[finleyville]

Anyway...

I never was a fan of MP3's. I thought that the music sounded flat and lifeless. So I am ignorant of the different compression choices and coding methods. However, I have heard I can rip my music without any information loss (lossless?)

So...

I am thinking of picking up my first DAP. I've only just started to research the myrad of options available to me. I have searched the archives and that only seemed to confuse me more. So I am asking for some recommendations based on my needs below.

sound quality - This is top priority! I do know that I will be using an external amplifier some of the time so it has to have a line out on the unit. But I may use the headphone out some of the time.

size - I'll probably only need about 10-15 gig. So I can sacrifice GB's for quality and features.

semi-portable - I travel about 15-20 days a month. But I do not plan to listen to the player while walking, jogging, skiing, ect. This will only be used while sitting still in hotel rooms, airports, at home with a cigar/pipe... So size is only a half issue.

format compatability - Since sound quality is so important to me, I will probably be using 3rd party compression plug-ins/programs. So the DAP must support these high quality formats.

ease of use - I will be mostly listening to playlists I organize and download from my home computer. But being able to pull up all tracks from a single artist or one genre on the unit itself is something I will be looking for.

battery life - I don't do batteries. Not having to lug batteries while traveling is a must.


So I hope this long post is a guide to anyone who can help point me in the right direction. Thank you for your replies.

 

[bullet]

For your needs, the rio karma looks like a good choice, as it supports FLAC (lossless) and Ogg Vorbis, it has a good battery, you can make on-the-fly playlists, its very portable, supposedly good sound quality (I don't own one for the record) and has a 20 gig drive. However, I've read on riovolution that more than a few people have had their hard drives fail, so i would suggest an extended warranty. There is also no included remote or carrying case.

the iriver iHP-120 could also work, it supports Ogg but not FLAC, has a good battery, playlists cannot be made on the unit but can be transfered, portable, very nice LCD remote and carrying case included, tons of features, drag and drop song transfering. More expensive than the karma but only by a small amount. I bought the iHP-120 due to the warranty of a year vs. 3 months on the karma. But Rio has much better customer service than iRiver. So its a hard choice, I had to think it over for a while between these two.

 

[AudioNoob]

Karma is good, even bettwr with the last 250$ bargain huntin-pricematchin deal, you have time till february

 

[Dan the audioman]

I think you're looking right into the eyes of an ihp-120!

Sound Quality- The ihp-120 provides excellent sound quality and is known as one of the best DAP's in this field out there.

Size- The ihp-120 isn't the smallest...as 3g iPods are slightly thinner, however it is still pretty damn small.

Semi-Portable- Hah! This thing is fully portable!!

Format Compatability- It can use .wav, .mp3, .ogg (my favorite), and a few others that im blanking out on right now (check the site iriver america) It can also be used to transport any type of file type from computer to computer via usb connections.

Ease of use- Here is where the ihp-120 is at the top. When you hook it up to your computer, it shows up as an external drive. In other words, loading it with music is as easy as drag and drop. No programs that get in the way.

Battery life- The ihp-120 has great battery life...in fact it is double the iPods measly 8 hrs. It packs an amazing 16 hrs and charges in less than 3.

I hope i helped you in the right direction,
Dan

 

[leokennis]

iHp if you find size important,

XClef GD500/H&B JK20/MelodiBox if you don't; I had it:
•20 hours battery life, even when skipping a lot
•Better sound then iHp/iPod
•Comes with 20GB, but can be upgraded to 137GB (you can replace the packed HD with a standard laptop HD)
•Much cheaper, but very 'strong', you could play football with it

•Can record in up to 320kbps mp3 (near CD quality)
•Can encode up to 320Kbps as well (digital and analog line-in)
•User EQ, while playing you can change the Equaliser
•Plug 'n 'play', Windows ('98 and higher) will recognize it as an external HD and you can just drop files (all kinds you want, movies etc. too) onto it via the explorer

http://www.jmtek.com/website/products/melodibox.html

Also check this:

and this thread on a dutch forum withg some nice comparison's (not too hard to translate):
http://gathering.tweakers.net/forum/...essages/773509

So it depends on how important size is!

 

[blessingx]

Quote:

Originally posted by finleyville format compatability - Since sound quality is so important to me, I will probably be using 3rd party compression plug-ins/programs. So the DAP must support these high quality formats.

Could you mention the formats you're most interested in? Most will support WAV/AIFF if you want your music uncompressed, but if you want compression no player supports them all. Karma supports the most, but depending on your desire for FLAC, AAC, Ogg or another, your choices change.

 

[finleyville]

Quote:

Originally posted by blessingx Could you mention the formats you're most interested in? Most will support WAV/AIFF if you want your music uncompressed, but if you want compression no player supports them all. Karma supports the most, but depending on your desire for FLAC, AAC, Ogg or another, your choices change.

Thanks for all your replies. I have heard of those formats but do not know how to listen to them. I use Winamp to play my music now with the Ogg plug-in. But I don't currently rip my own music. I usually just download a couple of tracks from new artists then go buy the whole disc. Where can I find these formats to audition them? I just picked up Nero Express. Will I have to use other software to rip my music? Or just more plug-ins? Thanks for helping me with these stupid questions.

 

[blessingx]

Depends on the formats. Nero (though I don't know about Nero express), can encode in MP3 and AAC (and maybe a few others). There are also the free OggDrop and iTunes to consider. Basically AAC and Ogg are the newer formats to keep an eye on. They are similar in quality (basically MP3 at 30% less space) so either should do. Ogg (Vorbis) is open source (GPLed I believe) and supported on some Rio and iRivers players. AAC (in MP4 container) was developed by several companies including Dolby, is an open and commercial standard and has Apple and iTunes support behind it. I believe there are plugins for playback for several players such as Foobar.

If you want the absolute highest quality go uncompressed or a lossless. As mentioned the Karma supports FLAC. Nearly every HD player except the Karma supports uncompressed WAV or AIFF.

Besides testing, it's probably best to run around Hydrogen Audio's forums to learn more. It's kinda the Head-Fi of the compression world.

 

[leokennis]

For ripping use DBpowerAMP or Exact Audio Copy (EAC)

 

[austonia]

how about a Nomad Jukebox 3? Top sound quality, and 2 Line-Outs right on the main unit. Holds 2 lithium batteries for 20+ hours playtime.

http://www.austinv.com/pics/hifi-to-go.jpg

http://www.austinv.com/galleries/Cre...B3/index1.html

 

[chadbang]

Hey, Austonia. Just thought I'd better tell you, your mail box is full. I tried to PM you, but no luck.

 

[GSTom1]

Since sound is top priority and portability is no so important, I would recommend the Creative Zen Xtra. It's got an outstanding price per GB to boot.

Sound Quality - Consistently rated as one of the best sounding DAPs. You won't be disppointed.

Size - The player comes in 30, 40 and 60GB capacities, so you can choose the one that best suites your needs.

Semi-portable - This is not the smallest player out there, but it's still quite portable. It'll fit into your briefcase/bag quite easily and will be perfect for stationary listening.

Format compatability - The only weekness of this unit is it only supports mp3, wma and wav. If you encode your music at high bit rates (i.e. 320kbps), you won't notice much difference between it and a lossless format such as wav or flac.

Ease of use - It's easy to make playlists on your computer or on the unit itself. You can also browse by artist, album, track and genre to find a song quick and easy.

Battery life - The battery is rated at 14 hours, plus you can buy a spare battery for those really long trips. It's one of the few DAPS out there that features a removable lithium-ion battery.

 

[Oddball]

I sort of second the suggestion for the NJB3, I'm looking to get one as well. However, they were discontinued and it's getting pretty hard to find a 20 gig one for a reasonable price. The NJB3 is the only player listed here that has a true line-out without having to use a dock.