[mytecmaster]

i like to have my entire collection on me. and for the holiday's. i don't want to listen the whole holiday to the same music.

 

[shigzeo]

here are rmaa tests showing again, insane bass roll off of the cowon s9: should be only negligible if you are using an amp and/or large high ohm phones.

here is a link to the image:

on a positive not, it is not as bad as the d2, but has the typical excited treble of all cowon models: hence the feeling that they are very detailed. but, it has a great screen and if you want movies, im sure it will be great. however, just as with about all cowon products, if you want soundstage, it is probably (unless you think stage is limited to instrument separation) not the best stop.

pros: you know, okay eq, bbe effects and open source codecs, nice-ish looks, wow factor: who else has one of these?
cons: better than older cowon, but still massive bass roll off with low phones, weird shape, so it will spin on a desk and maybe fall off, probably similar poor stage performance

 

[SawaFish]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shigzeo /img/forum/go_quote.gif cons: better than older cowon, but still massive bass roll off with low phones, weird shape, so it will spin on a desk and maybe fall off, probably similar poor stage performance

the back is actually pretty flat for a big part so it won't spin or fall off your desk unless you're really unhandy. I think the SQ is great, especially compared to my 5th gen iPod. It also has less hiss than my iPod. As for soundstage, I never bother with it since I use it with headphones/IEM's. It's kinda hard to get a really good soundstage with such audio reproducers. I don't know what's better, S9 or Touch, but if you mainly want music/video I'd go for the S9. Man that screen is nice looking

 

[Aaron5604]

Seems as if the I-Pod is winning...

I guess it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to purchase a DAP that prefers supporting upper end frequencies by basically distorting lower end ones for emphsizing purposes, when I'm also purchasing phones that support exactly the opposite range in spectrum, huh?

Plus, since I won't be needing an amp. more than likely due to the nature of these phones, I'll have nothing to help correct the issue to begin with. And, w/ ALAC fixed through Apple's latest firmware release -- goes to say that I won't ever have to fear my lossless files skipping.

Hmm...

Can anyone provide a ball park figure on how many playback hrs. I'll be able to get, consistently -- using strictly ALAC?

Thanks!

-Aaron")

 

[shigzeo]

wonder if anyone will be able to help you there... my guess is that it is not too much a difference. my touch 2g gets over the 36 hour specified audio playback but im not sure how much and that is with a mixture of alac, some internet use, mp3 and aac at varying values.

 

[spacemanspliff]

Samsung P3 anyone? Looks like a healthy alternative if they really improved it but I haven't heard that one so...

Anyway, if you are just playing music isn't an iMod the killer anyway? I mean damn dude, if you want sq that is it. I had one of those, a hornet M and S530s ftw. That wasn't even a bulky kit. And no other portable source sounds that good. Of course, you need an amp too.

Otherwise, get a Sansa of your choice and that is about it right?

 

[Aaron5604]

Honestly...

I'll have to investigate further into the amp. + LOD world later. I've spent so much time lately just on the DAP and phones aspect of things, (the bare essentials here) and haven't really had the time for much else.

As for ALAC playback -- I'm really only needing a full days worth; somewhere around 15 hrs. (continously, at most) for those rare occassions in which I may travel. Other then that, 10 hrs. of straight music is plenty. 6 to 8 is the norm.

-Aaron

 

[Zerius]

ipod touch, for the speaker, for the range of accessories, the warranty, support, and of course, once it's jailbroken the free apps

 

[Buckster]

bought a 2G Touch today

will report on my findings later - good old Costco has 90 day return policy (no quibbles) for this item - and was at a good price - so a no brainer really

 

[spacemanspliff]

The Samsung P3 did get best of CES this year. Still too early to tell but early buyers like theirs.

 

[Aaron5604]

What does everyone think about the Zune when combined w/ the SE530's? I"ve heard that this DAP has great SQ, just no EQ. The reason why I left this one out of the conversation to begin w/ was because I thought it only supported WAV as its lossless format rather than WMAL as well.

I guess for starters -- what's the "hiss" like when compared to these other DAPS listed here in this thread?

Thanks!

-Aaron

 

[thechungster]

This a very useful thread

I have an iPod touch 1st gen, but it just isn't the best sounding sound out there, more average. If Apple sticks with the same sound chip in the 3rd gen iPod touch (When released) I just hope there will be some awesome updates like an OLED screen. I will buy that.

 

[shigzeo]

im sure they will. they stuck with wolfson's cheaper offerings for a long time and that is good they did: very decent chips. but the 1g other than hiss is quite a good performer. other sound stage and a bit more THD, it is on paper at least as good as the s9.

the rest is up to you. if you don't like ipod sound siganture, you will never like it even if they release the best ever dac/output section. the point is that apple don't put in sound optimisers and i wish they would but they do at least make very nice sounding players.

 

[yoyo59]

the genius feature on the ipod touch 2g is fantastic if you have a library of 4500+ like me, it really does pick songs you would like to listen to!!! I love that feature the most, its like it knows me! and it gets better everytime you use it because it notice's which music you like better.

 

[Meloncoly]

Just chiming in but...

I keep hearing people say that the Touch skips on lossless but I just don't hear it. Half of my 1G Touch is lossless and I hear no skipping whatsoever connected via the dock to a 3move, and to a se530. I haven't heard any skipping since 1.1.4 I believe, when I bought it.

I have some lossless ripped from iTunes directly, and I have some ripped by dBpoweramp, and they all don't skip for me. Maybe I'm just lucky.

Personally, if you want just pure audio quality through the headphone out, I would get the S9. If you intend to get a amp, you could still get the S9, but I think coming out from the LOD, the Touch is better, but that's just imo from the listening sessions I've had with a friend's S9. All flat EQ by the way...no EQ, BBE, or MachBass.

Edit: My longest track in ALAC is 15mins 6secs and that doesn't skip. Maybe people are listening to longer tracks than this...?