[Blighty]

Quote:

Originally posted by 88keys LOL the 'warmer months?' I hope that was supposed to be funny, especially given your registered location .

The only thing I find "funny" is your inability to perform a simple volume calculation not to mention your ignorance regarding Canadian climate. It is commonplace to experience 25C weather here during the months of June - Aug. Factor in humidity and you can easily have days over 30C.

 

[Spad]

Quote:

Originally posted by Blighty Also, bear in mind that Creative is famous for exaggerating their technical specifications or at the very least, interpreting them in irregular ways. I highly doubt that you will get the advertised 98dB SNR that Creative seems to like flaunting. [/B]

And, truth be known, it's very unlikely that most will hear any improvement beyond about -85db, if that. It's important to understand how specs translate into life beyond Madison Avenue.

 

[aos]

Actually I hear with humidity factor it feels like well over 40C in Toronto during summer. A friend of mine who worked there for a while said he enjoyed 40+C in Arizona more than 30+ in Toronto...

Anyhow, Zen does look larger when you compare it to iPod in person. At this size and weight, even small variations are quite noticeable and important. You must weigh that against the price increase. As far as sound goes, I can say that iPod with its earbuds sounds better to me than any PCDP I have owned, regarless of headphones I plugged into them (and only PortaPro would actually work well enough with a portable). As always, I think it's the best to test drive both, preferably side by side. Just because you can buy almost anything online doesn't mean you should. I still go to one or another high-tech store almost every day just to get the feel what is out there at the moment, what's new, and what are the prices like. And I still far more enjoy buying in person rather than online - much less hassle especially if you want to return it for refund later.

 

[88keys]

Indeed, I stand corrected on the volume issue. I forgot that dimensional differences couldn't be multiplied piecemeal to a resultant volume difference.

Also, didn't mean to set off any firestorms regarding the Canadian climate...when you are 3 degrees from the equator (India) "hot summers" and "humidity" become relative terms.

Yay Canada. I love the Canadiens.

Peace to you and yours.
(Especially Canadians named Blighty)

Quote:

Originally posted by Blighty The only thing I find "funny" is your inability to perform a simple volume calculation not to mention your ignorance regarding Canadian climate. It is commonplace to experience 25C weather here during the months of June - Aug. Factor in humidity and you can easily have days over 30C.

 

[bangraman]

I think it's swings and roundabouts regarding the iPod versus Zen, but I tell you one thing... The EQ is really terrible on the iPod. Comparatively it puts Mega Bass into Audiophile territory

Why is that?

 

[Pablo32]

I havn't heard either, but there is one HUGE reason why the zen doesn't sound as good as the ipod. No line-out!

So, as an audiophile, you can only say that the ipod sounds better since with a portable amp attached it will inevitably sound better than the ZEN.

 

[KennyX]

Well, the line out isnt actually on the iPod itself... it's on the dock.

 

[MacDEF]

Quote:

Originally posted by Lando You forgot Creative's Nomad Zen and Bantam's (much anticpated) BA1000. It would be a sqeeze for some, but there's also the Neuros HD. Hell, I can fit a Nomad Jukebox 3 in my pocket, so I don't see why anyone else can't, unless they're wearing hot pants.

This month's Men's Journal had a review of five HD-based portable players with the following "grades":

iPod (old model): A
Odyssey 1000: A-
Archos Jukebox: B-
Zen: A
Neuros: B

The iPod and Zen supposedly sounded the best. The iPod got the overall nod over the Zen. Considering that several of the "advantages" the reviewer gave to the Zen -- on-the-fly playlists, USB2.0, price -- are now included with the iPod, or (in the case of price) not as much per MB, the new iPod would probably widen that gap.

I normally don't pay much attention to the "gear" reviews in these magazines, but this guy actually knew something. He even included a sidebar on upgrading your headphones, and the four models he chose were the KSC-55, Grado SR60, Senn PX 100, and Sony EX70. So he has a bit of audio credibility to me

 

[MacDEF]

Quote:

Originally posted by 88keys The Zen hardly qualifies as a brick...it's about 90g heavier than the iPod, which is most probably less than the change in your wallet (I actually checked this out on my own wallet). In terms of size, it's about 14 mm wider than the iPod, 8mm taller, and 6 mm deeper. That comes to about 5/8 of a cubic centimeter in difference...hardly a big deal.

You've never seen them side-by-side, have you?

Quote:

Furthermore, (and most imporantly) it sounds a helluva lot better than the iPod...

You've never listened to them side-by-side, have you?

Quote:

Originally posted by KennyX Well, the line out isnt actually on the iPod itself... it's on the dock.

Technically, the line-out is located on the iPod's motherboard and is accessible from the connector on the bottom of the iPod. The dock simply provides an adapter from that connector to a minijack. I'll be that within a month there will be inexpensive cable adapters that provide a line-out without the need for the dock.

 

[jaskin]

If that is the case I would be very interested in getting an external lineout cable.

 

[88keys]

Quote:

Originally posted by MacDEF You've never seen them side-by-side, have you?

oh, but i have

Quote:

You've never listened to them side-by-side, have you?

cf above

just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean he's uninformed

these were my opinions, that's how i saw the situation...can't argue with that, even if you happen to be a headphoneus supremus

Peace to you and yours

 

[MacDEF]

Quote:

Originally posted by 88keys just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean he's uninformed

True, but it just seems odd to hear someone say that the Zen sounds "a helluva lot better than the iPod." I just can't fathom such an impression, having heard both in a controlled environment -- which means both at the same volume, playing the same track. Did you listen to them at exactly the same volume, playing the same file (not just the same song, but the same exact ripped file copied from the same computer)? If the volumes are even a tiny bit different, the comparison is useless; likewise, if you weren't listening to the exact same file, the comparison is useless.

Having done the above test, as I said in another thread, I couldn't really say which sounded "better" -- both were clearly better than any other player out there, but there were just a tad different than each other. Nowhere near different enough for one to be "a helluva lot better" than the other.

Of course, now someone is probably going to flame me again for saying the above

 

[Taphil]

Quote:

Originally posted by MacDEF Of course, now someone is probably going to flame me again for saying the above

No, this time you asked the right questions and gave your opinion rather than assume the poster didn't test appropriately and rejected the poster's opinion. IMHO, the Zen/NJB3 do sound slightly better than the iPod. The difference is there and not subtle, but not completely extreme either.

 

[Spad]

Quote:

Originally posted by Taphil No, this time you asked the right questions and gave your opinion rather than assume the poster didn't test appropriately and rejected the poster's opinion. IMHO, the Zen/NJB3 do sound slightly better than the iPod. The difference is there and not subtle, but not completely extreme either.

How would you characterize this "better" sound of the Zen? Exactly how does it sound better? Since any true difference in the SNR is below our hearing threshold, and since the frequency response is essentially flat for the players, one would surmise that any differences are subtle. Yet you claim they are not. If this is the case, they must be obvious and therefore easily defined.

Please do so.

 

[bangraman]

[size=xx-small]'s probably because the EQ on the zen works...[/size]


Really guys, this iPod EQ has to be the biggest POS I've ever heard. It's not like I would have chosen the Zen instead, because of the size, but what's the point of having one if it distorts all the time????