Do mp3 players make a difference?
Jan 7, 2013 at 12:45 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 16

MellonCollie

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I love the itouch, I used to have a sansa fuze and hated everything about it.

I heard the itouch has 'bad quality' I dont believe but is the sansa really better?

I wanna buy the 5g ipod touch, and if this is true I might just spend my 300 elsewhere
 
Jan 7, 2013 at 12:59 AM Post #2 of 16
I have the sansa zip (rockbox mod) and love everything about it. It is also < $40. My wife has an iphone and we love it. It is > $300 but it is much more than a portable player (same could be said of an ipod touch)
 
What do you mean by better? Better sound? What headphones are you planning to use with your player? Are most of your files mp3s, wavs, flacs...? What did you hate about your fuze?
 
Jan 7, 2013 at 1:16 AM Post #3 of 16
If its only for music, the Touch is a bit expensive. If you want other stuff, then I doubt there's an alternative.
Similarly, the Classic is the storage king, the only choice if you want high storage capacity.
 
If the above two don't apply, then a clip+ or a clip zip + SD Card + Rockbox is a bargain.
 
Jan 7, 2013 at 1:16 AM Post #4 of 16
I have the sansa zip (rockbox mod) and love everything about it. It is also < $40. My wife has an iphone and we love it. It is > $300 but it is much more than a portable player (same could be said of an ipod touch)

What do you mean by better? Better sound? What headphones are you planning to use with your player? Are most of your files mp3s, wavs, flacs...? What did you hate about your fuze?


I mean sound, At the moment I want to use <$100 headphones but I dont wanna lose sound

For me the thing i hated the most was it broke 2 times just dropping it, my itouch lasted longer and is used

Also little things, menu was ugly and the interface isnt as good as itouches, the mic had good quality though but was for fun.

Its not that i hate it, honestly it was a good player but I was way hapier with my ipod, I also love browsing the internet on it.
 
Jan 7, 2013 at 1:35 AM Post #5 of 16
i did my darndest to find any iota of difference in sound quality between an ipod touch and a clip zip, then i bought a cypher labs algorhythm solo and did my darndest to hear a difference between that rig and my clip zip.   same when comparing my home computer rig via an objective dac and objective amp via foobar and wasapi.
i finally came to the conclusion that there was none, and if there was, the difference was so minute that i would never ever know the difference anyway. 
 
maybe some players out there are skewed in their sound reproduction, and oddly you mostly hear that about there really expensive ones, but otherwise, creating a player that just plays correct, flat response, is not really that hard. 
 
The only player left in my rig that i actually use is my clip zip.  simply because its the most convenient, and it sounds incredible with the right headpones and right eq settings via rockbox. 
 
Jan 7, 2013 at 1:36 AM Post #6 of 16
Quote:
I mean sound, At the moment I want to use <$100 headphones but I dont wanna lose sound
For me the thing i hated the most was it broke 2 times just dropping it, my itouch lasted longer and is used
Also little things, menu was ugly and the interface isnt as good as itouches, the mic had good quality though but was for fun.
Its not that i hate it, honestly it was a good player but I was way hapier with my ipod, I also love browsing the internet on it.

 
I would get an ipod touch then.
 
Jan 7, 2013 at 1:51 AM Post #7 of 16
i did my darndest to find any iota of difference in sound quality between an ipod touch and a clip zip, then i bought a cypher labs algorhythm solo and did my darndest to hear a difference between that rig and my clip zip.   same when comparing my home computer rig via an objective dac and objective amp via foobar and wasapi.
i finally came to the conclusion that there was none, and if there was, the difference was so minute that i would never ever know the difference anyway. 

maybe some players out there are skewed in their sound reproduction, and oddly you mostly hear that about there really expensive ones, but otherwise, creating a player that just plays correct, flat response, is not really that hard. 

The only player left in my rig that i actually use is my clip zip.  simply because its the most convenient, and it sounds incredible with the right headpones and right eq settings via rockbox. 
I would get an ipod touch then.


Hmm thanks I heard the quality was better on a sansa I called bs.

I want to replace my rusty 2g with a 5g with more interface and features, But I'm going on tha audiofile side and thinking of getting something better and not being an apple sheep when they are **** quality
 
Jan 7, 2013 at 1:55 AM Post #9 of 16
Quote:
Hmm thanks I heard the quality was better on a sansa I called bs.


The quality *may* be better, but if you want to have a good UI, screen, web browsing etc then its no use, is it?
 
Jan 7, 2013 at 2:22 AM Post #10 of 16
Quote:
I mean sound, At the moment I want to use <$100 headphones but I dont wanna lose sound
For me the thing i hated the most was it broke 2 times just dropping it, my itouch lasted longer and is used
Also little things, menu was ugly and the interface isnt as good as itouches, the mic had good quality though but was for fun.
Its not that i hate it, honestly it was a good player but I was way hapier with my ipod, I also love browsing the internet on it.

 
I'm still wondering what headphones you are planning to use though. Differences between the players maybe relatively large or small depending on the headphone.
 
Jan 7, 2013 at 2:57 AM Post #12 of 16
Quote:
Maybe I'm wrong but don't some players have better ability to drive headphones than others pr do they all have similar output via the line out?


The Sansa clip/zip is the only player I know in that regard, it has the lowest output impedance among most players, meaning you can plug in low impedance IEMs (as low as 10 Ohms).
 
But in general, they're all similar, designed for 30-60 Ohms.
 
Jan 7, 2013 at 6:01 PM Post #13 of 16
I'm still wondering what headphones you are planning to use though. Differences between the players maybe relatively large or small depending on the headphone.


Nothing top-fi, I was thinking of whatever sony has under 100$

Maybe later I'll get HD800 (ive heard of them being praised)
But that deffinately wont be within this year. I also want the ipod to last, meaning If I do buy such headphones, I want the best out of them
 
Jan 7, 2013 at 6:22 PM Post #14 of 16
If you spend top dollar on headphones, you might need to spend more on a decent Amp. The HD800 might not be easy to handle for an ipod given it's relatively high impedance. That said, some Sony's might not be too hard to handle. Depends on the model and headphone type.
 
Jan 7, 2013 at 6:29 PM Post #15 of 16
If you spend top dollar on headphones, you might need to spend more on a decent Amp. The HD800 might not be easy to handle for an ipod given it's relatively high impedance. That said, some Sony's might not be too hard to handle. Depends on the model and headphone type.

I've been eyeing the v55s and xb600 and maybe the V6 but the coil makes me look elsewhere

It would defeat the purpose needing an amp with a portable player
Just curious, would a netbook laptop be good enough for a setup with an amp to play music off of
 

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