Ross
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2001
- Posts
- 844
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- 105
I've been collecting DAPs over the past few months, trying to find one I like to replace my old iRiver H340, which has served me well for several years but is reaching capacity and is now a bit too bulky compared to the competition.
I bought a Kenwood Mediakeg, a Sony A829, a Creative Zen Vision M, a Zune (which unfortunately did not work) and an 80Gb ipod classic. I have been testing them amped and unamped, from the headphone out and using the line out, with my Ety ER4P, ER4S, and various Beyers, Grados and Sennheisers (I do not use earbuds). I have used a wide variety of music from pop, rock, jazz, classical, opera and electronic. All of the music was encoded at alt-preset-standard or 320kbps MP3.
My conclusions are that all of these players are good, and all have strengths and weaknesses, particularly in relation to software and user interface as well as sound quality. However, one inescapable conclusion emerged. Against all my intentions, my intense dislike of Apple and their dumbed-down kindergarten computers, and my absolute detestation of iTunes, the iPod Classic sounds better than all of the other players listed above.
Now, let me qualify that statement by saying that other players were better in some specific areas. (These comments refer to the headphone out through ER4Ps.) The Kenwood sounded warmer and darker for those who (like me) like that sort of thing, but it lost out in dynamics and detail. The iRiver was far more three dimensional, with the iPod producing a flatter soundstage. But the iriver sounded grittier and did not match the iPod's smoothness and ability to render tonal colour. The Sony and Creative were close, with the Sony being a little warmer sounding and a smidgin more dynamic, but was also grainier and sounded a little congested. The Creative Zen Vision M was the closest to the iPod in some ways, and sounded more powerful with great dynamics and three-dimensionality, as well as slightly deeper bass. But again, it lacked the smoothness, detail and resolution of the iPod. The iPod is not perfect - it lacks the depth of soundstage of most of the other players (excluding the Kenwood), it did not go quite as deep as the Creative and the Sony was a tad more dynamic. However, the ipod was the most neutral of all the players, without any added warmth or colouration, it was the smoothest, it had the greatest resolution of detail and ability to distinguish not only individual voices and instruments, but their distinctive tonal colours, along with good dynamics and adequate soundstaging.
Using the line out (where available), all of these players retained the same basic characteristics of their headphone outputs. I tried the line out from each of them into my Porta Corda* (original version), Ray Samuels SR-71 and my Meier Prehead. On the Prehead, I compared the line out from the iPod playing 320kbps MP3 against WAV files of the same recording through the excellent Lavry DA10 DAC (via a squeezebox), and in switching between the ipod/MP3 and the Lavry/WAV I could detect no difference. This demonstrated (to me) both that 320 MP3s are sufficiently identical to the original WAV files, and that (assuming the Lavry is a reasonably neutral source, as I believe it is), the iPod line out has a similar degree of neutrality.
Some may prefer the warmer sound of other players, such as the Kenwood or Sony, the greater sense of space of the iRiver or Creative, or the bigger, punchier sound of the Creative. For me, the ipod's neutrality, its greater resolution of detail, quieter background and greater tonal resolution and smoothness, as well as its excellent dynamics made it the clear first choice. And this was contrary to all my prejudices against Apple, its horrible software, its colourful computers for the crayon set and its ubiquity - believe me, I did not want to declare the iPod the winner.
As I mentioned above, I was not able to hear the Zune, so hopefully at some point I will be able to compare it. There are also quite a few other players I have not heard, and of course I cannot make any comment on these. I should also mention that the good SQ of the ipod does not overcome my opposition to the compulsion to use iTunes and its totally illogical way of filing music. I much prefer the folder tree structure I was able to use with the iriver, the Creative and the Sony. However, the user interface on the Creative was not always intuitive, and was (to me) a little confusing. The Kenwood had problems of its own, since it would not load any track containing errors, and it seemed about 50% of my files have errors (according to the Kenwood software). In my opinion, the Sony had the easiest and most intuitive user interface, especially when combined with the ability to use a file tree and bypass completely any kind of music library software.
In conclusion, based solely on sound quality, I have ranked the players as follows:
1. iPod Classic
2. Creative Zen Vision M
3. Sony A829
4. Iriver H340/Kenwood Mediakeg.
In my opinion, the common wisdom that the ipod has poor sound quality is a myth which can now (reluctantly) be laid to rest.
* Also, contrary to common wisdom, I find the Porta Corda (at least the original version) better than the SR-71. The SR-71 is a very good amp, and does produce a slightly more three dimensional sound, but it sounds grainy and colourless compared to the Porta Corda. The PC sounds smoother, more colourful and closer to the source than the SR-71. When using bigger headphones such as Sennheiser 650s and Beyer 990s, the Porta Corda with its single 9v battery (against the two in the SR-71) also drives the headphones with more authority than the SR-71. Again, others may have different views, but that is how I hear it.
I bought a Kenwood Mediakeg, a Sony A829, a Creative Zen Vision M, a Zune (which unfortunately did not work) and an 80Gb ipod classic. I have been testing them amped and unamped, from the headphone out and using the line out, with my Ety ER4P, ER4S, and various Beyers, Grados and Sennheisers (I do not use earbuds). I have used a wide variety of music from pop, rock, jazz, classical, opera and electronic. All of the music was encoded at alt-preset-standard or 320kbps MP3.
My conclusions are that all of these players are good, and all have strengths and weaknesses, particularly in relation to software and user interface as well as sound quality. However, one inescapable conclusion emerged. Against all my intentions, my intense dislike of Apple and their dumbed-down kindergarten computers, and my absolute detestation of iTunes, the iPod Classic sounds better than all of the other players listed above.
Now, let me qualify that statement by saying that other players were better in some specific areas. (These comments refer to the headphone out through ER4Ps.) The Kenwood sounded warmer and darker for those who (like me) like that sort of thing, but it lost out in dynamics and detail. The iRiver was far more three dimensional, with the iPod producing a flatter soundstage. But the iriver sounded grittier and did not match the iPod's smoothness and ability to render tonal colour. The Sony and Creative were close, with the Sony being a little warmer sounding and a smidgin more dynamic, but was also grainier and sounded a little congested. The Creative Zen Vision M was the closest to the iPod in some ways, and sounded more powerful with great dynamics and three-dimensionality, as well as slightly deeper bass. But again, it lacked the smoothness, detail and resolution of the iPod. The iPod is not perfect - it lacks the depth of soundstage of most of the other players (excluding the Kenwood), it did not go quite as deep as the Creative and the Sony was a tad more dynamic. However, the ipod was the most neutral of all the players, without any added warmth or colouration, it was the smoothest, it had the greatest resolution of detail and ability to distinguish not only individual voices and instruments, but their distinctive tonal colours, along with good dynamics and adequate soundstaging.
Using the line out (where available), all of these players retained the same basic characteristics of their headphone outputs. I tried the line out from each of them into my Porta Corda* (original version), Ray Samuels SR-71 and my Meier Prehead. On the Prehead, I compared the line out from the iPod playing 320kbps MP3 against WAV files of the same recording through the excellent Lavry DA10 DAC (via a squeezebox), and in switching between the ipod/MP3 and the Lavry/WAV I could detect no difference. This demonstrated (to me) both that 320 MP3s are sufficiently identical to the original WAV files, and that (assuming the Lavry is a reasonably neutral source, as I believe it is), the iPod line out has a similar degree of neutrality.
Some may prefer the warmer sound of other players, such as the Kenwood or Sony, the greater sense of space of the iRiver or Creative, or the bigger, punchier sound of the Creative. For me, the ipod's neutrality, its greater resolution of detail, quieter background and greater tonal resolution and smoothness, as well as its excellent dynamics made it the clear first choice. And this was contrary to all my prejudices against Apple, its horrible software, its colourful computers for the crayon set and its ubiquity - believe me, I did not want to declare the iPod the winner.
As I mentioned above, I was not able to hear the Zune, so hopefully at some point I will be able to compare it. There are also quite a few other players I have not heard, and of course I cannot make any comment on these. I should also mention that the good SQ of the ipod does not overcome my opposition to the compulsion to use iTunes and its totally illogical way of filing music. I much prefer the folder tree structure I was able to use with the iriver, the Creative and the Sony. However, the user interface on the Creative was not always intuitive, and was (to me) a little confusing. The Kenwood had problems of its own, since it would not load any track containing errors, and it seemed about 50% of my files have errors (according to the Kenwood software). In my opinion, the Sony had the easiest and most intuitive user interface, especially when combined with the ability to use a file tree and bypass completely any kind of music library software.
In conclusion, based solely on sound quality, I have ranked the players as follows:
1. iPod Classic
2. Creative Zen Vision M
3. Sony A829
4. Iriver H340/Kenwood Mediakeg.
In my opinion, the common wisdom that the ipod has poor sound quality is a myth which can now (reluctantly) be laid to rest.
* Also, contrary to common wisdom, I find the Porta Corda (at least the original version) better than the SR-71. The SR-71 is a very good amp, and does produce a slightly more three dimensional sound, but it sounds grainy and colourless compared to the Porta Corda. The PC sounds smoother, more colourful and closer to the source than the SR-71. When using bigger headphones such as Sennheiser 650s and Beyer 990s, the Porta Corda with its single 9v battery (against the two in the SR-71) also drives the headphones with more authority than the SR-71. Again, others may have different views, but that is how I hear it.
