[ascherjim]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RoadHazard /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah, the Fuze does seem nice. But I can't escape the feeling that Sony gear is just of higher quality than Sandisk (Sansa). Also, I really want to get it (the one I ultimately decide on) in the next few days, so that pretty much rules the Fuze out. One reason is that I'm going on a trip down to Austria (from Sweden, so that's quite a bit to travel) by car in about a week, and I really want a PMP filled with my favorite music by then. Right now, I just have my W810i Walkman phone, and my Memory Stick is only 512MB. Quite limiting.

RoadHazard: I've come to this thread late, and by this time you've no doubt already bought your Sony. I have the iAudio7 (which I'm enjoying), but there's one aspect left out of your comparisons between the Sony and iAudio (which at this time apparently makes no difference to you): The iAudio plays ogg and flac codecs as well, both capable of providing better sound quality than mp3. For different purposes I variously use all three. There may come a time in the future when you might want to improve your sound quality by switching the codecs you rip to.

 

[RoadHazard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ascherjim /img/forum/go_quote.gif The iAudio plays ogg and flac codecs as well, both capable of providing better sound quality than mp3. For different purposes I variously use all three. There may come a time in the future when you might want to improve your sound quality by switching the codecs you rip to.

Yeah, I know it plays lossless, and while that gives it an advantage in one way over the A818 it's not that important to me with an 8GB (actually, the usable space is more like 7.3GB) DAP. Using lossless the files would just get too large, and I couldn't fit as much music as I want on my player.

I mainly use MP3 VBR up to 320kbps (with some CBR 192kbps which I haven't re-ripped yet), and it sounds awesome. It allows me to put a lot of great albums on my player, and I honestly think most people couldn't tell any difference between high bitrate MP3 VBR and lossless. If there is a difference (which there is of course, at least theoretically), it's so small that it's almost impossible to notice, especially when on a bus, tram, train, etc. Therefore, I'm completely satisfied with the file support of the A818.

If/when I want to go lossless with my portable music, I'll get a DAP with much more storage space. 8GB is just too small for lossless (to me). But that'll have to wait until the flash players reach 40GB or more, since I don't want a bulky HDD player.

 

[ascherjim]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RoadHazard /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah, I know it plays lossless, and while that gives it an advantage in one way over the A818 it's not that important to me with an 8GB (actually, the usable space is more like 7.3GB) DAP. Using lossless the files would just get too large, and I couldn't fit as much music as I want on my player. I mainly use MP3 VBR up to 320kbps (with some CBR 192kbps which I haven't re-ripped yet), and it sounds awesome. It allows me to put a lot of great albums on my player, and I honestly think most people couldn't tell any difference between high bitrate MP3 VBR and lossless. If there is a difference (which there is of course, at least theoretically), it's so small that it's almost impossible to notice, especially when on a bus, tram, train, etc. Therefore, I'm completely satisfied with the file support of the A818. If/when I want to go lossless with my portable music, I'll get a DAP with much more storage space. 8GB is just too small for lossless (to me). But that'll have to wait until the flash players reach 40GB or more, since I don't want a bulky HDD player.

I can't fault your obviously considered judgment and decision as regards lossless (flac), but as I'm certain you're aware, ogg is reputed to be capable of utilizing less memory space than mp3 in achieving better sound quality, thus enabling more music to go onto the 8GB flash than with mp3. That's how I use it on my iAudio7. Anyway, I join with you in hoping for more flash memory on DAP's in the future -- hopefully along with digital lines out.

 

[lamewing]

I gave up on Cowon a year or two ago after my X5L dropped to a spectacular death from a 2nd story window (cry). Cowon no longer makes full-sized HDD-based DAPs and the D2/D3 is just too big for day-to-day use.

Sony is, and always will be, my first choice.

 

[qqbingbing]

i will go for the sony as i owned it and it sounded really nice to me. and its really thin, very portable.

 

[Computerstud]

Get the A818.
I own/owned a few DAP's (Zune 30gb, Ipod 5.5, Ipod 4g, Ipod Nano 1st gen, Ipod Mini) and the A818 is my favorite. The warm signature when pairing with the Denon C700 is perfect.

BTW, how are you guys removing the charging cable from the A818?
(I just pull it out since there's no release mechanism but I'm thinking over time this will damage the dock).

 

[Gurra1980]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beyerfan70 /img/forum/go_quote.gif The current sony players all have far superior sound to any other player out there,so i'd go for sony. And zen does have poor sound!

LOL, this post is very funny!

It's like saying "the current BMWs are far superior to any other car out there.
And Mercedes is a bad car!