MP3 player sound quality

[Goochie]

I thought I'd post this in here where some fellow musical people can cast their knowledgable opinion on a little dilemma I have at the moment.

I'm looking for an MP3 player of at least 8gb is size, for less than £200 that has the best possible sound quality. The £200 may include aftermarket headphones if required, but I'd prefer to stick to the OEM ones.

Likely options are:

1) The new Creative Zen X-Fi.
2) The new Sony range.
3) An iPod of some sort.

From reviews I've read on the web, it seems that the Sony has the best sound quality of the lot, helped by its superior standard headphones (in-ear and over-ear types are supplied). The Creative also has good headphones and good sound quality but is let down by a few gimmicks. It does have an FM radio though.

And the iPod..... my wife has one and I agree that the user interface is good and I like the iTunes software. However I've yet to be impressed with the sound quality of any I've listened too - I think the new "touch" is the only one I've not listened too.

I'm fully aware that good headphones can make all the difference to a good sound but I believe you need the best possible starting point.

[Hub]

I had the same dilemma - there is a gap in the market for an alternative high storage capacity player to the ipod classic. There's archos, but it seems more geared up for video. My ipod video is ok sound quality, apart from annoyingly distorted bass at higher volume levels. It was the only decent high capacity (over 30gb) player at that time though.

[Goochie]

Video doesnt come in to it at all for me - and whilst 16gb would be nice, I could easily manage with 8gb.

Currently I have 1gb on my Nokia N73 and I dont listen to all of the albums on there! The sound quality is apauling though.

[satchbot]

No complaints about Sony from me. Best I've had

[cuneus]

First off songs should be transferred as "lossless"

Second the Ipod's circuitry is pretty good (don't know about the others) but as with most players the buds are shocking pieces of utter ste

Get yourself over to http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f103/ and hide your Credit card!

[satchbot]

Agreed. Always good up upgrade the headphones.

[dern]

I have an ipod 80gb and it's fine - I threw away the white headphones within five minutes.

[ratbane]

Another thumbs up for ipod 80gb classic.

Upgrade headphones. I went for sony jobbies.

[benzo]

Red wine audio Imod is quite good. Using lossless files it sounds comparible to a CD player. Uprating your headphones will yield huge results, especially if you are using earphones.

http://www.redwineaudio.com/iMod.html

eta, you would need a portable headphone amp with the Imod.

Edited by benzo on Monday 29th September 18:02

[gbbird]

Always make sure you transfer you create/transfer your MP3's at the highest quality - you can change this in the WMP settings somewhere. Although they take up more memory, the difference in quality is significant.

g

[Mk3Escy]

ratbane said:

Another thumbs up for ipod 80gb classic.

Upgrade headphones. I went for sony jobbies.

+1

[JaymzDead]

Mk3Escy said:

ratbane said:

Another thumbs up for ipod 80gb classic.

Upgrade headphones. I went for sony jobbies.

+1

+2 I just use the headphones off my old 1gb Creative player, they're 1000 times better than Apple's woeful excuse for headphones, will be upgrading to Sennheisers (sp?) soon though.

[PJR]

iPods are generally known to sound pretty good. I've certainly not been disappointed with the ones i've had, including an iPhone.
However, they are generally only as good as the quality of music file you put on them. Use lossless or a high'ish bit rate AAC and I highly doubt you'd be disappointed. But yes, the bundled earbuds can certainly be improved on..

If I were buying an iPod now, I'd get a touch. The 8gb one is well inside your budget, and the interface is unbeatable. Plus they are surprisingly good for mobile web browsing and email. On top of that, the myriad of 3rd party apps you can get for them now really makes them quite powerful. Much like a tiny computer in your pocket really.
You might not think you want all the extra features they provide now, but i'd be amazed if you didn't find yourself using them quite regularly.

P,

[khushy]

for absolute sound quality - you have to be looking at Cowon or Sony - Sony is probably the daddy but has limited ability to read lossless codecs!!!

I use FLAC to rip my CD's and Shure SE530's in my ears - a top setup!

I have a Cowon iAudio 7 and have not heard better - am about to get a D2 as well with 16Gb and DAB - iPod's unfortunately suck for sound quality IMHO and cant get anywhere near the Cowon's.

khushy

Edited by khushy on Wednesday 1st October 15:39

[scott.s]

The I-pod sounds pish with the standard headpnones, but even though the Sony is much bettter i still use the the apple.

I-tunes and my Alpine in car media server make it worth while, bin the in ear cans and get something better.

Use the i-pod as a hard drive and not a source, there are systems out there that don't use the rubbish analog output.

[Finlandia]

Cowon Iaudio D2, paired with some decent headphones with a higher resistance than 75ohm.

I can honestly say, I have never heard a mp3 player setup sound better.

Have a look at advancedmp3players.co.uk

[Goochie]

I've gone for this one:

http://www.johnlewis.com/230482014/Product.aspx

Not for the gimmicky Bluetooth headphones though !! It comes with good earbuds too.

[benzo]

Goochie said:

I've gone for this one:

http://www.johnlewis.com/230482014/Product.aspx

Not for the gimmicky Bluetooth headphones though !! It comes with good earbuds too.

very nice goochie. If your ever hunting for a set of cost effective & good headphones, then I would like to recommend the allesandro ms-1's. The ms-1's are modified grado sr 80's and are said to sound like grado sr125's. I paid £110 for my grado sr80's but the ms-1's can be bought for circa £50 which includes shipping.

http://www.alessandro-products.com/headphones.html

[Markytop]

I recently bought the Sony A818 which is the 8gb and more than happy with the performance. Although to be honest not tried all the recent competition in direct comparisons. Does everything I want it to, small, easy to use, good display - would easily recommend it.
Also if looking at this Sony route, then be careful around the colour, as there seems to be a difference in price depending which colour you go for. The black A818 was £99, but if you wanted a white one, they were only £69 in Comet, so a bit of shopping around can save 30 notes at least.