[Tenhauser]

I am currently planning to buy HDD based player...Considering the size they are offering i would like to get a player with lossless format support. As for now i know that there are only two players - Karma and iPOD - that can play lossless. But i haven't listened to any of these players. Sound quality is at the first place for me so please help me choose the right player.

I will greatly appreciate any help.

p.s. right now i can buy H320 but i want to know if it reasonable enought to wait for others?

 

[RooX]

technically all players can play a "lossless" format, they can all play wavs. Depending on how huch music you want ot carry around wit hyou, that migth work. I originally wanted most of my 200+ discs on me at one time.. then i reaslised over the next year, i only listened to about a 1/3 of it 99% of the time, so i formatted, and put 80 or so albums on it in wav format. much better sound, easier navigation (less titles to scroll through)

i did seem to notice a slight loss of battery life, but nothing too major.

cheers,
C

 

[dimatrod]

h320: if you have money for color
karma 2: if you want it small
ipod: if you just want to do what everyone else does but could do much, much better
zen touch: if you want the huge battery and lack money

 

[Tenhauser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dimatrod h320: if you have money for color karma 2: if you want it small ipod: if you just want to do what everyone else does but could do much, much better zen touch: if you want the huge battery and lack money

and what about "sound quality" issues?

i've owned iriver imp-550 and didn't like it sound - boomy, muddy sounding...

is this also the case with new h320?

 

[Big D]

Personally I wouldn't even consider the H320 over the H120 given the massive cost difference and the minimal improvements. Do you need the USB on-the-go or to record from the radio? If not then I'd put the H120 against the others and scrap the idea of getting the H320.

 

[vranswer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RooX technically all players can play a "lossless" format, they can all play wavs.

Does "lossless" not imply compression? That would limit it to FLAC and ALAC, thus Karma and Ipod. Both good players - my vote goes to Ipod because of line-out, although gapless playback is a plus on Karma.

 

[Big D]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vranswer Does "lossless" not imply compression? That would limit it to FLAC and ALAC, thus Karma and Ipod. Both good players - my vote goes to Ipod because of line-out, although gapless playback is a plus on Karma.

"Lossless compression" implies compression. "Loseless" implies no loss of sound information. Remember the wav file has been converted from raw audio data on the CD.

 

[Lil_JV]

I don't know how you can compare to the Karma2(Chroma?) when it hasn't even been officially announced yet. Although the Chroma is supposed to have a color screen, sd slot, and a digital coax output on the dock.

JV.

 

[KenW]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RooX I originally wanted most of my 200+ discs on me at one time.. then i reaslised over the next year, i only listened to about a 1/3 of it 99% of the time, so i formatted, and put 80 or so albums on it in wav format. much better sound, easier navigation (less titles to scroll through)

Exactly. I ripped everything with eac and used vbr. If and when I decide to spring for that shiny new player, like you, I'll go with as much quality as I can get. Those massive HD's will hold enough music to suit me even at the highest quality/file size. Right now though, I'm still with a 6GB player so needless to say, wav isn't gonna cut it.

I'd placed an order for the 140 but then got wind of the new Karma 2 and decided to hold off a bit. Til then the laptop and mp3 will have to do.

 

[GSTom1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vranswer Does "lossless" not imply compression? That would limit it to FLAC and ALAC, thus Karma and Ipod. Both good players - my vote goes to Ipod because of line-out, although gapless playback is a plus on Karma.

Both the iPod and Karma have lineouts on their docks. Plus, the lineout on the Karma's dock is a pair of RCA ones (as opposed to the usual single plug ones), which some consider better.

 

[Big D]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GSTom1 Both the iPod and Karma have lineouts on their docks. Plus, the lineout on the Karma's dock is a pair of RCA ones (as opposed to the usual single plug ones), which some consider better.

Not sure how this is related to my comments on loseless compression vs lossless.

 

[GSTom1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big D Not sure how this is related to my comments on loseless compression vs lossless.

Opps, sorry I quoted the wrong posting! I meant to quote this one:

Quote:

Originally Posted by vranswer Does "lossless" not imply compression? That would limit it to FLAC and ALAC, thus Karma and Ipod. Both good players - my vote goes to Ipod because of line-out, although gapless playback is a plus on Karma.

 

[dimatrod]

It appears you all care mostly for losless. In that case, get dBPowerAmp and rip at highest settings with either Ogg Vorbis or Lame and you've got yourself a kind of Flac, only that all type of player can support it!!! That's what I did with my H120, only with Ogg Vorbis. I would seriously go for this player, you've got the most needed features on your hand and don't have useless features. maybe you can add the Ipod Photo on there, though it is only better than the first iPod because of its Photo capabilities (a little bit useless and they made it 200$ more expensive than the iPod 4G).

 

[breez]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dimatrod It appears you all care mostly for losless. In that case, get dBPowerAmp and rip at highest settings with either Ogg Vorbis or Lame and you've got yourself a kind of Flac, only that all type of player can support it!!!

Neither LAME or Ogg Vorbis are lossless and "a kind of Flac". Both are lossy and even at the highest settings (especially MP3) may suffer from audible sound quality loss.

 

[DLP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big D Personally I wouldn't even consider the H320 over the H120 given the massive cost difference and the minimal improvements. Do you need the USB on-the-go or to record from the radio? If not then I'd put the H120 against the others and scrap the idea of getting the H320.

I'm curious what the price difference is in the UK. Here in the US, they can be found for about the same cost, with only a difference of $10 or so which is nothing at around $300 for the Hx20, and less than nothing at around $400 for the Hx40.