[stonyboys]

at least that's what I thought. well now my brother wants to buy one, and i thought i could just sell him mine and get money to buy a better quality player for myself. apps stopped being fun a month after i bought it anyway.

any suggestions? under 300$ please, and i'll be using these with either the shure SRH440 or AKG K81DJ.

 

[Mortuus]

Well a Zune HD is good.

 

[shigzeo]

If you are using those headphones, the AMP3 is a good sounding device. It has lots of playback issues, but it works as an amp also. Those headphones would be best to pair with something with power: Cowon D2, S9, iPod touch, Classic, Zune HD or harddisk based, iRiver 300 series. There are others, but a bit of power under the bonnet will help.

 

[chrisw142]

+1 for zune hd

 

[iPoodz]

So, is ZuneHD considered better sounding than iPod Touch 3rd Gen, now? I always thought it was something like X series > iPod 3rd Gen >=Cowon S9 > ZuneHD, but ZuneHD won out due to sheer sexiness.

 

[shigzeo]

I don't find a winner between the Zune HD and touch. Both have their fans and Microsoft fans will probably be able to claim that the Zune is better because it isn't an Apple product. There is nothing wrong with any of the above mentioned players. Cowon have hard time with low ohm earphones, but do great when powering amps.

 

[andrewmorio]

Ipod 4th and 5th gen with wolfson dac. 4th best for reliability,simple,and easier to fix.

 

[stonyboys]

wow that's weird, i was expecting a lot more people to suggest the sony X series.

this is the first time where i've seen zune HD win over the ipod touch

 

[nullstring]

I've never really compared other devices, but my iPod 5G sounds great.

I don't think I'll ever replace it considering how people say it's got one of the best DACs a DAP would have

 

[Zalithian]

The Zune HD is a pretty nice player. It has some cool apps but nothing spectacular. Browser is nothing special but better than the X's. Sound quality is good, if not a little too clean.

The Sony X does sound good but it's overpriced here in the states and the browser is the most useless thing I've ever used.

I'd be looking at the S9 and Zune HD.

 

[Ojsinnerz]

The Touch is my 2nd favorite touchscreen daps around, purely based on SQ. Overall, it's a good player. Sound, price, apps, etc make the deal even better. Yet, I went for the ZHD, since I found the ipod touch's looks and UI incredibly bland.

I managed to play with an S9 for a day. Cowon's sound was... average. Vastly overrated imho. With BBE Viva and a few slight tweaks, it sounded better than the ZHD in terms of soundstage and mids. However, after playing around with most of the other stuff, I felt that a lot of the sound enhancements made it sound artificial. Maybe that's just me.

I'm also not a big fan of EQ'ing, so wasn't going to live with something I need to tweak and EQ to get a good sound out of.

Oh, but the battery life was superb and videos looked fabulous.

EDIT: Sony X > iPod Touch > S9 = ZHD

 

[fenixdown110]

Hifiman HM-801. oops over 300.

I suggest a used 4/5 gen iMod.

 

[Cosmic Fool]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stonyboys /img/forum/go_quote.gif wow that's weird, i was expecting a lot more people to suggest the sony X series.

I vote for the X!

All my earbuds, IEM's and headphones sound great with it! But to really give you sound advice you should tell us what you didn't like about the SQ of your iPod, if you want a big screen for videos, if you like to browse on the web with it, if you like/dislike touch screens,...

 

[krmathis]

Good SQ indeed. "Best" or not...

 

[midoo1990]

zune hd doesnt sound better than the touch,if you want something different i suggest s9 or sony x