[Young Spade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by logwed /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's what I let them believe/tell them... No sense in confusion.

Hmm? Why not just tell them? But yea it does cause confusion... but most of the time it's either friends asking or people just passing in the library so I go ahead and tell them if I'm hoping to spark a conversation about equipment (which I always want to do but never happens :/).

I can't wait to join a Hi-Fi audio equipment club at college or something.

 

[Bassheadd]

When you peeps say amps do you mean like the Fiio E5?

 

[Albinoni]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bassheadd /img/forum/go_quote.gif Majority of ipods users bought them cause its what everyone else including Aunt Welmas dog has. In fact you'd be surprised how many think ipod is the only MP3 player out there. I say about 99/100 people I see with MP3 players are using ipods. Out of the 99 people, maybe 5 using a REAL pair of headphones/earbuds and not the apple garbage. Do these people not realize that apple earbuds are dollar store garbage? Whats the point wasting $200-$300 on a DAP and run it with disposable earbuds? Its like buying a good car but running it on crappy $50 tires. I havent had an ipod in years and so many people are shocked when they see me with something else, something MUCH BETTER! "What you mean Apple isnt the only brand DAP?"

I am another Apple Ipod basher but hey I wont start.

MY DAPs consists of Creative Zens, Cowon, Sansa Fuze and hopefully soon a Sansa Clip+ to be added to my collection.

 

[uncle b]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhilipV /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just because it's an iPod doesn't mean it sounds like crap. So what if everyone haves one? Does that effect you in any way? Does it bother you that some idiot thinks that the ibuds are better then a pair of $200 iems? Who cares? I know I don't.

I agree, my thing is, I have spent a ton of money looking for great sounds from a DAP. Right now, I am quite happy and digging listening to all my music as I am currently converting it into Apple Lossless. With the Westone W3, and my iPod, I think I am quite happy with it. I LOVE MUSIC, and a lot of people that have standard set-ups and stock Apple earbuds may not love and live with music as much as some of us. I won't lose sleep over it.

 

[cruizin caleb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bassheadd /img/forum/go_quote.gif Its like buying a good car but running it on crappy $50 tires.

more like buying a really good car that comes with crappy speakers...

 

[cruizin caleb]

there is a "MUCH BETTER" portable music player that is compatible with a 20,000+ song music collection that has everything (including album artwork) tagged to perfection in iTunes on a MacBook? as well as compatible with all my friends' and family's iTunes music collections?
if so let me know.

 

[shigzeo]

In the end, all that matters is marketing and whose you buy: apple fanboys buy the design (as the marketing nowhere mentions SQ) and the company and apple bashers just buy anything else as anything else must be better.

In some ways, both are right in their purchase, but apple haters are the ones I prefer to laugh at as they have moved into such delusion about spec and 'SQ' that they miss the finer points of music. Just like Apple don't advertise computers on spec (even thought they contain the same stuff), the iPod (which now runs on SOC and therefore has better than hitherto performance) isn't a "we got Wolfson under the bonnet" player.

Wolfson's spec doesn't mean anything when it goes through a separate output stage. And when Meizu and Cowon used the same Wolfson (both with horrid bass roll off), the differences in presentation where very different. The output stage is BY FAR the biggest telling factor.

Cheap players have cheap components: apple, sony, meizu, cowon, microsoft - they are made for profits and for price, not for performance. Where each of them fails is where they will always fail: not a single one is audiophile.

Focus:
Sony - thick, warm sound with a mediocum of sound effects and EQ
Cowon - thin, cool sound with best of sound effects and EQ
Meizu - warm sound with excellent EQ (though not as much overhead as Cowon)
Microsoft - somewhat linear sound (bass roll off) with clean output
Apple - linear sound with horrid EQ

In terms of battery life, they are all in the same ball park. Cowon's machines which say 52-60 hours of battery life have not one (and I work with many Cowons) ever gotten over 40 hours. Sony players also don't get their claimed runtime. Meizu - no. Apple's ar the only ones I've used which consistently (since about 2006-2007) get MORE than their advertised time.

I don't see what is the point in arguing. I switched back and forth between my Sony 828 and Apple iPod touch 2G, volume matched to about 0.5 decibels and noticed the above: Sony is warmer, Apple is cooler; Sony hisses madly, Apple doesn't; Sony has gaps, Apple doesn't.

Both sound great (aside from the horrid hiss): detail, depth and extension. But one is bashed for SQ and for the stupidest of reasons: that people hate Apple for being so big (step out of the USA and they are no where near that big) or popular.

No phone/audio-making company outside of Samsung and LG have ever forced anyone to buy their products. Apple didn't force the iPod on the market - it built the first really usable machine and the market gobbled it up. They made the usual deals with stores and the market decided the rest. People here (some people) get bent out of shape (mostly new members) over Apple and I don't get it. Someone needs to do a study on them to see why (the real reasons, not the ones in this thread which amount to dust).

 

[Young Spade]

^ I agree with this.

 

[stingx]

^
As do I.

I own quite a few players and I keep going back to my heavily modified, rockboxed iPod 5g. It hold the most tracks and, in the end, still sounds the best to my ears and that's really all that matters.

 

[Pingis]

most people can't even tell the difference and i honestly think that most of them don't even care. on my morning commute, it seems like people listen to their ipods so that they can ignore all the weirdos on the bus and out on the street asking for money or a smoke. sound quality is the last thing on their minds in the morning.

 

[xcluded]

i'm using ipod touch 2nd gen(95% of the songs are alac) with ue11 with twag cable.

anything wrong with this setup ?

the sound is good enough , at the moment.

however , i still see plenty of people with apple buds. they sucks but well , to each his own i guess.

 

[Young Spade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by xcluded /img/forum/go_quote.gif i'm using ipod touch 2nd gen(95% of the songs are alac) with ue11 with twag cable. anything wrong with this setup ? the sound is good enough , at the moment. however , i still see plenty of people with apple buds. they sucks but well , to each his own i guess.

I'f you're happy with the sound then there's nothing wrong. However, I can say that there are "better" portable players on the market. You might have to convert your songs to mp3/FLAC though.

 

[yossi126]

My problems with Apple are the must-use-iTunes thing and not playbacking FLAC.
That's like a freaking monopoly. Though I find the sound to be a bit better than the Cowon D2 (hooked to JH13). Also the ability to use the LOD really drags me to the Touch.
I tested the JH13 on Touch 2G and it had that volume attenuation problem. It got from loud to very loud in one notch, and hasn't got much volume to play with. Is this problem fixed in the Touch 3G?

 

[azncookiecutter]

Well, according to the OP, I must be deaf and stupid (and an iSheep), because I honestly like the iPod Touch, a lot. My ears must be broken, since out of all the cans, I find the sound perfectly acceptable, even great in some instances. And since I have a use for wifi and apps on the run especially on campus with free wifi everywhere (where the OP's favourite player don't utilize properly, especially apps), I instantly qualify as an iSheep. Lovely logic, ain't it?

 

[esotericjester]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bassheadd /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well my point was that most people who own ipods think its got good SQ. This right there gives them absolutely no credibility what so ever. Until they try other brand DAP and headphones, they have no say in saying Apple is the best. Like I said, you'd be surprised just how many people think Apple is the only brand DAP you can buy. Sad but true. Its just like how they dont even realize that ipods dont come with a real set of headphones, but yet they settle for the garbage cause everyone else is rockin them. Oh its Apple it must be good!!! (sigh). Like I said, its likke buying a car and running it on piece of sh4t tires. waste of money IMO. The general consumer who wants a DAP, will just go buy an ipod because like I said everyone they know including their godfathers dog has one. These people lack originality.

Well I am glad that you are able to know exactly what "most people who own ipods" think. I assume that this is either based off of extensive research or some sort of extrasensory perception. Since you know so much about this group, can you fill us in on how many of them are using low quality recordings on their devices or have music collections that come almost entirely from itunes? Maybe the best approach is to tell these people that they should invest heavily in higher quality headphones that won't make their music sound better.

Another good statistic that you can share with us is how many of those people considered sound quality a deciding factor in their purchase. I assume you know these things too, since you know what they think.

Maybe you can share some numbers with us like the percentage of people that bought their ipod from brick and mortar stores like Wal Mart and Target and the number of devices from manufacturers like Cowon that are stocked at those stores to provide them an alternative?

Ultimately, its clear that you just want a pat on the back and I will oblige. Congratulations on noticing that the highest selling portable audio player is the most common one.