BEst sounding MP3 player

[jaguarskx]

^^^

Yep. Tell me about it...

I'm waiting for Cowon to produce a 'S9 Ulitimate Black Special Edition' with 512GB of internal Flash. I wonder how long that would take...

 

[RealityRush]

I'm waiting for Cowon to produce a 'S9 Ulitimate Black Special Edition' with 512GB of internal Flash. I wonder how long that would take...

I would produce a joygasm of epic proportions....

 

[Guest]

it doesn't matter what brand of mp3 player you have, it's a combination of good headphones, format, and who did the recording. All the Player is doing is reading the file, it has no effect on what you hear!

 

[RealityRush]

it doesn't matter what brand of mp3 player you have, it's a combination of good headphones, format, and who did the recording. All the Player is doing is reading the file, it has no effect on what you hear!

..... uhh, it matters greatly. Your player usually does a lot more than just read the file unless you are use a 1992 Sony Walkman...... headphones, format and recording matter as well, but the PMP you're using definitely matters, along with what amp you use with it, if at all.

 

[cjl]

it doesn't matter what brand of mp3 player you have, it's a combination of good headphones, format, and who did the recording. All the Player is doing is reading the file, it has no effect on what you hear!

The player definitely matters. Signal to noise ratio is probably the biggest difference, and there's also a significant factor in what kind of headphones it is capable of driving. Some headphones are harder to drive than others, and as such, some headphones need a higher power/quality output to sound good (even if they aren't listened to at extreme volume).

 

[Amg]

it does matter, headphones and format etc helps but whats the point if the player can't take something like flac? which puts out ipod I do belive.

I believe the compies that have this to their name is Cowon, Sony, creative, and I do believe samsung is not far off.

 

[malvin]

Cowons sound the best, period. They are usually cheaper than IPODs too.

The only downside to their S9 is that it is only 32GB and the ipod touch is 64GB.

I'm waiting on Cowons next S9 pmp with more memory before I invest in a new one, cause 32GB gets eaten fast by FLAC music...

Actually, from what i read most of the people and most of the reviews say that Sony mp3 players sound best.
Also, they can power large headphones better then any other mp3 player which means you don't really need an external amplifier.

 

[RealityRush]

Yeah, agree with this " it doesn't matter what brand of mp3 player you have, it's a combination of good headphones, format, and who did the recording. All the Player is doing is reading the file, it has no effect on what you hear!" Sometimes Not brand Mp3 Players are also have good sounding. The headphones are also important.

If you don't think the quality of the mp3 players sound circuitry is important, then please don't invest in good headphones that will be wasted on an ipod 😛

The quality of the bloody capacitors being used is even important. Cowon makes the best sounding mp3 players 9/10. The S9 is superior to the music capabilities of the Ipod touch in every aspect... except for the fact that the touch has a bit more storage right now.

My setup right now is a Cowon 32GB S9, Monster Turbine Pro Gold earphones, and I listen to exclusively FLAC music. THAT is a great sound 😛 If you want a more neutral sound you can get the coppers (assuming you want the monsters at all). If you want more info head over to head-fi.org. That site gives you all the info you need on headphones/earphones.

Oh, I also forgot to mention the S9's physical design is also vastly superior to the ipod touch in every way 😛. From the unscratchable gorilla glass, beautifully coloured AMOLED touchscreen, to the durable yet light construction. You can take a steak knife to the S9 screen and it wont scratch. The keys in your pocket surely wont matter 😛.

As I mentioned the analog sound out of the Cowon is remarkable and is very much better than an ipod. The jetaudio sound enhancements you get with it just make that stand out even more.

The S9 also has longer battery life.... and very importantly, it is cheaper than an Ipod touch even after all the improvements over it.

Also importantly, the Cowon S9 doesn't try to do everything else under the sun like an ipod and clutter my screen with applications I don't gives a rats arse about when I just want to listen to music.

So yeah, please don't tell people the sound quality of the mp3 player doesn't matter, because it matters as much as every other part of the mp3 player 😛, and you would be misinforming those people.

 

[joe2m]

Qaulity of DAC- digital-analog converter is huge as wellas the circuitry design. Just like when you by a DVD player to play CDs at home- they sound vastly different depending on the quality of the electronics. Some sound tinny even on a great stereo setup. The best I've heard/read about for sound qaulity are the Cowan's, Sony, Zen, and some Sansa's.

 

[RealityRush]

Qaulity of DAC- digital-analog converter is huge as wellas the circuitry design. Just like when you by a DVD player to play CDs at home- they sound vastly different depending on the quality of the electronics. Some sound tinny even on a great stereo setup. The best I've heard/read about for sound qaulity are the Cowan's, Sony, Zen, and some Sansa's.

My best friend just got a Sansa's Clip 8GB the other day, it sounds pretty good actually

Haven't heard the Zen at all, Sony's used to sound pretty average... but I heard they stepped it up in recent years. I still think the cream of the crop is Cowon though.

 

[Amg]

creative will be up there in sound quality thats about the only thing good about creative, apart from the price

 

[budget minded]

AVOID CREATIVE LABS LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they are lying cheating vermin out to make a quick buck & will fight you if you're unhappy with their lies!

the very FIRST mp3 player i bought was a creative labs model advertised to work with windows 98, but it's CD absolutely refused to work with my 98SE updated computer and had to be returned.

a couple years later, i bought a couple "zen stones" on closeout (direct from creative labs) because they were advertised as being "WAV compatible", only that meant they ONLY played WAVs recorded at crappy compressed MONO fidelity as recorded by their onboard mic and NOT full fidelity CD tracks! not only that, but i had to ARGUE with hostile customer service about returning their CRAP until i caught the douchebag lying to me in print that contradicted their tech supports' CORRECT info about lofi mono WAVs to get an RMA.

another year later, i could no longer use their "audigy gold" soundcard in my PC after they stopped supporting it's drivers and sued the guy that was providing them FOR FREE like the greedy lying scum they are! CREATIVE LABS CAN EFF OFF AND DIE! they have the absolute WORST & most hostile customer service ever and make sony look good in comparison.

with that out of the way, i LOVED my discontinued cowon I5!!! 😀 it not only played full fidelity WAVs with a NICE 90 something decibel sound to noise ratio (compared to 60 something for crapple gear) but worked just fine with the same 98SE software a year after creative refused to. it had really clear and detailed sound that was only SLIGHTLY less detailed and imaging than my high rated DVD player! the battery life was great too. i only had it crash on me once after a month of use when i was swapping WAVs (no mps!) and after resetting it, never had another problem.

i'm not a fan of their current "entry level" players starting at $150 vs the $80 i paid for my I5, but if you do any reading up on cowon, they have awesome format compatibility and i loved the sound of mine with my sennheiser headphones. i was looking for a cheaper alternative to replace my lost I5, but will probably get another cowon because they have reference quality specs and sound that compares well to even high end home gear.

i haven't tried anything buy creative labs & cowon for mp3 players other than my $12 on sale AA battery powered coby that's better sounding than expected if SERIOUSLY underpowered and can say for certain that creative labs are lying ripoff artists and cowon delivers SERIOUS sound quality at fair prices. i wish i could get another I5 for $80, but will probably get a $150 I9 because i know it'll let me play CD tracks at full fidelity without the annoying gaps ALL mp3s add.

i'm not too enthused about getting $500+ grey market kenwood media kegs or musicman stuff. cowon doesn't skimp on fidelity or overcharge for it. if it ain't broke, don't fix it! here's to hoping they stay around a while in case i ever need to replace my NEXT player. i'm tired of not being able to hear my toy coby on the bus even with earbuds.