[shuurajou]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlie87 LoL, the least ya could do is go in optimistic, when I purchased my mini at the store i Bought it with 2 year service plan from Circuit City, meaning if my ipod mini screws up in 9 months and they dont carry the mini, they have to give me the next thing for free....i suggest this plan over a "Apple Care" plan,

Unfortunately I live in the UK so we don't have Circuit City

.

 

[Charlie87]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shuurajou Unfortunately I live in the UK so we don't have Circuit City .

oh well

, ya buying the mini or the 4g??

 

[shuurajou]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlie87 oh well , ya buying the mini or the 4g??

Well, I'd like to get the 4G. I'll not be considering the Mini-iPod - just don't like it for some reason.

 

[aeriyn]

What's all this about the iPod Mini costing more than the Carbon or the Micro?

All three microdrive DAPs retail for 250USD. That's the same price if you guys didn't notice. XD

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlie87 You might know some things about DAP's but that is a false statement u made, "smaller chips" aren't any less powerful than bigger ones, today's technology is shrinking, so now that it is the iPod mini, it has mini sound? Don't Think so

The iPod Mini's sound quality is regarded to be superior to the 3G iPod, in the opinions of myself and several people I know who have auditioned both units.

The Mini and 4G are likely close, with the 4G probably being a bit better.

 

[Charlie87]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aeriyn What's all this about the iPod Mini costing more than the Carbon or the Micro? All three microdrive DAPs retail for 250USD. That's the same price if you guys didn't notice. XD The iPod Mini's sound quality is regarded to be superior to the 3G iPod, in the opinions of myself and several people I know who have auditioned both units. The Mini and 4G are likely close, with the 4G probably being a bit better.

The only aspect that 4g is better is storage..but in my subjective opinion, the regular ipods look feminine, and i need something as small as I can get, w/o sacrificing too much, to go to the gym

 

[shuurajou]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aeriyn The iPod Mini's sound quality is regarded to be superior to the 3G iPod, in the opinions of myself and several people I know who have auditioned both units. The Mini and 4G are likely close, with the 4G probably being a bit better.

I have no doubt the mini-ipod is a great product. I'm just scared I'd lose it, or break it because it's so small. I like the look of the 4G iPod. I also like the idea of the sync station - not sure if the mini has this?

 

[Charlie87]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shuurajou I have no doubt the mini-ipod is a great product. I'm just scared I'd lose it, or break it because it's so small. I like the look of the 4G iPod. I also like the idea of the sync station - not sure if the mini has this?

yeah mini has docking.....not trying to convince u either way here, but i think ppl can agree the mini "feels" more durable...dunno tho

 

[shuurajou]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlie87 yeah mini has docking.....not trying to convince u either way here, but i think ppl can agree the mini "feels" more durable...dunno tho

Well, I'm going to take a trip tomorrow - see if I can spot any 4G's out there.

 

[Thisp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shuurajou Okay, the 4G iPod is looking the most seductive of the few so far. That mW is very important.

It has a 30 mW output @ 32 ohms. Same as the Karma and the full sized Creative Zens, but look at this. Most portable 'phones fall into that impedance class, probably why the iPod has a signature among some for lacking bass. If power output is an issue for you, I'd consider Creative first, Rio second, and Apple third.

 

[shuurajou]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thisp It has a 30 mW output @ 32 ohms. Same as the Karma and the full sized Creative Zens, but look at this. Most portable 'phones fall into that impedance class, probably why the iPod has a signature among some for lacking bass. If power output is an issue for you, I'd consider Creative first, Rio second, and Apple third.

I suppose here is where I throw another spanner in the works. I haven't mentioned iRiver yet, which is silly of me as I really like their products, but in the past I've been given the impression that they can lack on sound quality in comparison to a 4g ipod, but make up for it in features - which to me, isn't a hugely large deal.

Anyone care to shed some light on iRivers? My top priority here is sound quality.

 

[Thisp]

The Karma's the only one with gapless playback, which is what you'll notice above all else while listening to CDs. Take a listen to the clips and graphs on this page, and you'll see just how much better the Karma'd be for full albums than the iPod. I have the CD that they are using for the example here. It adds a gap over a full second long, which kills the natural flow of the album, and is a deterrent if you're looking for 'excellent' sound quality. This is nitpicking, but this is also head-fi - it belongs here.

the iRiver has less power output, yet in the lower octaves, slighty more output. The Karma doesn't have the bass recession in lower impedance 'phones of the iPod(not nearly as steep a curve), but it's there. The Karma has 3x the power output of the iRiver which is what you'd notice above all else when listening as any differences in rightmark between these players have been negligable at best.

If you plan to use with an amp, the iRiver steps on the competetion, as it has a line out on it. Line out --> amp is much better than a headphone jack.

I don't understand the 'features' of the iRiver outside of the line out. Recording, line in, etc... who cares? Who uses an MP3 player for voice recording, and a line in is somewhat useless when you can use your computer + USB2 to transfer files. The real 'features' lie in stuff like gapless playback, codec support, amp support(line out jacks), OS support IMO, not the trivial little addons. The line out, good remote, and Vorbis support are the three features that stick out for me.