[imboden]

I have recently been enjoying my new Westone ES5 but my current player (Galaxy S2) has left a lot to be desired. My iPhone was much better for the purpose of playing music. In addition to the issue of sound quality, I am getting a lot of hiss/noise. Does the iPod Classic do well in this regard? Or maybe there is another option someone could recommend without spending an arm and a leg? I would eventually like to move up to a lod, dac and amp but for now I just need something easy and portable. Also, how is the E7 with hiss?
 
Again, really not looking to spend much past a couple hundred...pretty soon my wife is going to want to start buying things

 

[ZARIM]

The Cowon X7, Sony Z or X series walkmen and iPod Classic+AMPs sound better than average DAPs without hiss.

 

[imboden]

Anyone?

 

[Audiofeel]

I myself have an iPod Classic (non-rockboxed) and I find it alright in terms of a DAP. The sound quality is alright though to get the best from it, a LOD and external amp will be needed (though not absolutely necessary). Alternatives wise, I'm not too sure as I've yet to find a DAP that has more than 50gb of storage (which the iPod Classic has and was the main reason I bought it instead of any other DAP).
 
On the issue of hiss, the SGSII was known for it's comparatively worse DAC chip and overall its sound quality as it had slightly inferior components and shielding (which resulted in lots of noise/hiss). Anandtech made a whole section in its review of it regarding sound. Also in general IEMs and earphones in general are much more prone to hiss to their headphones counterparts or so I've been believing for quite some time and told numerous times.
 
Right now I have my iPod Classic connected to an E11 with an L3 and the sound definitely surpass my almost broken iPod Touch 3rd Gen (which wasn't big enough and so I had to sync 128kbps files onto it). There's a slight hiss because of the E11 but it's barely noticeable once music plays and with headphones it's barely noticeable even without music playing.

 

[bravo4588]

Quote:

I myself have an iPod Classic (non-rockboxed) and I find it alright in terms of a DAP. The sound quality is alright though to get the best from it, a LOD and external amp will be needed (though not absolutely necessary). Alternatives wise, I'm not too sure as I've yet to find a DAP that has more than 50gb of storage (which the iPod Classic has and was the main reason I bought it instead of any other DAP).
 
On the issue of hiss, the SGSII was known for it's comparatively worse DAC chip and overall its sound quality as it had slightly inferior components and shielding (which resulted in lots of noise/hiss). Anandtech made a whole section in its review of it regarding sound. Also in general IEMs and earphones in general are much more prone to hiss to their headphones counterparts or so I've been believing for quite some time and told numerous times.
 
Right now I have my iPod Classic connected to an E11 with an L3 and the sound definitely surpass my almost broken iPod Touch 3rd Gen (which wasn't big enough and so I had to sync 128kbps files onto it). There's a slight hiss because of the E11 but it's barely noticeable once music plays and with headphones it's barely noticeable even without music playing.

nice!