[jerikl]

Well, I haven't been here in a while, mainly because I've been happy with my equipment. I still am, but I'm wondering if I could get some more quality time with my music than I currently do.

I currently have a MG Head OTL setup with some nice tubes, and a pair of stock Sennheiser HD-600's (AMC CD8b for source with Outlaws for interconnects). I'm just not home enough to enjoy this, and when I am, I'm sometimes not in the room to enjoy the setup. The reason I initially jumped into the headphone world was for portability and listening to music at work. I'm back at that point now, and I'm thinking about selling the MG Head and Sennheisers for a HD based MP3 player and a pair of Ety ER4P's. Sound like a good plan? Not sure about the MP3 player. It's really a toss between the iPod and the Nomad Zen, and if it comes out soon enough, the Rio Karma. From initial research, it sounds like there's not that much of a difference in sound quality between the iPod and the Zen, it's not really going to matter that much anyway because (1), they're mp3s, and (2), I'm not going to be listening critically.

Any suggestions?

 

[blessingx]

Just for the record, it doesn't have to be MP3's on those players. Besides AAC (iPod) and WMA (Zen & Karma), you can use AIFF/WAVs on all and the Karma is rumored to have FLAC (lossless compression) support. Depending on the drive size these are all real possibilities. In portable situations they may not be necessary though. With the Etys though...?

 

[stevesolo]

I am very happy with my new Zen. It is half the price of the Ipod and although I have never owned an Ipod it seems to me that from listening to friends Ipods that the fidelity of the Zen is a little better. The Zen is a little bigger but well constructed, user friendly and has good music management. I have had no problems with Creatives Playcenter.

If size is not an issue you might want to look at the Jukebox3 for its additional features. Currently Buy.com is offering a $50 rebate that brings the price down to around $200 on the JB3

 

[jerikl]

Don't like the Ety's blessingx? What would you suggest?

Or are you referring to the lossless sound quality being more important with the Ety's? And yes, I'm familiar with the formats that you can put onto each of the devices, but that's not really a concern.

Well, yeah stevesolo. That's what I tend to hear about the iPod/Zen in terms of sound quality. I just don't feel that it's going to be that important, especially when I'll be more concentrating on what I'll be doing than the music... or at least hopefully, so I can get some work done (not that concentrating on the music would be a BAD thing

).

Size is an issue. For this price, I want something that EASILY fits into my pocket. I could probably shove a JB3 into my pocket, but I definitely don't want to.

 

[blr]

Have you looked at iRiver iHP100/150.
The 100 is only 10Gig but the new comming 150 will have a 15 G HD. I just saw the iHP the other day in a shop. It looks great to me. You get tons of features plus it's firmware upgradable. I haven't heard the player myself but there have been no complains of its sound quality. You can also tweak the tonal ballance with the equilizer, nothing I'd do on a real HiFi setup but good in a portable environment.

 

[SpoonMan]

Quote:

Size is an issue. For this price, I want something that EASILY fits into my pocket. I could probably shove a JB3 into my pocket, but I definitely don't want to.

I found the Zen a little heavy / akward feeling when I had it in my pocket. An iPod is much better suited for this

 

[ekwinix]

The brand new iPods are dead set awesome. 20/40 Gig and incredibly small.

Get one. and one for me.

 

[jerikl]

The iRiver does have some pretty impressive features, but they're features that I really don't care about too much. For instance, built in FM tuner, built in mic, the ability to do real-time MP3 encoding. I don't need this stuff, and I would rather not pay for it either (plus, I hate remotes... I've had a few MD recorders with them, and I've just never used the remotes).

So, I would say that the iRiver is out. Now, the size between the iPod and the Zen I don't think is going to matter to me. I mean, check this out:

iPod: 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.62 inches, 5.6 ounces
Zen: 4.4 x 3.0 x 1.0 inches, 9.5 ounces
Zen NX: 4.4 x 3.0 x 0.86 inches, 7.9 ounces

There's not THAT much difference... yeah, the iPod is definitely smaller, and definitely slimmer (which is a plus). Size does matter, but it's not a huge factor or anything. I just want something that will fit in my pocket, which both players will do.

I'm guessing that the Zen is better than the Zen NX? If so, in what ways?

 

[jerikl]

Ahhh... I was just reminded of the microphonic problems of the Ety's. That may be an issue as well. I have a pair of Porta Pros currently, maybe I'll just be concentrating on the player for now.

 

[jerikl]

That was quick. Discovered that there was a deal on the old 15GB iPod's at Fry's for $60 off. $339 for the 15, I grabbed the last one.

Thanks for everyones help!

 

[blessingx]

Quote:

Originally posted by jerikl That was quick. Discovered that there was a deal on the old 15GB iPod's at Fry's for $60 off. $339 for the 15, I grabbed the last one. Thanks for everyones help!

Good deal.

There's Fry's in Dallas?

 

[jerikl]

Yup. Two of them. One is actually in Arlington though, which is the one I go to because it is closer to where I live -- and on the way to school.