Best portable SQ without amp.

[nano]

Im looking for a new DAP, so:

Which DAP has the best SQ, yes i know it differs form person to person, but whitch one is in general considered the best?

And i mean all formats, flash, HDD and minidisc + discontinued products.

 

[EFN]

Sony NW-HD5 with ATRAC 320kbps

 

[abitdeef]

The one that sounds best to you

Ok I'll throw some out

Zunes- razor sharp detail, best IMHO

Sonys- warm and full bodied, with sometimes elevated treble (depends on model)- the new model x-1000 should sound amazing.

Sansa fuze- clip- Nice for the price, warmer sound.

New ipods- great soundstage

 

[Almoxil]

After spending some years with Creative multimedia players, I tried Cowon and never looked back. I've got a Cowon D2 and a D2+. Sound-quality is excellent, with plenty of detail and some of the best sound enhancements available for portable players. Mach3Bass is an awesome bass enhancer, and the EQ is very precise, if you need it.

Pluses: SDHC card support (you can make it a 48 GB all-flash memory "jukebox"); UMS/MSC support (no need of crappy software to transfer music to and from the player); file/folder browsing (if the tags on your music collection aren't complete or correct);
Minuses: Not everyone will like the touchscreen controls; a little bulky for a pocketable media player; you can't save playlists.

 

[qusp]

iphone 3G (32gb shortly) very quiet background and awesome soundstage; also you get a pretty good phone and PMP too.
cowon S9 : sleek design and very respectable output power
iriver H340 and beyond: great detail

 

[gav17]

Any portable recorder used as DAP. For example Microtrack II, Sony D50 and also....

 

[faichiu]

kenwood b9,d9

 

[abitdeef]

Let me mention also, if your using low impedance/sensitive cans you might notice some hiss with some sonys/irivers and kenwoods for sure. Anything over 32 ohms is usually safe. Cowon d2/s9 can his too if you turn on the eq and put volume up. Only ones that ever Really bothered me was an iriver ifp 795 and all 3 kenwoods (2 minidisc and 10 gig media keg) even though they sounded nice they hissed like mad. That being said if it wasn't for the new sony 32 gig touch model coming out, I would probably get a kenwood high end media keg again- I don't use low imp sensitive iems anymore

 

[doctordk207]

Kenwood~!!! d9 is the BEST!!!!