Best sounding HD player (without extrenal amp)?

[albau]

I'm sorry if this was beaten to death but search isn't conclusive.

I use iPod mini with Shure E3c and a little saddened by its built-in amp and weak EQ. I know it's not Shure's or encoding problems since things considerably become better when I listen to same tracks thru PC or my iRiver CD player. Hooking my Creek OBH-11 amp or even old Headroom Airhead to line out improves things to the extent which shouldn't happen with such relatively sensitive phones as E3c.

So I'm after an iPod replacement. Here're my requirements:

• Suitable for gym and other active stuff, meaning durable, good anti-skip and not overly big/heavy.
• Can satisfactory drive without external amp typical canal phones and buds like MX-500.
• I listen mostly to classic/prog/art rock and jazz ripped from my own CDs as VBR 160-320 LAME mp3's or Ogg Vorbis. Latter format is nice to have but not mandatory.
• Supported by at least some non-subscription online music stores since sometimes I like to buy certain tracks.
• 4GB minimum. I don't care about fancy stuff like color screen, video, etc.
• Among accessories I really need belt clip and remote control.
• Has decent built-in graphical EQ and support for playlists.

Also, I have a number of DRM'ed AAC tracks that I bought from iTunes. Any way to convert them with minimal loss to something more common like mp3, ogg vorbis or wma?

I'll appreciate any suggestions and help. Thanks!

 

[albau]

Pleas see my original post.

 

[blessingx]

Well this has kinda been beaten to death so I'm surprised search didn't come up with something. Several of the big manufactures make decent players including Apple. You decide the signature type you prefer. Without that it's difficult to recommend. No player (not even the overhyped around here Karma) stands heads and shoulders over the others from iRiver, Creative, Apple, iAudio, etc.

Which version of the mini do you have? Have you tried MP3/AACgaining (then maybe EuPod/iPodVolumeBooster) and using the (admittedly poor) EQ? You may be surprised. I use Acoustic almost exclusively now.

If you give up the 4GB minimum, iAudio has several flash players that may work well for your use.

As for converting the AAC tracks, really temporarily burning to a CDRW is the easiest way to go. I've converted a few to LAME -aps with very minimal quality loss.

 

[scorpian007]

The Zen Micro has a very very good EQ. IMO, the best sounding DAP I've heard.

 

[Gluegun]

So the highest sound quality would probably be cd's ripped with Exact Audio Copy, then encoded in Apple Lossless on one of the larger sized Ipod Photos and played through some high-end canalphones, possibly through a headphone amp? Potentially EQ'ed before it was written to the ipod? With the occasional gapless cd recorded all as one song?

 

[ILikeMusic]

Creative's main line of business is high-quality PC soundcards... seems like they should know as much or more than anyone when it comes to digital audio. The Zen Micro fits you requirements and sounds very good.

 

[bangraman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by albau I'm sorry if this was beaten to death but search isn't conclusive. I use iPod mini with Shure E3c and a little saddened by its built-in amp and weak EQ. I know it's not Shure's or encoding problems since things considerably become better when I listen to same tracks thru PC or my iRiver CD player. Hooking my Creek OBH-11 amp or even old Headroom Airhead to line out improves things to the extent which shouldn't happen with such relatively sensitive phones as E3c. So I'm after an iPod replacement. Here're my requirements: Suitable for gym and other active stuff, meaning durable, good anti-skip and not overly big/heavy. Can satisfactory drive without external amp typical canal phones and buds like MX-500. I listen mostly to classic/prog/art rock and jazz ripped from my own CDs as VBR 160-320 LAME mp3's or Ogg Vorbis. Latter format is nice to have but not mandatory. Supported by at least some non-subscription online music stores since sometimes I like to buy certain tracks. 4GB minimum. I don't care about fancy stuff like color screen, video, etc. Among accessories I really need belt clip and remote control. Has decent built-in graphical EQ and support for playlists. Also, I have a number of DRM'ed AAC tracks that I bought from iTunes. Any way to convert them with minimal loss to something more common like mp3, ogg vorbis or wma? I'll appreciate any suggestions and help. Thanks!

Write to CD and reconvert...probably simplest.


The iRiver H10 is slowly but surely being bugfixed. The really obvious bugs seem to have disappeared and I like it a little more than I did on it's introduction. Playlisting is cumbersome after the iPod but it will do it. You use WMP or the atrocious iRiver Plus to load. Overall, as a player I think I still like the Zen Micro a little better but there's been some fluctuation in it's spec I think, and it's not built anywhere as nicely as the iRiver.

 

[ry_goody]

straight out of the jack, the ipod 4G is the most powerfull I have heard, I do not know if the ipod mini is similiar in that regard, but if it is that might be as good as its gonna get in terms of unamped power

 

[Polarize]

It's not just power though, its sound quality we're looking for.

You should look at the H-10 or Zen Micro in person if possible, since we all have different ears

 

[Gluegun]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ILikeMusic Creative's main line of business is high-quality PC soundcards... seems like they should know as much or more than anyone when it comes to digital audio. The Zen Micro fits you requirements and sounds very good.

...Audigy? High Quality? oy...

They make *mainstream, mass market, gaming soundcards with lots of bloatware*...

They do not make "high-quality" PC soundcards...

 

[apnk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gluegun ...Audigy? High Quality? oy... They make *mainstream, mass market, gaming soundcards with lots of bloatware*... They do not make "high-quality" PC soundcards...

Yeah they do, the EMU soundcards. (i think thats how you spell it?)

 

[scorpian007]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gluegun ...Audigy? High Quality? oy... They make *mainstream, mass market, gaming soundcards with lots of bloatware*... They do not make "high-quality" PC soundcards...

What are you on? The Audigy 2 is the best sounding consumer PC soundcard.

 

[300_baud]

"What are you on? The Audigy 2 is the best sounding consumer PC soundcard."

Umm... i should ask you the same question...

 

[sonance]

"What are you on? The Audigy 2 is the best sounding consumer PC soundcard."

I'm sorry but many on this board would disagree. In the world of $20 sound cards, on-board audio or gaming world, maybe, but for audio afficianados, this would certainly not be true. After a billion iterations, the Audigy 1/2/4 etc STILL cannot play back *unmolested* 44.1 khz 16bit sound, the oldest and most widely used audio format. That is just sad.

On the other hand the first real move away from the old 10kx chip architechture with the X-Fi might mean that upcoming Creative sound cards can finally play music properly :
http://www6.tomshardware.com/consumer/20050516/

 

[Jam_Master_J]

I'm very happy with the sound quality out of my Rio Karma. It mgiht not be the best for active types though since it has a hard drive. I tried jogging with it once, it locked up 15 seconds later.