God am I confused choosing the right player!!!
Mar 14, 2005 at 7:50 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 24

ankga

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days of research haven't got me any result yet. so i'm gonna need your help guys...

i'm looking for a player that have:

- around a gig capacity
- has an equalizer
- nice sound quality, i'm not much of an audiophile, i'm a basshead, i love bass. and i love a player that can go with that...
- priced around $100 (yep, this will easily narrow it down)

the main use is just a companion with my daily commuting. i'm using sharps's MD33 which i think commuting-friendly and also BassHeads-friendly.

okay, here's some candidates over my lenghty research...

1. ipod - too expensive, i'm not looking to spend that much money on a single thing. beside, i heard they aren't strong on bass

2. rio nitrus/rio carbon - i have a friend who have rio nitrus, and i love the player. has an EQ, backlight, and just perfect sound quality (i can easily qualify this one). BUT, i heard of this horrible review on this thing... so i left undecided.

3. Sony MZ-NH600D - i've been using md for the past years. and i love it because it's affordable all around (although i have to put up with that stupid SS software). currently i'm using an old MDLP player (MZ-NE410) and i love it. but it doesn't has EQ in it which just pisses me off. AND there's some uncertain things i have in my mind about this player. does it have a EQ??? i heard about the difference between this UK and US version of this model, but i'm not sure.

4. Zen Micro - The only reason that i have this on my list is because this player is Napster-to-Go compatible. but the price is just too much. but would it be the best deal if i just put more money on my budget? i was thinking the other day, putting this much money might take awhile, and proabably some company might come up with the similar deal that compete with napster's.

okay then. if you have anything to suggest, please put your input, i appreciate it a lot.

thanks a bunch...
 
Mar 14, 2005 at 10:17 AM Post #2 of 24
If you can have a look ad the Muvo N200 or V200 in the 1Gb version or if you can save up a bit more, you can go for a 4Gb Zen Micro for $179 (after rebate).
 
Mar 14, 2005 at 11:53 AM Post #3 of 24
The best would be iRiver but the overall price would be higher I guess (you'd like to have something based on flash memory, right?).

However, if you'd like the best one from iRiver that would be it's IHP 1** series (which is now discontinued and hard to find)- of course the price would highly exceed your limit. Not to mention that iHP has the best hardware and software from all the players available right now, it will be truly unbeatable once the Rockbox firmware comes out (which, I think, is not that far).
 
Mar 14, 2005 at 12:29 PM Post #5 of 24
Quote:

Originally Posted by root
The best would be iRiver but the overall price would be higher I guess (you'd like to have something based on flash memory, right?).

However, if you'd like the best one from iRiver that would be it's IHP 1** series (which is now discontinued and hard to find)- of course the price would highly exceed your limit. Not to mention that iHP has the best hardware and software from all the players available right now, it will be truly unbeatable once the Rockbox firmware comes out (which, I think, is not that far).




Excuse me while I fall off my chair laughing.


Anyway getting back to the subject at hand, Zen Micro's a good buy and surely they must be reducing the prices a bit soon. It's versatile, small and sounds good through efficient phones (which I presume the HP33 is... never heard it). EQ is definitely adjustable. It has some UMS quirks if you want plug & play storage too, but is on the whole a very usable player.


The more I look at the Carbon, the more I like the idea of it... but I have so far not been tempted. Warranty issues aren't as big in Europe since any player has to ship with a year's warranty, but the reliability aspect is offputting, as well as the various problems they've had with it.


NH600D - well, now's not a good time to buy. A bit longer and you'll get better deals as it'll be obsolete soon. Hi-MD is not a bad concept if you're used to a flash player style of use, and the NH600D will sound good. The major everyday usability problem with Hi-MD is the relatively glacial speed of loading, and the proprietary software required to do so.


At the low cost flash end, the Creeative Muvos are definitely worth a look.
 
Mar 14, 2005 at 1:22 PM Post #6 of 24
Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman
Excuse me while I fall off my chair laughing.


Could you explain why? Thank you.
 
Mar 14, 2005 at 3:21 PM Post #8 of 24
The VERY CHEAPEST 1 gig flash players cost $150. And that one doesn't happen to have a screen (iPod shuffle, in case you were wondering). Anything with flash memory will not have an equalizer, let's make that clear. My recommendation would be either to get the 4 GB Zen micro, at $179, or the 4 GB iPod mini, which is now only $200. Trust me, iPod is very popular, but that doesn't mean it's bad or overrated, as much as everyone likes to think. It has an equalizer, it is easy to use, it is tiny, and there really isn't much you can ask from it more.

$100 just isn't going to get you what you want.
 
Mar 14, 2005 at 3:42 PM Post #9 of 24
For me, it's hard to justify buying a good flash player, since they're all priced as high or higher than the 4gb Zen Micron and the 4gb mini with edu discount. The mini doesn't have many features, but it has good battery life, mine lasts 24h 43m with volume at 50% and ~192kbps files.
The Micro on the other hand has more features, but not as good battery life.
 
Mar 14, 2005 at 3:58 PM Post #10 of 24
Quote:

Originally Posted by ankga
days of research haven't got me any result yet. so i'm gonna need your help guys...

i'm looking for a player that have:

- around a gig capacity
- has an equalizer
- nice sound quality, i'm not much of an audiophile, i'm a basshead, i love bass. and i love a player that can go with that...
- priced around $100 (yep, this will easily narrow it down)

the main use is just a companion with my daily commuting. i'm using sharps's MD33 which i think commuting-friendly and also BassHeads-friendly.

okay, here's some candidates over my lenghty research...

1. ipod - too expensive, i'm not looking to spend that much money on a single thing. beside, i heard they aren't strong on bass

2. rio nitrus/rio carbon - i have a friend who have rio nitrus, and i love the player. has an EQ, backlight, and just perfect sound quality (i can easily qualify this one). BUT, i heard of this horrible review on this thing... so i left undecided.

3. Sony MZ-NH600D - i've been using md for the past years. and i love it because it's affordable all around (although i have to put up with that stupid SS software). currently i'm using an old MDLP player (MZ-NE410) and i love it. but it doesn't has EQ in it which just pisses me off. AND there's some uncertain things i have in my mind about this player. does it have a EQ??? i heard about the difference between this UK and US version of this model, but i'm not sure.

4. Zen Micro - The only reason that i have this on my list is because this player is Napster-to-Go compatible. but the price is just too much. but would it be the best deal if i just put more money on my budget? i was thinking the other day, putting this much money might take awhile, and proabably some company might come up with the similar deal that compete with napster's.

okay then. if you have anything to suggest, please put your input, i appreciate it a lot.

thanks a bunch...



You can eliminate all four of your choices, if $100 is your absolute ceiling. All of them are priced much higher than $100, even after discounts. In fact, you will not be able to find any non-CD MP3-compatible players with more than 256MB of storage at that $100 price cap.
 
Mar 14, 2005 at 6:14 PM Post #11 of 24
wow thanks a lot for all the inputs...

right now some reason i have strong tendencies to buy NH600. but i think i might try to wait a little longer.

- it match my budget
- i'm not crazy about the concept having a flash based player
- i don't upload often. most of the time i upload my file only every 2 week, i can stick with the same song over and over.

zen micro definetely tempted me a lot, so does muVo2... bangraman said their prices might dropped in the next couple months. so let see what's up...

thanks all
 
Mar 14, 2005 at 11:22 PM Post #12 of 24
Quote:

Originally Posted by ankga
wow thanks a lot for all the inputs...

right now some reason i have strong tendencies to buy NH600. but i think i might try to wait a little longer.

- it match my budget
- i'm not crazy about the concept having a flash based player
- i don't upload often. most of the time i upload my file only every 2 week, i can stick with the same song over and over.

zen micro definetely tempted me a lot, so does muVo2... bangraman said their prices might dropped in the next couple months. so let see what's up...

thanks all



Just dont settle, if you do you will hate your player and constantly regret your decision and will likely buy the one you wanted in the first place.
 
Mar 15, 2005 at 1:06 AM Post #13 of 24
Mar 15, 2005 at 2:30 AM Post #15 of 24
Quote:

Originally Posted by combustion
you could buy the rca lyra (sd player) for around $50 then a 1gb sd card for $60... I had a Lyra ages ago and it did well for the price.


Oh man, i had one too(the RD1080 version). that thing was sooo durable, you couldnt immagine how much pain i put that thing through. Its now sold to one of my friends and its still ticking.
 

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