[Supsup]

Quote:

Originally Posted by br-- The iPod is the only choice for anyone who carries their HD MP3 player in their pocket. The others are far too thick.

You're joking, right?


The thickness difference between the iPod, the iRiver, the Zen Touch, and the Karma are only millimeters.

 

[skitlets]

This thread is quickly becoming a bonfire. Many things vary and are subjective, from sound quality to looks, to even how big my pockets are and which players I can fit in them (the dell dj does fit, for a matter of fact

). Now, if one person enjoys the sound of a karma, is it necessarily better than the iPod? I'm afraid not. Different strokes for different folks. Some like features, some like looks, and some shoot for sound quality that's good *to them*. I myself prefer a no-frills player with decent sound quality and is rather cheap. Hey Dell DJ, you are just that. My portable situations are usually loud busses and noisy car rides. Are micro-details going to show up with the loud hum of a bus engine? Not in my situations, so I pick what I pick. You pick what you pick, but let's not claim *your* choice is the greatest.

 

[DigDub]

since when did sound quality become non-subjective?

 

[Alick]

Quote:

This thread is quickly becoming a bonfire.

I think we can conclude that the answer to the original question is no. The statements are obviously disputed as evidenced by this thread..

 

[bangraman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fluteloop "thats because you are'nt 1337"...

Doesn't that just kind of explain it all...

You're not doing iRiver owners any favours with that

 

[philodox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by quke You mean iAudio. I wouldn't mind having one of each DAP on market either. Big boys love their little toys.

yeah, thats the one... very slick looking

Quote:

Originally Posted by chumley There's a big distinction between sound quality and signal strength. A clean, flat signal, like that of the L/O from a 3G/4G iPod, makes amp'ing worthwhile, and would ultimately supply a cleaner signal to those k271s, for example. If it's sound quality, 3G/4G iPod's got better quality, hands down. If it's raw output signal strength, yeah, the av320 has that- at that size, it had better. But if the quality's not there, (and it's not), the fact that it'll power the S.S. Nimitz doesn't have the same... resonance... If your criteria for 'functionality' is playing movies, I doubt sound quality's your primary concern. You like your av320 better. Why claim it does things it doesn't, when it clearly does many other things well? It just so happens that it's not tops in sound quality... video output, maybe...

wow... I think you misunderstood the thrust of my post...

if you are saying that an ipod has better sound quality because it has a line out, that is pretty lame... If you have to carry around an amp to make your ipod have enough signal strength while I can just use my DAP that is not saying much about the internal amp in the ipod... and as for home use... my av320 has digital out which I run into my DAC and from there into my PIMETA...

I thought the size comment was funny as well... since I already stated as much myself... I admit that she's a beast, but its really not ALL that big when you think about what it can do

have you actually heard an av320? to be making statements like 'the sound quality is not there' you better have... because I have heard a 3G ipod and a creative zen and prefer my archos device...

the movie playing comment was clearly a joke... obviously I like that feature, but understand that it is not a qualifier for other DAPs

I made no comments about things that the av320 cant do... it has clearly better sound than an ipod IMO

 

[Krishna]

Quote:

Originally Posted by br-- The iPod is the only choice for anyone who carries their HD MP3 player in their pocket. The others are far too thick.

What about the M3 which is even smaller than the Ipod. Oh and the new Sony is even smaller.

I have the samsung Yp-910 and that fits perfectly into my pockets no matter how tight they are.

I am sorry but your comment is just plain biased.

 

[austonia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sebhelyesfarku Even the 4th generation iPod can't play tracks without gaps between them. Undisputed? For the lemmings, maybe.

well, to be fair, i've only know of 2 players that can do gapless - Rio Karma, and RCA RD2850.. though we'll see more in the future, no doubt. iRiver iHP series too if they ever get done with the new firmware they've been promising

 

[lextek]

It will never be "undisputed", just true. Just kidding. The iPod is great, sounds awesome, I think the 4G may even sound better. With good encoding an smp snd good cans you have a system! Oh yeah it's damn easy to use. Hand somone and they can figure it out. The next words out of their mouths are usally "cool" or "this sounds great". iPod smiley goes here! Thanks Jude.

 

[patman657]

Quote:

Originally Posted by austonia well, to be fair, i've only know of 2 players that can do gapless - Rio Karma, and RCA RD2850.. though we'll see more in the future, no doubt. iRiver iHP series too if they ever get done with the new firmware they've been promising

I've owned an NJB3 for nearly two years now, and, believe it or not, when I first bought the unit, it used to have gapless playback. Creative, in an unfathomable move of stupidity, decided to release the current firmware "upgrade" without gapless plaback support. So for about a year I had gapless, but when I upgraded firmware as a matter of habit, it was gone. Hopefully the next upgrade will fix that.

BTW, what do people think about the NJB3 line out in comparison to the iPod 4G's L/O.

 

[cd3000]

With my SR-71 and CD3K combo I would have to say that I preferred the 4g ipod line out over the 3g ( returned ) and NJB3 ( friends ) line outs. The NJB3 sounded to bright for my taste.

 

[br--]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Supsup You're joking, right? The thickness difference between the iPod, the iRiver, the Zen Touch, and the Karma are only millimeters.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krishna What about the M3 which is even smaller than the Ipod. Oh and the new Sony is even smaller. I have the samsung Yp-910 and that fits perfectly into my pockets no matter how tight they are. I am sorry but your comment is just plain biased.

Ok, lets look at the facts. We will be comparing these players to the thinnest iPod with a decent sized hard drive (mini doesn't count).
By thickness:
20GB Sony NW-HD1: 0.54"
20GB iAudio M3: 0.56"
20GB 4G iPod: 0.57"
20GB iRiver H120: 0.75"
20GB Samsung YP-910: 0.78"
20GB Zen Touch: 0.87"
20GB Rio Karma: 1.1"

The iAudio M3 is not valid here for comparison because to make full use of it, you MUST use the remote. This is extra bulk that the other players do not force you add on. And as for the Sony player, lets take a look at my original statement:
Quote:

Originally Posted by br-- The iPod is the only choice for anyone who carries their HD MP3 player in their pocket. The others are far too thick.

Notice I said hard drive MP3 player. The NW-HD1 does not play MP3's. It only plays ATRAC3plus from what I've heard. Yes, you can transcode from MP3 to ATRAC, but that does not make it a genuine MP3 player.

Regarding the difference in thickness, I agree this looks quite minor on paper. A 0.75" thick player is percieved to be only marginally larger than a 0.57" player when reading specs of it. When holding it in your hand however, or putting it in your pocket, the size difference becomes quite apparent. This could be the difference between having a player in your pocket that is unnoticeable on a casual glance, and a player in your pocket that looks like a massive, uncomfortable bulge. This is a critical issue for anyone who wears well fitting pants and would not like to have to wrestle with their pocket to put their music player in and out of.

 

[Jester]

Quote:

Originally Posted by austonia well, to be fair, i've only know of 2 players that can do gapless - Rio Karma, and RCA RD2850.. though we'll see more in the future, no doubt. iRiver iHP series too if they ever get done with the new firmware they've been promising

I have just about given up on an firmware update from iRiver.

 

[aos]

There are better players - only if you're a fanboy or require some obscure feature. I bought Iriver 120 to provide me with optical out. Sound quality is a tad better, but only slightly. But useability? Iriver is absolutely horrenduous. Elementary things like fast forward/backward and previous/next are either flakey, don't work or don't work the same way as they work on anything else. It's hack job that would pass a school project but is inadequate for a consumer product. In the end it's all about music - finding what you want, fast and easy and without hassle. Try that with the horrible joystick instead of the wheel. Not to even mention the software to make the database - never mind the complexity, iPod was no better before windows itunes, one had to figure out what to do but at least there was ephpod and it was free - iRiver alternatives cost $$$ for something that should be included. And the list goes on and on.

I haven't had a chance to try other players (Canada is a wasteland, there's only iPod, and iRiver only appeared two-three months ago) but I imagine their navigation works better. Still, I have little doubt that iPod is the king when it comes to interface, and from my experience with it, sound is great even if you could find marginally better stuff.

In the end, iPod was designed to be used. Lots of other stuff was designed either to be gadgets (by techies, so the thing is considered a saleable product as soon as you can't see the wires hanging out of it) or to compete with iPod (so their design focus was on areas where marketing said that iPod is weak, not on user experience). For example, I can navigate the thing while it's under my shirt on my belt if I need to. And after 2 years of using it, I really can't recall being pissed off with anything, ever since they made the browse by composer work in ephpod. It's now just one more thing I make sure is in my bag before I leave for work, and I just keep it plugged in into Firewire while at home (that obviosly doesn't seem to be bad for the battery because it still works pretty well). As someone put it well, the music is always only a few clicks away.

 

[Alick]

Quote:

Ok, lets look at the facts. We will be comparing these players to the thinnest iPod with a decent sized hard drive (mini doesn't count). By thickness:

Is thickness the only dimension that matters? Height and width are unimportant?
Quote:

Still, I have little doubt that iPod is the king when it comes to interface

Sorry, but you've only played with one other player so that statement is unsupportable. Many reviews state that the Karma UI is close to, as good as or better than the iPod.