Quote:
Originally Posted by fewtch
Something's a little funny here... because *one guy* failed to hear a difference, you tend to doubt the many?
I'd be much more inclined to think Bangraman may have tin ears when it comes to hearing source differences. So what about the volume matching, I assume he was rapidly A/B'ing which IMO is a poor way to pick up on (other than huge/blatantly obvious) differences anyway.
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If I should have tin ears, isn't it odd that my opinions for phones should mesh with many other members here who have decent reps in that case? Anyway, I have at least listened to (actually, usually owned) what I disparage instead of making erroneous assumptions like you do. And I've explained my testing methodology many times. It's not an A-B-A-B-A switch.
Getting back on topic:
I think the problem with finding 'the best sounding' now is that many of the manufacturers have sort of settled on a uniformly acceptable engine (and this uniform figure does represent an improvement on, or at the very least matches what came before) and although sound quality isn't perhaps as good as some of the better sources of say a year or two ago, the products are much more mature. They're more usable, more usefully featured, more stable, etc. Everything is starting to sound like a two-year-old iRiver, which was kind of the most stable in terms of compatibility and the median in terms of quality.
I've heard nothing over the last six months which really jumps out at me, and that includes the 5G iPod which is only notable in that they have stabilised the performance aspects that were lacking with previous ones. The new Sony has maintained a stable performance with a wide range of phones and I think that it's (coarse-control) 6-band EQ probably has the least impact on SQ, but bearing in mind it's functional oddities IMO it's not worth choosing. I STILL don't have the Zen Vision M. I should switch my order to someone who has them in stock maybe.
I think perhaps more opinions on the Kenwood may be needed. It may or may not be any better, but it is definitely different in how it implements the headphone amp. I'm not sure if I'm going to Japan this year, might do in May, but if I do I'll probably have a look at what's on offer. I don't have sufficient curiousity to import right now.
I'd say an older iPod amped would be your best bet if SQ is all you're after. The JB3 may be slightly better IMO, but some people do say that it sounds flat (I'm not 100% certain how to counter that except to say that it is supposed to sound flat
... although another round of comparisons is in the works). In all cases though compared to today's players, you'll be making some sacrifices in terms of practicality. Similarly a DACed iRiver H1xx series is a good bet for decent sound quality, although I was never too sure about the integrity of the output of the optical port... especially as sometimes the same company's CD players seemed to make better optical hosts. But once again you have problems of practicality, not to mention portability.
Any of the current batch of the better-regarded players when amped (regardless of whether you have to get around certain problems, like using the X5's headphone port instead of the subpack line-out) gives very decent results. I'd suggest picking something of now, amping it if SQ is an issue and compromising on the last % of SQ for better usability.
