[HeadKase]

About a year ago I read on CNET that the Sony HD5 was King for sound quality and I bought one. The problem was I preferred my kids Nanos just a bit for sound quality (though I loved the long battery life of the HD5).

Well, my HD5 was ripped off and now I'm back in the market. Looking around here I don't see much discussion about SQ anymore. Are they all using the same chips/components these days so it doesn't matter? Or are people just more into video and other features to care that much about sound?

I'm thinking of getting an IPOD this time around, but the battery scares me. Any ideas?

 

[rockin_amigo14]

In my opinion, Cowon's products have the best sound quality, at least from the headphone jack/

 

[patschreyer]

Why does the battery scare you? Does it scare you that it won't last long enough on one charge (I.E., you'll only eight hours instead of the advertised four), or are you scared of the battery dying too soon and not being able to replace it.

The second is pretty much unfounded... The iPod's battery, under normal use, will last at least a couple years I'd say before you started noticing reduced battery life. By then I'd guess you'd want to upgrade anyhow, and if you didn't, it's easy to find aftermarket user-replaceable batteries. Some even have greater capacity.

 

[Overheat]

iPods are still pretty much the sound kings. Though Samsung are starting to creep up on them with their latest models - the YP-Z5 being a prime example.

 

[3X0]

Nah. I prefer Cowon and Creative when it comes to headphone-out sound. The iPod 5G comes very close though.

 

[HeadKase]

I remember a year ago or so people also saying that Cowon were the sound kinds - must be something to it. I guess the question is then, is the sound quality improvement significant enough to better the IPOD great user interface? I came from a Sony HD5 that I was pretty happy with for the most part.

 

[patschreyer]

I've heard the X5, and I would say no. The Cowon UI's seem to be stuck in that iRiver-of-yesterday style... the iPod's is well laid out, and time has shown that it's a great design. Also, RockBox on the iPod gives it a whole new lever of functionality, offering you custom EQ options, more compatible formats...

 

[3X0]

I agree with HeadKase. iPod has great sound quality and amazing ease of use. I think that killer combo is the kicker; every digital audio player out there that beats it in sound quality (in my opinion/experience: Cowon iAudio X5, Creative Zen Vision:M) really falls flat on the other aspect. The important thing is whether you want more quality at the expense of usability. The iPod gets a perfect balance of both just right (great, even if not the best, sound quality and unparalleled ease-of-use).

From a purely sound quality-wise aspect, I'd say there are more than a few players that have had the iPod 5G beat long before it even came to being (I've heard of a legendary Rio Karma..). However, none can come close to the usability and convenience of the product.

 

[Filburt]

I've found myself pretty happy with some of the iRivers. Although, I'm curious to try the iPod with Rockbox. None of these things sound particularly impressive to me EQ-less (but do manage to be pretty decent tuned), so I suspect which one sounds better to me mostly comes down to which one I can tune more closely to taste.

 

[HeadKase]

The Creative Zen Vision M seems to be getting heaps of praise, and i looks like both the sound quality AND battery life are an improvement over the iPod. I wonder how good the user interface is - I'm sure it's not like an iPod, but sound quality and battery life ARE both important features for me.

 

[3X0]

Many people say that the Creative Zen Vision:M has the best and most beautiful graphical user interface of any digital audio player, and I agree. However, many believe its control set is inferior to the click wheel.

 

[HeadKase]

Even though the Sony H5 was not well thought of, it was great for my needs:

1) Excellent sound quality;
2) Small size (smaller than either 5G or Vision M

;
3) Decent room for files (20 GB);
4) Excellent battery life; and
5) Decent enough navigation

I don't care about video or video games.

Does this make it easier to recommend something?

 

[yeeyy]

I have heard YP-Z5, though it sounds good, but definately not as great as compare with HDD based player such as ZVM.

 

[GSTom1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3X0 Many people say that the Creative Zen Vision:M has the best and most beautiful graphical user interface of any digital audio player, and I agree. However, many believe its control set is inferior to the click wheel.

Yeah, I agree. The Zen Vision M has an amazing interface. The iPod hasen't changed their interface much in the past few generations, but Creative has continued to improve theirs.

The controls on the Zen Vision M are probably not as good as the iPod, but they are by all means usable. Plus there is a programable shortcut button that is very useful.

 

[Oga]

Cowon's sound is far better than Ipod IMO, and has been for long time. Sales numbers are not equal to sound quality. UI of Cowon is fine as well. Its quite intuitive once you own it for a short while.