Issues with DAP sound quality, HI-MD, DACs, amps, etc

[SuperNovaGoesPop]

This has been a strange experience for me, but I just can't get comfortable with my iAUDIO M3 after using old Discman PCDPs and a newer SONY DNF MP3/CD Player. Admittedly I can't compare the M3 or any of my PCDPs to another DAP, but I'm wondering if it's just DAPs in general that don't sound as good. I'm not talking about source material either, but the actual audio devices themselves. This is an overstatement, but it almost seems as if my headphones have a pillow being held over them when I'm using the M3 as opposed to the PCDPs. It's hard to notice any problems when I'm not running a dirrect comparison and just listening to my M3 by itself, but in a side-by-side comparison between M3 and PCDP it's clear that there's a difference between the two. So this has me thinking......is there anything that PCDPs have that DAPs don't that could be the result of the difference that I'm hearing? Is there a difference in internal amps, DACs, etc that gives the PCDPs the bigger more expansive sound quality? And how do MiniDisk players factor into the equation, is there any point in buying a MD Player in hopes of getting better audio quality if I already have a DAP and all my files are Lame/EAC mp3s? Is there an online store that sells MD players, and what's a good suggestion for a good/cheap MD Player?

 

[Sparky191]

Are you using the same MP3 files with both? IMO all players colour the to sound to some degree. Maybe you just prefer the sound of one over the other. Maybe there different levels of compression in the antiskip and buffers on the different devices. Personally I don't find much difference between my Zen Micro and my MH700 HiMD in terms of SQ. I might even prefer the Zen. But then lots of people seem to like the SQ of creative devices and MD in general.

 

[SuperNovaGoesPop]

Yeah everything is exactly the same, even FLAC files running on the M3 seem more "compressed" sounding than the same CD running on one of my PCDPs. It's really strange though because iAUDIO is supposed to be one one of the top companies for sound quality, and I don't really think that my M3 is defective or broken in any way. Once again, this isn't really noticeable unless I'm making a dirrect comparison.

 

[abitdeef]

Hey super, you're not using the m3 remote when testing are you? I remember a post on iaudiophile.net that someone said his m3 had a small soundstage to his other players, but when he didn't use the remote it opened up, I guess a batch of remotes was defective. Most of my daps sound a little fuzzy compared to my "old" panasonic sl-s290, it just sparkles on the treble and has a wide sound stage. Unless the m3's soundstage is smaller than other daps?? To my ears the micro had a small focused sound stage and sounded completly different than my pcdp's , but still good, ipods seem to have a big sound stage.

Bangraman would be the one who would know , he uses an x5 and I think he had an m3 . My ears seem to say the x5's soundstage is a little smaller than say the mini or rio carbon, but what do I know

 

[Mr Do]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuperNovaGoesPop This has been a strange experience for me, but I just can't get comfortable with my iAUDIO M3 after using old Discman PCDPs and a newer SONY DNF MP3/CD Player. Admittedly I can't compare the M3 or any of my PCDPs to another DAP, but I'm wondering if it's just DAPs in general that don't sound as good. I'm not talking about source material either, but the actual audio devices themselves. This is an overstatement, but it almost seems as if my headphones have a pillow being held over them when I'm using the M3 as opposed to the PCDPs. It's hard to notice any problems when I'm not running a dirrect comparison and just listening to my M3 by itself, but in a side-by-side comparison between M3 and PCDP it's clear that there's a difference between the two. So this has me thinking......is there anything that PCDPs have that DAPs don't that could be the result of the difference that I'm hearing? Is there a difference in internal amps, DACs, etc that gives the PCDPs the bigger more expansive sound quality? And how do MiniDisk players factor into the equation, is there any point in buying a MD Player in hopes of getting better audio quality if I already have a DAP and all my files are Lame/EAC mp3s? Is there an online store that sells MD players, and what's a good suggestion for a good/cheap MD Player?

I have to agree with you that mp3 players are dissapointing to me as far as sound quality goes. I find myself listening to my sony d-ej2000 more often than my ihp-140 with flac. My d-ej2000 dac/amp combo is the best i've heard. I find the mp3 dac/amp combo a bit soft and less musical. The music sounds artificial to me and less enjoyable. Just my opinion.

Do!

 

[phosfiend]

this is also why i have yet to move away from MD.

 

[SuperNovaGoesPop]

I've looked into the remote too and that's not the issue. It's not that the M3 sounds bad, it's just that I'm getting slightly better sound quality out of my other portable devices and it's bothering me since I paid $260 for my M3 some seven months ago and it's not my favorite option. It's like the M3 produces 95% of what my old Discman can, it's great for portability and convenience, but it's not the best solution for sound quality. I need to find an iPOD and do a comparison just for kicks......but back to MiniDisks, is there another site outside of audiocubes.com that sells a wide selection of minidisks? I saw that the newer Sharp models have built in 1-bit amps, would these be significantly better than older models that don't have this feature? And can some of the MiniDisk fans give me some suggestions for cheap models both old and new that have good sound quality and can be found online? I'm interested in owning one just for the heck of it and would like to see what everybody is always talking about when they say that MiniDisks have top notch sound quality.