Best sounding DAp under $300?

[JiggaD369]

I have practically no experience wit any DAPs. I want to know what you guys like the most hear. I'm looking at the Cowon A2 as of the moment? Is that the best I can do for the money? Memory wise, I think 20-60Gb will be okay. Any help will be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[3X0]

I'd look at the A2 if you're interested in the video functionality. The iAudio X5 has great sound quality, as do the Zen Vision:M and iRiver H100/H300 series. They all sound great, and the X5 and iRivers sound great with Rockbox as well.

Before anyone mentions it, I'd only look at the iPod if you can manage to squeeze in an amp and line-out dock, which you likely won't be able to do with that budget. The current line of iPods aren't as impressive from the headphone-out as the other options.

As of right now the A2 gets you a lot of bang for your buck with current prices.

 

[phyrefly]

^Agreed.

The iAudio, iRiver and Creative models (older) that I've listened to sounded great.

I think Creative's sound is more neutral than the other two. The iPod (4G and older) doesn't even come close.

 

[Jeffie]

The reviews of it seem pretty good.

 

[3X0]

It's probably not the best-sounding DAP (one owner said that it was slightly inferior to his X5), plus it doesn't have quite the capacity (maxes out at 4GB). Honestly, hardly a threat to the A2.

 

[JiggaD369]

How is the A2 compared to the Zen Vision M?

 

[Bull Moose]

I'm not sure if I'm the meizu user mentioned above who also owned an X5, but I did post a sort of mini review and I am quite happy with my meizu m6 and it sounds much much BETTER than my x5 (which also sounds great if you need higher capacity)

 

[3X0]

I'm very doubtful that the gap of sound quality difference between the Meizu and X5 is much much. Most of the subjective reports of sound quality I've read said that the primary differences included a more present bottom end, with no greater clarity or detail but a higher base noise level to balance things out. Seems to me that the Meizu's just a little more bassy.

The Zen Vision:M is a great choice if you're looking for something in smaller dimensions, but feature-for-feature the A2 blows it out of the water with the much larger screen, greater battery life, true USB-OTG, et cetera.

 

[JiggaD369]

Would it be better if I compared the A2 with Vision W instead? Or is Vision W not a good DAP comapred to other including Vision M?