[Altoids]

My X5 is dead. Instead of having it replaced for the third time, I've decided to upgrade, and I've narrowed my choices down to the Gigabeat, Zune, and the Zen Vision: M. Like the title suggests, I want the Gigabeat. It's a matter of overwhelming style over substance; I know the other two are superior machines, but I don't care. My only issue is sound quality, so I'm asking anyone who's auditioned the Gigabeat and something else (preferably one of the aforementioned players) to give their impressions in its SQ. I'm willing to make some concessions, but if you believe it's simply outclassed by another high-capacity dap I'll bite the bullet. Thanks in advance.

 

[jinp6301]

i currently own the gigabeat s60 and i have heard on many occasions the vision:m. Sound quality wise, I dont think theres much of a diffrence. I tried both of them with grado 225 and shure e2cs. IMO get the vision:m. its just a better player. you'll have cruddy battery life with the gigabeat and bad firmware. check mygigabeat.com forums to see how many people are having problems with it.

 

[Altoids]

You're right, and I should, but the Gigabeat is just so beautiful. The firmware and battery life I can handle, especially if the rumors about an eventual rockbox port is true (which it seems to be). I don't mind waiting a year or so. I did it happily with the X5, and every problem on the Gigabeat seems to be software based, as opposed to the X5 which had several hardware issues.

 

[callanish]

Yeah, but if the gigabeat's battery life is appalling right now, Rockbox will make it even worse. I know that doesn't matter to you, but sooner or later you'll run out of juice at the wrong time. That's why I wish Creative continued the trend with removable battery on their players like my Zen.

Anyway, I'm in the same boat doing my homework with purchasing a new player although I've ruled out the Toshiba because battery life is a factor. It's attractive in person though, I'll give you that. Heard the Zen Vision M doesn't drive phones as well as the Zune, but the quality of the music coming out of it is first class. I'm still on the fence and in no hurry to make a purchase until I actually get to test both both Zune and Vision side by side. Heard the Kenwood Harddrive player has great sound because of the built in amp, but don't know much else about it.

Personally if I were you, I'd just go for it and buy the Toshiba from a place with a good return policy and thoroughly give it a good workout to see if it's the kind of player I could live with everyday and that it complements your phones.

 

[Altoids]

That's what I'll probably end up doing, although I don't know if Rockbox will destroy its battery life in the long run. I know that after they worked out the preliminary bugs it nearly doubled the battery life of my X5, so I have a high opinion of the coders over there. I just want to be sure they're releasing a port for it in the first place.

 

[CloudySkies]

I'm in the exact same situation, I want the Gigabeat S60 so bad.......it looks great, has the perfect form factor, and the album art display and interface are awsome. The only problem is the battery life sucks, the EQ supposedly sucks, there's no bass or treble boost, and it's plagued by small annoyances like the battery always running/draining unless you physically disable it via a separate switch, non changeable wallpaper, etc. I'm so tempted to just buy the thing due to it's looks and interface though, but I'm going to wait and see what Creative and hopefully iAudio show at CES in January just to be sure. I need a 60Gb player, and something as attractive as the Gigabeat for $250 is still VERY hard to beat despite it's shortcomings.

 

[zip22]

are you not interested in the 60GB ipod video, CloudySkies? you can get it right now refurb from apple for $229 and it has 20 hours battery life. eq is still crappy (so i hear), but other than that its a pretty good deal.

 

[Altoids]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CloudySkies /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm in the exact same situation, I want the Gigabeat S60 so bad.......it looks great, has the perfect form factor, and the album art display and interface are awsome. The only problem is the battery life sucks, the EQ supposedly sucks, there's no bass or treble boost, and it's plagued by small annoyances like the battery always running/draining unless you physically disable it via a separate switch, non changeable wallpaper, etc. I'm so tempted to just buy the thing due to it's looks and interface though, but I'm going to wait and see what Creative and hopefully iAudio show at CES in January just to be sure. I need a 60Gb player, and something as attractive as the Gigabeat for $250 is still VERY hard to beat despite it's shortcomings.

Yeah. Honestly, I don't need an EQ; my E4s have gotten me used to unadulterated sound, so all the bells and whistles are meaningless, I just want a clean signal. Creative has great sounding machines, but their players are just so bland. I love iAudio, but they're taking their time with an X5 follow and I don't feel like waiting anymore, so it looks like this is a solid bet for now. I'm just praying that Rockbox solves this like they solved the X5. They turned that thing into a classic.

 

[jlbrach]

the gigabeat is a great player in all the ways that matter to me except for the almost comically bad battery life...just horrible and a real shame