[lopsided]

Hi there,I'd appreciate any advice on these 3 DAPs, price isn't a factor and neither is photo/video playback,the main factors are:
sound quality
good line-out,as it'll mostly be used through a mixer or hi-fi
how these things compare between the three will effect how much the other functions come into play as far as a decision goes.
I hope that makes sense.- cheers

 

[kev777]

Cant really speak for the other 2 but as far as the Karma goes ive had nothing but joy out of mine both thro amp and phones and thro my hi fi.

I use the PA2V2 and Shure E4's and i havent found anything to compare yet altho as i say havent auditioned the two u mention just the Sonys Ipod's and Creative's. Shame that one of the better companies ie Rio have disappeared as imho they created 2 of the best in the Karma and Carbon.

Im sure if you go the Karma route you wont be disappointed but try em all an see which fits yer ears best sound wise!!

 

[DigDub]

the samsung has very good sound. very customisable EQ and has good resolution and clarity. no hissing, clicks or pops.

 

[lopsided]

so how is the sound of samsung compared to the karma? - if they were equally good through the line-out then I think I'd go for the samsung,exept maybe the gapless play from the karma would swing it????????????????

 

[gorman]

If you plan on connecting it to an amp for home usage... well, I really would not be able to stand non-gapless music at home.

While I can, in part, understand (even if I don't agree) people not caring about gapless on the go... at home it could be a torture, come on...

 

[Naris]

You can even get it fairly cheaply these days. The only real problem is that if it breaks, you have to learn how to fix it or something. Also it doesn't view photos or videos or anything of that sort (not terribly important in my opinion). What does annoy me though is that (lack of) remote (the X5's remote looks cool..).

 

[mushu]

I have had first hand experience with the karma and samsung. The samsung is definatly better.

The features are amazing, colour screen, movies, nice formfactor (karma was too fat in my pocket), drag and drop, recording, janus playback. Even has a good 9 band custom EQ. The only things it looses in is FLAC, gapless, no parametric EQ (9 band is good enough for me though

) and the navigation is definatly not as good as the karma, but it isn't that bad compared to most players. SQ is even pretty good, it definatly sounds as good IMO as the karma.

I could have bought the X5, but no id3, crappy minidock, side mounted jack etc. put me off.

 

[rbilsbor]

I liked my Karma--a lot--but I'm sorry to say that its day is kinda coming to an end. The SQ is still great, but in terms of form factor, lack of good synching apps (RMM is fine, but it's not a jukebox, so you're stuck with a couple different applications, and playlists can be complicated), no support for any other media--voice recording, FM, pictures, videos, etc.... really, the one thing it has going for it is gapless. If that feature isn't important, I wouldn't buy one now because it's automatically dated, and support may be difficult going forward.

All this from a staunch Karma supporter...

 

[Veggie_Musician]

Im looking at these players too - The karma is going for £115 at the moment is the Samsung and iAudio really worth £85 more?

Is it only the x5 that can record via mic? or can you do it with sumsung thru line in?

Spose drag n drop will prob tip me towards samsung...

 

[Naris]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rbilsbor I liked my Karma--a lot--but I'm sorry to say that its day is kinda coming to an end. The SQ is still great, but in terms of form factor, lack of good synching apps (RMM is fine, but it's not a jukebox, so you're stuck with a couple different applications, and playlists can be complicated), no support for any other media--voice recording, FM, pictures, videos, etc.... really, the one thing it has going for it is gapless. If that feature isn't important, I wouldn't buy one now because it's automatically dated, and support may be difficult going forward. All this from a staunch Karma supporter...

That is the most depressing thing about the Karma that I've heard since Rio going under. Wish it weren't true but rbilsbor is right... despite the higher cost the samsung or the iaudio will probably be worth it more.

 

[Csidinim]

Not true! Karma's form factor was one of its strengths, none of these new minimalist rectangle designs are as easy and comfortable to grab and use. SQ is arguable, but sound signature is one that cannot be mimmicked by any of these rivals, despite their infinite eq settings. Gapless is not where it ends either. The karma had one of the truly greatest gui's ever designed, hailed as equal to or better than the ipod's ease of use but with much more flexibility and depth. Remember how easy it was to toggle between list and now playing screens, append playlists, watch those bubble fields slide across the screen? Color or not, the new gui's are drabby, with plain folder lists and uninteresting icons. Finally, it wasn't just gapless, it was crossfade... oooh.

Anyway, these might not seem like much at first, but they are the things you start to miss after switching to another player. At least from one user's point of view. I mean, it may not be obvious, but Rio was the only company that actually rivaled apple in the usability/ergonomics field in addition to carrying advanced features and hardware. While apple only specializes in the former, these korean guys only dabble in the latter.

 

[lopsided]

Hi there,thanks for the replies,at the momment I'm fairly convinced by Gormans comments about the gapless playback, but what sort of gap do the other players have? and another question- when you use these players to encode analogue material through the line-in how does the SQ compare to using a PC to do the job?
thanks again.

 

[lopsided]

hi Csidinim,I just saw your reply as well- I may have to consider getting both the rio and the samsung for two different jobs.

 

[Rodent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lopsided hi Csidinim,I just saw your reply as well- I may have to consider getting both the rio and the samsung for two different jobs.

no way, that would just be obsessive.

 

[Orestes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodent no way, that would just be obsessive.

aren't we all??? welcome to headfi!!!