[sneaglebob]

Hello everyone
 
For the past 6 months or so I have been using my sony Xperia tablet S to lisiten to music, I have beats pro. Today I woke up to find out the headphone jack is busted again (this is a major design flaw of the tablet since my other xperia tablets had the same error after normal use). I use it mainly because of the walkman app already predownloaded and the audio quality sounded a bit better than playing it from my htc comet phone with a fiio e6. I am currently looking for a dedicated MP3 player and I am looking at the sony walkman E series 4GB. Would there be any significant improvement in sound quality or will it be lower? Is it powerful? Thanks!

 

[kyuuketsuki]

Yes source always matters. Each player has different hardware configurations. And each hardware configuration has different specs. Unless you are using an external DAC/Amp, the source of your music always matters. I don't have that much experience with Sony players though.

However some things to consider are internal DAC chip, and internal amp output.

There are a few others as well but I can't think of off the top of my head, but I'm sure someone else will chime in.

 

[Sound Quest]

Yes, of course it matters.
 
Different MP3 players have different sound cards in them. But if you are planning on buying a DAC/AMP, then don't bother changing the player, as the soundcard in the amp will over-ride the soundcard in the player. (Assuming you connect it via the USB port)
 
No disrespect or anything, but your headphones are never going to sound excellent, regardless of any upgrades you make.

 

[sneaglebob]

I'm not trying to make them better, I just hope they don't get worse. I'm very well aware of this.

 

[Sound Quest]

Quote:

I'm not trying to make them better, I just hope they don't get worse. I'm very well aware of this.

Well if you're not bothered about making them better, then why change anything at all?

 
You must be looking to gain some sort of improvement?

 

[sneaglebob]

The headphone tablet jack is broken. Which is why i'm looking for an mp3 player.

 

[atomiccow]

For your case, the source (your tablet) is your source, DAC, and amplifier. So yes, it totally matters. Modern smart devices (tablets and phones) almost always use an audio section fabricated directly on the main chip (the SOC) of the device. These are horribly low quality. There are some exceptions, the Samsung Galaxy S3 and iPhones have dedicated audio sections. Most dedicated mp3s, at least the older ones, will have a dedicated audio section. Any mp3 player should have greatly improved audio quality to a smart device.
 

 

[korewest]

Quote:

For your case, the source (your tablet) is your source, DAC, and amplifier. So yes, it totally matters. Modern smart devices (tablets and phones) almost always use an audio section fabricated directly on the main chip (the SOC) of the device. These are horribly low quality. There are some exceptions, the Samsung Galaxy S3 and iPhones have dedicated audio sections. Most dedicated mp3s, at least the older ones, will have a dedicated audio section. Any mp3 player should have greatly improved audio quality to a smart device.
 

Also agree with this statement.
Even some not-so-current generation of smartphones by Samsung such as Galaxy Stellar (which I currently own) have a great sound quality - vastly improved from a conventional laptop source.
 
And yes, sound quality changes vastly depending on the source.
When I first got my phone and played music through my headphones, it was an eye-opening experience. Coming from a low-price Dell laptop, I noticed such a big improvement using my phone (Galaxy Stellar) that I sat in my room listening to my songs for hours on end being mesmerized by the impact and depth of music I have never heard before through my laptop with same headphones.