Best portable MP3 Player (Sound Quality from Headphone out) ????

[chrisfromalbany]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nabwong Rio Carbon

Well being that is a 5 gig unit, the first posting says at least 6 gigs. Putting one word reply's that doesn't even meet person the orginal person's posting is quite poor.

As for the creative DAP. If you get it used then you are going to have much if any warranty. If you are more or less testing to see if you will like the unit, I would say get it used. HD DAPs don't have the longest life whether the HD goes or the battery dies. I guess if it were me and going to keep it, I get it at Circuity City or BB. I got my orginal Zen at CC and when I didnt' like it returned it and now I have 3rd gen ipod with warranty. Lets just say that it will be going back for gift card before the end of my warranty. Already the battery doesn't last longer then 4 hours.

 

[DOUGHN]

portable = small size = IPOD NANO

i know. i know, many will dis agree with me but portable means handy like the cute nano, if u really like the best portable audio player. mp3 (compress audio) is not the one for you . better get a portable discman

 

[gloco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisfromalbany As for the SQ of the rio. I thought the Creative player was loudest and cleanest. Rio was not as loud as the Creative Zen in volume. Rio also has something unnatural about the sound from the jack out. Not sure what it was just didn't like it. Personal perference I guess. So it was a let down for me because I read in forums about how good the Rio sound was. I also like the look and docking station. -Chris

I'd really like to see how the eq is setup on your karma...mind posting the numbers? I just don't understand how the karma isn't loud enough with an iem, of all things. Are you comparing it on terms of total loudness or comparing by looking to see how loud the shures are at half way on the karma vs the zen? Just wondering because the iriver is definitely louder with my sr100's than my karma is (iriver is set to 25/40 to equal the loudness of my karma at 30/30 with my sr100's), but it doesn't necessarily sound better or more appealing.

 

[gloco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leto Atreides II Note that even the best quality DAP probably won't match a good portable cd player in terms of sound quality.

This is a loaded opinion. Which discman did you have in mind? How about comparing a mp3 cdr vs the same mp3's on a dap? I remember that panasonic clt470 that everyone raved about a few years ago...i went and picked one up and i thought the headphone out was stinkin awful (sluggish, too warm, definitely not accurate and wimpy at powering any cans). That made me think twice about taking opinions on portable gear since hearing is definitely subjective around here. I have some old discmans and yeah, they do sound good, but not earth shattering, i felt that my md gear sounded better than cd gear, but its a matter of preference (bright vs dark and so on). Some people actually dig a bumped up midrange on their portables, i can't stand it, it drives my ears nuts and i think it sounds too tinny to be enjoyable. I prefer a warm, punchy albeit forward sound, but i like my soundstage like anyone else around here. I actually find my senn hd580's to sound good but i've lately been spending more time with my grado's and they are killer with metal bands (exodus' "toxic waltz" baby!), it just gives me that sense of being there compared to the senns.

Oops, i went off a little too much, sorry!

 

[TooNice]

^ how about WAV/Lossless (DAP) vs CD-Player?

Anyway, doesn't matter to me.. The iPod/iAudio etc. is pocketable. A CD-Player needs a biggy trouser simply because of the shape of the CD and that exclude having to carry the CD. So overall, I would stick go DAP myself.

 

[GSTom1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisfromalbany Well being that is a 5 gig unit, the first posting says at least 6 gigs. Putting one word reply's that doesn't even meet person the orginal person's posting is quite poor.

For the record, there is a 6GB version of the Rio Carbon.

Rio Carbon Pearl (6GB)

 

[gloco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TooNice ^ how about WAV/Lossless (DAP) vs CD-Player? Anyway, doesn't matter to me.. The iPod/iAudio etc. is pocketable. A CD-Player needs a biggy trouser simply because of the shape of the CD and that exclude having to carry the CD. So overall, I would stick go DAP myself.

Then you have to compare the different dacs and overall sound signature. I thinks its more than fair to say that daps, in general, sound better than discmans thanks to the lousy headphone outs and other cost cutting taken to make discmans as affordable as possible. Would you agree?

My gf has one of those sony mp3 discmans and yeah, it surprisingly does sound decent with her eggo's (D66's), but everytime she hears my karma or iriver she exclaims: "I want one of those." Daps generally sound better, if they have a custom eq setting like most have. Eventually we'll get screwed though as companies start cutting corners to squeeze out longer battery life and drop other features to stream-line their gui to make it accessible to the average joe. That's precisely the reason i jumped on a iriver H140 before they vanish for good.

 

[chrisfromalbany]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gloco I'd really like to see how the eq is setup on your karma...mind posting the numbers? I just don't understand how the karma isn't loud enough with an iem, of all things. Are you comparing it on terms of total loudness or comparing by looking to see how loud the shures are at half way on the karma vs the zen? Just wondering because the iriver is definitely louder with my sr100's than my karma is (iriver is set to 25/40 to equal the loudness of my karma at 30/30 with my sr100's), but it doesn't necessarily sound better or more appealing.

at the time, it was comfort level for listening. I had to turn the karma more then Creative Zen player at the time.

EQs.. I din't like any of the EQs because the add distortion to the music. I find that Karma was nice but when used it would distort the sound so I didn't use it. This is the same with ipod and Creative Zen. Because of this I don't use EQs for any of my songs. I know I could use ulities to change the music so I could use the EQs, I just find that to be to much work and don't like changing the orginal recording.

The SM3 is the only one where the bass boost actually boosted the bass without distorting the sound. So I use that quite a bit.

 

[chrisfromalbany]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GSTom1 For the record, there is a 6GB version of the Rio Carbon. Rio Carbon Pearl (6GB)

This is true. I am still not going to support one word comments in threads and not giving details on why this person should get this model.

 

[gloco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisfromalbany at the time, it was comfort level for listening. I had to turn the karma more then Creative Zen player at the time. EQs.. I din't like any of the EQs because the add distortion to the music. I find that Karma was nice but when used it would distort the sound so I didn't use it. This is the same with ipod and Creative Zen. Because of this I don't use EQs for any of my songs. I know I could use ulities to change the music so I could use the EQs, I just find that to be to much work and don't like changing the orginal recording. The SM3 is the only one where the bass boost actually boosted the bass without distorting the sound. So I use that quite a bit.

If there's distortion, either the karma was defective or your shures are defective. I've never, NEVER heard any distortion (or clipping) with my karma. Especially since the karma's base sq is terrible, eq is mandatory, imho.

 

[chrisfromalbany]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gloco If there's distortion, either the karma was defective or your shures are defective. I've never, NEVER heard any distortion (or clipping) with my karma. Especially since the karma's base sq is terrible, eq is mandatory, imho.

I had the shures e5s for over a year and then passed them off to my brother. I don't believe there to be any issue with them.

As for testing the Rio, I had it for alittle more a week, because the return policy was two weeks at the time. I got the Rio with great expectations. But I didnt like the results. I did find the UI good just didn't care of the sound quality. Maybe I got a bad unit, I am not sure.

 

[nabwong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisfromalbany This is true. I am still not going to support one word comments in threads and not giving details on why a person should get this model. Along with this model again isn't really in the scope of what the orginal posted wanted.

Not cool dude. Did i do anything to you? You are entitled to your opinion. As far as i'm concerned, i gave a satisfactory answer to his questions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by original poster 1. don’t care about size, color screens or looks 2. sound quality from the headphone out jack (no amp) 3. at least 6GB of Storage. 4. don’t need videos or display pictures, so a color screen not important 5. plan to use this player with my Shure E5C’s IEM’s. 6. equalizer Given the above with sound quality as the highest priority, which player would you recommend???

ANSWER : Rio Carbon 6gb

Note that i never make personal attacks because i believe you are entitled to your opinion. I will let you have the last words that you'd like to defend yourself with. Good day!

 

[chrisfromalbany]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nabwong Not cool dude. Did i do anything to you? You are entitled to your opinion. As far as i'm concerned, i gave a satisfactory answer to his questions. Note that i never make personal attacks because i believe you are entitled to your opinion. Good day!

I stand by my posting that just listing the name of a DAP without any addition information is poor and doesn't provide insight as to which player to buy.

 

[gloco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisfromalbany I had the shures e5s for over a year and then passed them off to my brother. I don't believe there to be any issue with them. As for testing the Rio, I had it for alittle more a week, because the return policy was two weeks at the time. I got the Rio with great expectations. But I didnt like the results. I did find the UI good just didn't care of the sound quality. Maybe I got a bad unit, I am not sure.

It might very well be the base eq you're using. I didn't like it at all, sounded very grainy to my ears. I'm telling you, if you use eq it will sound much better. Plus, i never felt that any stock settings (ie. eq turned off) ever sounded neutral or natural for that matter in any daps i've owned.

 

[htbyron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisfromalbany I am still going to stand by my comments about other application to load music into the player. I didnt like the creative or rio software. Again this is personal perference. I picked up itunes the quickiest. I would prefer that any of these DAP would just come on as a portable device (hard drive) and I could load that music that way. But that most DAP force you to use an application to load the files, I liked itunes the most out of the applications that I don't like anyways.

Chris: My Zen Micro (5GB, but there is a 6GB version) has firmware that allows it to mount as an MTP device, recognized by Win XP as a hard drive & allowing drag and drop from MS Windows Explorer, as well as from most 3d-party jukebox software (I use Yahoo Music player, as well as Windows Media Player). I believe Creative offers similar firmware for most of their current lineup (but not some of the older models).

Tom