louder. I don't know about compatibility with Linux, but they are USB Mass Storage Compatible.

The iRiver Flash Players, from what I've tried, seem fine as well.

 

[powderific]

Obscure is actually a plus for me, as long as it still works well. It's kindof fun to have obscure things. As long as it shows up USB mass storage it should work fine with linux.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'm checking nextway out right now.

edit: I looked around and the nextway stuff looks allright, except for no USB 2, but I can't actually find anywhere that sells them.

 

[powderific]

I just checked out iAudio's line of flash mp3 players, and they look quite snazzy. If anyone has one, could you check the sound at low volume? I'd love it if one would work for me.

 

[ILikeMusic]

I don't think I've ever heard a player where the stereo cuts out at low volume or s/n ratio (hiss) gets noticeably worse. Are you sure that your player is OK?

But... as to a player not sounding very good at low volumes... this is a normal artifact of human hearing, that is that the human ear is much less sensitive to low and high frequencies at very low levels, often giving music played at low volumes a flat sound. This is what the 'Loudness' control on vintage hi-fi gear was supposed to solve by boosting low and high frequencies at low volume settings. You can achieve the same effect with EQ, just throw in a lot of low and high frequency boost when listing at low volumes and that should help quite a bit.

 

[powderific]

I haven't purchased a new player in ages, so it might just be OLD equipment and my PDA's that do this. Perhaps something I thought was a problem really isn't anymore! Both of my old PCDP's would lose stereo if I turned them down to volume I wanted. And I know what you're saying about the low volume not sounding good, that doesn't bother me as it is only natural, as you describe. I suppose I should just take some headphones to the store and see if I've simply been WRONG about this effect because I'm guessing off of old equipment.