[vapman]

i've been using ipods since the first generation of them, but it seems like other players like irivers ect are popular here. do they sound better unamped or something?

 

[drizek]

Yes, sound quality on ipods in general is poor compared to the rest.

The reason why people here have irivers is because they have a line out port to hook up to an amp. The iriver h100s even have an optical line out to hook up to a DAC.

Personally i wouldnt get an ipod. The creative zen vision m beats the 5g ipod in just about every way. Same price, better screen, better build, FM/lineout, better sound quality.

I went for an iriver h320 over the ZVM because I like being able to plug my player in as an external hdd and to use rockbox with it instead of the default firmware. It was also $100 cheaper.

So mp3 players I would recommend over ipod: All have FM radio and voice recorder

iriver h120 20gb- 130 bucks new on ebay(only place you can get them) - optical in/out, rockbox Metal case.

iriver h320 20gb- 170 new on ebay - color screen, rockbox, regular in/out

cowon X5 30gb- 230 new - color screen(not as good as the h320s but it supports video playback better ATM) , rockbox. requires an external pack for lineout IIRC.

Zen vision M 30gb - 290 new - best screen by far, best for video playback, no rockbox, lineout isnt as easy as it is with the irivers.

 

[vapman]

That all sounds good, but I like my 60GB iPod and I can't get something with a smaller hard drive.

Any way to make the internal amp better?

 

[Julz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by drizek cowon X5 30gb- 230 new - color screen(not as good as the h320s but it supports video playback better ATM) , rockbox. requires an external pack for lineout IIRC.

That's right. Actually, it requires an external pack or docking cradle for everything, charging, USB connection and line in/line out.

 

[vapman]

What about the Toshiba Gigabeat? I've heard lots of good stuff about that.

 

[Brent Hutto]

I hate to traffic in generalizations...

...but generally speaking the things that other MP3 players have and iPods lack just happen to be valued by the sort of people who participate in this forum. For example, the proportion of portable music player owners (in the general public) who would have any interest in an optical output for an external DAC is miniscule, like one in ten thousand or something. But among people here, most of us would look at that feature and say "Hey, cool. That would be nice to have one day if I get a DAC".

Now of course one feature we all worry about is sound quality. Notwithstanding the hyperbole you might read around here, iPods are far from the worst-sounding portable music players on the market. There are other brands that tend to have better-than-iPod sound and there are also some brands with poor sound.

I ended up with an iPod Mini as my portable music player and it has worked well. My sister and her family all bought iRiver players about the same time as I bought my iPod and they also seem to work quite well. I can't tell the difference between the sound of an MP3 file played through the iRiver and an AAC file played through my Mini. They seem to actually use the FM radio feature which I would never have any reason to use. I think they may have paid a few bucks less for their players than I did for mine (two years ago). My point is, it depends on what you want. I just wanted to rip a bunch of my CD's and listen to music in the car or on a plane or at work. With requirements like that, it matters no a whit whether I bought an iPod, an iRiver or some Zen-or-another.

 

[drizek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mckickflip That all sounds good, but I like my 60GB iPod and I can't get something with a smaller hard drive. Any way to make the internal amp better?

the cowon X5 comes in 20gb, 30gb and 60gb. You can also replace the hdd in an h320 with a 60gb one if you have the cajones.

Edit: I never thought id listen to fm radio until i got my h320. I listen to npr on it.

 

[wanderman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mckickflip i've been using ipods since the first generation of them, but it seems like other players like irivers ect are popular here. do they sound better unamped or something?

the headphone out on the iriver h100 and h300 series is flatter then the x5 and the various ipod generations but not as flat. They have several ins and out. THe h100 series has both optical in and out along with its analog inputs. The h300 series only has analog inputs. Rockbox is also awesome.

 

[johnanderson]

I would try and pick up an h120 if you can still find one. Battery hacked and rockboxed it can be pretty awesome. Otherwise I'd consider the x5 or zvm. The line-out on my ZVM is much better than my x5, but i cant really stand using the software on it.

 

[drizek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnanderson I would try and pick up an h120 if you can still find one. Battery hacked and rockboxed it can be pretty awesome. Otherwise I'd consider the x5 or zvm. The line-out on my ZVM is much better than my x5, but i cant really stand using the software on it.

ya, its an awesome player but useless without rockbox and UMS. I guess if they ever port rockbox to it ill pick it up on ebay in a year or two as an upgrade to my h320.

 

[Febs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mckickflip That all sounds good, but I like my 60GB iPod and I can't get something with a smaller hard drive. Any way to make the internal amp better?

Having moved from an iriver H120 to an iriver H340 to an iPod 60GB video, I am quite happy with my iPod. While Rockbox can't change the iPod's hardware, obviously, it has a number of features that offer substantial improvements over the original iPod firmware. For example, Rockbox has a crossfeed feature. It also has a (a) software based 5-band parametric equalizer, and (b) the ability to control the iPod 5G's built-in 5 band quasi-parametric EQ.

I bought the iPod because I travel so often, and I wanted a large capacity in a small form factor. The iPod fits the bill for me. As others have mentioned, it does not have an FM Radio, a built-in line-out, or native recording ability. FM Radio is not a factor for me. A Pocket Dock solves the line-out issues. I expect that Rockbox will implement recording on the iPod at some point, and in the interim, I use my iriver H120 when I need to record.

Quote:

Originally Posted by drizek You can also replace the hdd in an h320 with a 60gb one if you have the cajones.

You can replace the drive in an H340 with a 60GB drive. The 60GB drive won't fit the casing of the H320.

 

[drizek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Febs You can replace the drive in an H340 with a 60GB drive. The 60GB drive won't fit the casing of the H320.

It will if you squeeze it hard enough

 

[nelamvr6]

Quote:

Originally Posted by drizek the cowon X5 comes in 20gb, 30gb and 60gb. You can also replace the hdd in an h320 with a 60gb one if you have the cajones. Edit: I never thought id listen to fm radio until i got my h320. I listen to npr on it.

Does the Cowon have a line out?

 

[wanderman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Febs You can replace the drive in an H340 with a 60GB drive. The 60GB drive won't fit the casing of the H320.

yes you can febs you just need to remove the blue foam. It is on misticriver when the put the 40 gb dual platter in the h320


edit: Quote:

Originally Posted by nelamvr6 Does the Cowon have a line out?

yes through the subpack but it is found to have really severe bass fall off through the subpack.

 

[Febs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wanderman yes you can febs you just need to remove the blue foam. It is on misticriver when the put the 40 gb dual platter in the h320

Right, but if I remember correctly, it was a tight fit even with that blue foam removed. Do we know if the 60GB drive is exactly the same dimensions as the 40GB drive?