best mp3 player ? (regarding SQ only)
Jan 22, 2007 at 12:28 AM Post #48 of 179
Quote:

Originally Posted by davidd /img/forum/go_quote.gif
320 WAV? do you mean WMA? because WAV doesn't let you chose a bitrate since it's uncompressed lossless.

and if they are WMA's, they are not going to play on a iPod at all. you'll have to re-encode them to another format, resulting in quality loss, so you should re-rip the original cd's to MP3 or AAC if you want to use them with a iPod.

but I can't say I notice much/any difference between my 5G iPod and 1G nano, the 2nd Gen nano could sound different though, never listened to one myself.


You're right, it's WMA. Sorry if I confused you.

Looks like I have to re-rip everything into Apple's format.

I'm an audiophile, but not familiar with audio formats except to rip in Lossless. Based on the MP3 tracks (not sure about bit rate though) I heard, don't like the sound quality. I may buy a Squeezebox for my main rig, so prefers to rip at as high a quality as possible.

Besides my main rig, I have a seldom used headphone rig based on FubarII that runs off my notebook, so my knowledge on format is limited to running these only.
 
Jan 22, 2007 at 10:26 AM Post #49 of 179
Quote:

Originally Posted by wafflesomd /img/forum/go_quote.gif
These posts are the ones you should ignore.


Yeah, I got the meizu, It's a very nice DAP but the SQ is not as good as my drowned rio carbon
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The sound is not neutral enough, a bit shouty.
 
Jan 22, 2007 at 10:48 AM Post #50 of 179
Iaudio stuff gets poor reviews from mags like what hifi, t3 and a few other websites i have looked at.I find this strange as amongst users here it is very well respected.
I had a U2 for a while and liked the sound a lot, it is a bit cold but very detailed.
I have owned a lot of Sony stuff over the years and its hit or miss, the HD1 was quite poor at MP3 after i upgraded mine, the HD5 was much better. The flash players over here in Europe are too quiet.
I think Sonys NH1 and RH1 minidisc players are about the best they have done , i like the HD amps , some will argue that they offer little or no benifit to the sound quality but i think they make it sharper and the bass is much rounder and more defined than the non HD RH710 i have.
I also have a zen vsion m but i use it for divx playback on my telly mostly, it does sound good (not great)but its a bit large.
Iriver H120 is hard to beat , mine died but while i had it i couldnt have been happier, the sound was fantastic and recordings on it were very good (for a harddrive recorder) i "upgraded" to the h320 when it died but was never as happy with that.
The Beosound 2 sounds brilliant , i have owned it twice now and i dont think i have heard a better player, the capacity limitation and no screen was too much in the end though.
 
Jan 23, 2007 at 4:20 AM Post #52 of 179
IMHO
Rio Karma is Tops.
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Of the other DAP's I've heard I would say

TrekStore VibeZ Very articulate or detailed, open and quiet. It has all of the Rio Karma functionality. Slightly underpowered but really shines when amped.
Creative Vision M
1st generation Ipod Shuffle, "Wow" am I glad I got one of these - lots of power and pretty decent sound. Not as refined and tight as the Karma but almost as much power. Great for those Higher impedance IEM's and only $59.
Creative Zen V+ almost keep this one but took it back. Light on the low end and no depth to the sound.
Ipod Nano best user Navigation with little wheel. The sound just didn't do much for me.
 
Jan 23, 2007 at 4:05 PM Post #55 of 179
Ranking players I've owned (best to worst SQ):

iAudio X5 > iRiver iHP-140 > iPod Shuffle >> Zen Xtra >>> 4g iPod

Obviously I haven't heard most of the new-generation players, but SQ out of my X5 is excellent, and it has the best EQ and effects since the Karma to boot. I can't imagine anyone who's actually *owned* it disliking the sound -- if you don't like the stock sound (clear and a teency bit bright), it's easy to compensate with EQ.
 
Jan 23, 2007 at 8:10 PM Post #56 of 179
Phew. Gotta chime in here on a couple of points.

The Cowon A2 is a little bright, but nicely detailed. It pairs nicely with the Future Sonics EM3, since they are low-impedance with massive bass, which serves to even things out a little. It's pretty sterile and bright with the Tomahawk, though, at least in comparison to the H120 line out.

The iriver H120 headphone out is *NOT* very good. Soundstage separation is weak, and hiss is audible with low-impedance cans (ie: IEMs). That said, the line-out to an amp sounds wonderful. Perhaps not as detailed as the Cowon A2, but with the Tomahawk it's much warmer and more musical. The A2 would be fatiguing, the H120->Tomahawk is not. I literally listen for hours at a time every day during work hours.

Rockbox is a godsend. The extra functionality it provides is marvelous. It REALLY gets to shine with the extra functions unique to the H120 (optical output, recording inputs, FM receiver, etc.). Gapless is a wonderful feature alone. I hope to use ReplayGain soon, too, once I've finished re-ripping my audio collection to LAME 3.97.

And to the guy thinking of switching to iPods from some WMV player: just encode with LAME VBR MP3s. WMV isn't as good anyway, and while AAC/M4A is a better compression than MP3, LAME-encoded MP3s are the most portable format available (ie: everything plays them). There's plenty of guides out there for ripping with EAC and LAME. Highly recommended.

I'm so curious to hear what one of those 2G Nano's sounds like. They're slick.

-Packgrog
 
Jan 23, 2007 at 9:33 PM Post #57 of 179
I'm using UM1 and V-Moda Vibe when testing DAPs. With Lame Codec, 320kbps...I think:

1- Trekstor VibeZ
2- Rio Karma
3- Rio Carbon
4- Zen Vision:M [a bit better than Zen Touch]
5- VPod
6- Samsung YP K5
7- X5L
8- iRiver H3.., H1..
 
Jan 23, 2007 at 10:33 PM Post #58 of 179
My scale was a little bit different using ER4Ps.. these are from models I've heard (I'm including mainly the biggest of a sound family as I've heard a lot of iAudio and Creative flash players):
1. Samsung YP-Z5
2. Cowon iAudio X5L
3. Rio Nitrus
4. Creative Zen Vision:M
5. iPod 5G
6. Sansa e280

But I'm super-interested in the Kenwood HD30GB9. On paper, it should be the best..
 
Jan 24, 2007 at 2:12 AM Post #60 of 179
Kenwood HD10GB7 Media Keg is amazing, easily bests all my other daps
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My other daps- Ipod 5.5, Zen vision M, Iaudio U2, Samsung YP- K5, Iriver CLIX.

I think my order would go like this:
1- Kenwood HD10GB7
2-Samsung YP-K5
3-Zen Vision M
4-Iriver CLIX
5-Iaudio U2
6-Ipod 5.5
 
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