Audiophiles Mp3 Player?

[KonniXeoN]

Whats a good mp3 player right now and that has the best sound quality?

Something other than the apple ipod...

I know audiophile and mp3 are an oxymoron but I need a high quality sounding mp3 player.

Or should I hold back for the Iphone in september? :?:

Im looking for more than 4GB storage and must have a nice screen with video capability.

[ali123]

my iriver h-10 has excellent audio quality

[ShadowVlican]

u'd need an extremely transparent system to tell the difference between a well encoded MP3 and lossless/original.... so don't brush off the MP3 format

imo... audiophile shouldn't care much about the quality of portable players... there's too much external noise (bus, passengers talking, police sirens, subway, heck even your own body makes sounds when walking/jogging) to hear anything in detail

[KonniXeoN]

u'd need an extremely transparent system to tell the difference between a well encoded MP3 and lossless/original.... so don't brush off the MP3 format

imo... audiophile shouldn't care much about the quality of portable players... there's too much external noise (bus, passengers talking, police sirens, subway, heck even your own body makes sounds when walking/jogging) to hear anything in detail

Yeah. True.
I acutally listen to my music through my system at home.
I'm a headphone guy, I'm planning to get myself a tube amp soon. :cheesygri

But I want something I can use on the go with my headphones.

[MtX]

Just make sure the MP3s are max quality....

[Jon Lai]

u'd need an extremely transparent system to tell the difference between a well encoded MP3 and lossless/original.... so don't brush off the MP3 format

imo... audiophile shouldn't care much about the quality of portable players... there's too much external noise (bus, passengers talking, police sirens, subway, heck even your own body makes sounds when walking/jogging) to hear anything in detail

+1 That's why there's no such thing as an Audiophile MP3 Player.

Now, but there ARE such things as MP3 players that have better audio processors and output. I would suggest anything Korean - iRiver, Cowon, etc. - they tend to have better output than the brand name MP3s. iPods have horrible audio quality, their popularity is all due to marketing and the niche. Sandisk is not much better, and in terms of American brand, Creative is probably the best, although still far from on par with iRiver or Cowon. Sony MP3 players are not bad, unfortunately they're very expensive and include proprietary software.

[sxz]

Don't know about you but a majority of "audiophiles" use iPods. However they don't use the standard headphone out, rather they use a dock connector (as a line out) to an amp which is then fed into the headphones. However that can get a bit bulky and expensive (looking at $50+ for the dock cable alone). The king of mp3 players used to be the RIO Karma which is now discontinued but there's a new player that came out which supposedly is pretty much like the Karma (can't remember the name).

[onecoolloser]

Ive read reviews about the Samsung YP-Z5 (I think thats the model) having SQ higher than the iPod.

But remember, with ANY mp3 player, get different earphones, if you care about SQ.

[contoursvt]

Would this constitute an mp3 player? It can do FLAC as well. I have one and love the thing
http://www.slimdevices.com/

[KonniXeoN]

+1 That's why there's no such thing as an Audiophile MP3 Player.

Now, but there ARE such things as MP3 players that have better audio processors and output. I would suggest anything Korean - iRiver, Cowon, etc. - they tend to have better output than the brand name MP3s. iPods have horrible audio quality, their popularity is all due to marketing and the niche. Sandisk is not much better, and in terms of American brand, Creative is probably the best, although still far from on par with iRiver or Cowon. Sony MP3 players are not bad, unfortunately they're very expensive and include proprietary software.

I think I'm going to buy a Cowon Iaudio D2 4GB and use the upgradeable SD memory to hold encoded videos. :twisted:
I heard the sound quality is disturbingly good, and is on par/better than the Iriver Clix2 .

Think I might pick one up tomorrow. Gotta find some cash money first!

Oh and sony's sonicstage is complete horse sh*t. Absolutely trash, and takes forever to transfer songs. I hate it!

[torontoraptor]

+1 That's why there's no such thing as an Audiophile MP3 Player.

Now, but there ARE such things as MP3 players that have better audio processors and output. I would suggest anything Korean - iRiver, Cowon, etc. - they tend to have better output than the brand name MP3s. iPods have horrible audio quality, their popularity is all due to marketing and the niche. Sandisk is not much better, and in terms of American brand, Creative is probably the best, although still far from on par with iRiver or Cowon. Sony MP3 players are not bad, unfortunately they're very expensive and include proprietary software.

Creative is FAR from an American brand.

[KonniXeoN]

Creative is FAR from an American brand.


Why so?

[Amourek]

Why so?

Survey says.... Singapore!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Technology

[recordman]

I got a Cowon D2 4G w/ 1G SD, and Creative EP-630 ear-phones. It sounds pretty good. The video quality (320x240, 30fps, 24bit colour) is awesome. Now, I just need to get off my lazy *ss and write some Flash Lite apps for it. :)

[KonniXeoN]

I got a Cowon D2 4G w/ 1G SD, and Creative EP-630 ear-phones. It sounds pretty good. The video quality (320x240, 30fps, 24bit colour) is awesome. Now, I just need to get off my lazy *ss and write some Flash Lite apps for it. :)

If you end up making some apps for it please let me know. Since I will be getting this mp3 player.
I'm going to have it hooked up my to my headphone amp + my $140 headphones :cheesygri

*PARRTTYYY LIKEEEE A ROCKKK STARRRR*

haha

[stillmatic11]

Ditto on the iPod being one of the better mp3 players. The iPod actually has very good audio quality especially with the Lossless encoding for the songs. The problem lies in the headphone jack which sucks, so getting a dock and using it as a line-out for your amp is the best solution. Docks will probably run you anywhere from $50-$300 depending on quality. Headphone amps will go anywhere from $50-$500 and a good quality pair of headphones is also neccessary as well. Being an audiophile is an expensive hobby. :lol:

[trixstar]

Don't know about you but a majority of "audiophiles" use iPods. However they don't use the standard headphone out, rather they use a dock connector (as a line out) to an amp which is then fed into the headphones. However that can get a bit bulky and expensive (looking at $50+ for the dock cable alone). The king of mp3 players used to be the RIO Karma which is now discontinued but there's a new player that came out which supposedly is pretty much like the Karma (can't remember the name).

where can i find this amp?? my ipod video has the crappiest sound i've ever heard from any mp3 player... i need an amp =( i 'll purchase the line out too..

[stillmatic11]

where can i find this amp?? my ipod video has the crappiest sound i've ever heard from any mp3 player... i need an amp =( i 'll purchase the line out too..

What headphones are you using? How much are you looking to spend?

[AL3X]

There are a lot of poor suggestions previously listed.

If you dont want an amp, your best choice for sound quality is the Kenwood HD30GB9 (dont think it plays video tho)

EDIT: I'd like to stress that the term audiophile is being used waaaaaay too loosely here and re-emphasize that many of the mp3 players listed arent and will never be meant for sounding nice. Just because it looks nice and sounds ok and has some audio settings doesnt mean it is even worthy of being mentioned in the same sentence as audiophile.

Sure if you bypass the internal amp in an ipod and get a separate amp, it can sound alright. At least that guy sorta kinda knows what he's talking about, but regardless, ipods suck for SQ.

What headphones are you getting? Unless you're spending $250+ on nice phones (No bose sh*t etc) the player probably wont matter much... (There are exceptions I know...) and i wouldnt consider cans close to audiophile worthy until $1200+ excluding amp (again there are exceptions)

But yea if you want SQ and a decent portable mp3 player just get a Kenwood HD30GB9

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20060911/kenwood.jpg

[KorruptioN]

But yea if you want SQ and a decent portable mp3 player just get a Kenwood HD30GB9

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20060911/kenwood.jpg

Damn, where can one find that? It looks almost Japan-only.

[chatbox]

Damn, where can one find that? It looks almost Japan-only.

I think you can pretty much forget about it if you're after some great audio quality. Some dude here in HK (from a local audiophile forum) got it imported from Japan...didn't like it at all and sold it within a week.

Right now, I'm using a Cowon D2 4GB with Shure's E500 (no, I don't use MP3 encoding). A fairly decent combination IMHO as the E500 is really easy to drive (E4C, for example, is harder to drive), and the D2 has extremely good power output given that it's an MP3 player.

[KorruptioN]

I think you can pretty much forget about it if you're after some great audio quality. Some dude here in HK (from a local audiophile forum) got it imported from Japan...didn't like it at all and sold it within a week.

That's just some dude...

Like in the other audiophile thread, good sound quality is extremely subjective.

[Jon Lai]

Don't know about you but a majority of "audiophiles" use iPods. However they don't use the standard headphone out, rather they use a dock connector (as a line out) to an amp which is then fed into the headphones. However that can get a bit bulky and expensive (looking at $50+ for the dock cable alone). The king of mp3 players used to be the RIO Karma which is now discontinued but there's a new player that came out which supposedly is pretty much like the Karma (can't remember the name).

Those "audiophiles" you know are far from the ones *we* know if they listen and can withstand the iPod's poor sound quality...

[Jon Lai]

Ditto on the iPod being one of the better mp3 players. The iPod actually has very good audio quality especially with the Lossless encoding for the songs. The problem lies in the headphone jack which sucks, so getting a dock and using it as a line-out for your amp is the best solution. Docks will probably run you anywhere from $50-$300 depending on quality. Headphone amps will go anywhere from $50-$500 and a good quality pair of headphones is also neccessary as well. Being an audiophile is an expensive hobby. :lol:

Err.. we're saying iPod is a BAD MP3 player in terms of SQ...

[Jon Lai]

Creative is FAR from an American brand.

Whoops, my bad. It's got all the American company "feel" though.

[ryan123]

look at
AudioCubes.com
Warehouse123.com

[KonniXeoN]

Damn. I narrow'ed it down to Cowon D2 or the Iriver CLIX2 8gb.
However the 8gb of the clix2 is so expensive!

Anyone suggest a mp3 player? We'll I hate the ipod since the eq settings are completely useless.
I have a headphone amp, and a pair of Grado headphones. So I know what I'm doing.
But I want to use an alternative other than an Ipod.
I don't really need 30GBs of music on the go and the ipod battery life is complete trash. I can't keep charging every day when I get home...

The D2 has 55 hours of playback time and 10hours of video! Now thats impressive. + the sd memory card slot is excellent. It can be used for whatever.

[Jon Lai]

Damn. I narrow'ed it down to Cowon D2 or the Iriver CLIX2 8gb.
However the 8gb of the clix2 is so expensive!

Anyone suggest a mp3 player? We'll I hate the ipod since the eq settings are completely useless.
I have a headphone amp, and a pair of Grado headphones. So I know what I'm doing.
But I want to use an alternative other than an Ipod.
I don't really need 30GBs of music on the go and the ipod battery life is complete trash. I can't keep charging every day when I get home...

The D2 has 55 hours of playback time and 10hours of video! Now thats impressive. + the sd memory card slot is excellent. It can be used for whatever.

Just get the Cowon. The Clix is great, but it's not worth the price for the 8GB. With the Cowon, you can always expand the memory up to 8GB more, and perhaps to 16GB later on with firmware upgrades.

$179.99 @ NCIX for the White 4GB right now, but stock is running low.

[KonniXeoN]

Just get the Cowon. The Clix is great, but it's not worth the price for the 8GB. With the Cowon, you can always expand the memory up to 8GB more, and perhaps to 16GB later on with firmware upgrades.

$179.99 @ NCIX for the White 4GB right now, but stock is running low.

But I heard many reviews of the Cowon D2 sound quality isn't that great unless you add all the other settings it comes with.
Like I wanna know which one is better at natural sounds without all this hightech Eq settings and stuff.

[dazz]

+1 That's why there's no such thing as an Audiophile MP3 Player.

Now, but there ARE such things as MP3 players that have better audio processors and output. I would suggest anything Korean - iRiver, Cowon, etc. - they tend to have better output than the brand name MP3s. iPods have horrible audio quality, their popularity is all due to marketing and the niche. Sandisk is not much better, and in terms of American brand, Creative is probably the best, although still far from on par with iRiver or Cowon. Sony MP3 players are not bad, unfortunately they're very expensive and include proprietary software.

I wouldn't call Ipod "horribile quality. They are ok. Not horrible,but just ok...ok?:)

I loved my Sony Ericsson w810i's quality though. It sounded better than my buddies' ipod shuffle. I was surprised,considering it's just a phone.

Headphones play a MAJOR role too. I had headphones that came with some other mp3 player and they were quite bad compared to my $50 headphones. You can EASILY tell the difference.

[Jon Lai]

But I heard many reviews of the Cowon D2 sound quality isn't that great unless you add all the other settings it comes with.
Like I wanna know which one is better at natural sounds without all this hightech Eq settings and stuff.

I play my Cowon on Flat, ie. I don't touch the EQ settings at all. Sounds great with the stock earbuds, which have great treble but the bass lacks a bit. Sounds a little better with Sony earbuds that I got from my old MiniDisc Player.

If you care about music quality, you'll be spending at least $50 on a pair of good earbuds anyways. My friend has a pair of CX300's and they're great on the Cowon.

[KonniXeoN]

I play my Cowon on Flat, ie. I don't touch the EQ settings at all. Sounds great with the stock earbuds, which have great treble but the bass lacks a bit. Sounds a little better with Sony earbuds that I got from my old MiniDisc Player.

If you care about music quality, you'll be spending at least $50 on a pair of good earbuds anyways. My friend has a pair of CX300's and they're great on the Cowon.

I hate inears.

I have grado headphones to use so it's alright.

[Hellenback]

There are a lot of poor suggestions previously listed.

If you dont want an amp, your best choice for sound quality is the Kenwood HD30GB9 (dont think it plays video tho)

EDIT: I'd like to stress that the term audiophile is being used waaaaaay too loosely here and re-emphasize that many of the mp3 players listed arent and will never be meant for sounding nice. Just because it looks nice and sounds ok and has some audio settings doesnt mean it is even worthy of being mentioned in the same sentence as audiophile.

Sure if you bypass the internal amp in an ipod and get a separate amp, it can sound alright. At least that guy sorta kinda knows what he's talking about, but regardless, ipods suck for SQ.

What headphones are you getting? Unless you're spending $250+ on nice phones (No bose sh*t etc) the player probably wont matter much... (There are exceptions I know...) and i wouldnt consider cans close to audiophile worthy until $1200+ excluding amp (again there are exceptions)

But yea if you want SQ and a decent portable mp3 player just get a Kenwood HD30GB9

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20060911/kenwood.jpg
Take alook at headfi.com. Many people who are true audiophiles on this site, use Sennheiser HD600/650s or Beyerdynamic DT880s/990s and many other "worthy" headphones. Ray Samuels of Ray Samuels Audio who produces some of the best (and most expensive ) headphone amplifier systems often uses HD600s for his own listening and to test the quality and compatibility of his products. You can buy most of the headphones I mentioned for under $300 online. (Granted, Ray has balanced his 600s.)

[mahpoaht]

Bump old thread, what is the recommendation for 2009?

I am in the market for a new MP3 player to replace my PSP.

Almost forgot to mention, my earphone is UM2.

Thanks in advance.

[KonniXeoN]

Bump old thread, what is the recommendation for 2009?

I am in the market for a new MP3 player to replace my PSP.

Almost forgot to mention, my earphone is UM2.

Thanks in advance.

I still find that my PSP on Jazz setting with a headphone amp sounds far beyond better than any player I have used.

[nvx]

i highly recommend the pa2v2 if you're looking to get a head amp

a local toronto ryerson grad makes them and they're stellar... well reviewed at headfi and they work great w/ both my er6is and hd555s

as for a source... anything w/ a real line out would be good if you're getting a head amp

[Asad_A203]

I still find that my PSP on Jazz setting with a headphone amp sounds far beyond better than any player I have used.

I might need a seperate headphone amp for my PSP then, I found the PSP lacking compared to my W580i on unique (hip hop). Granted HD555 lack bass and PSP EQ doesn't really help out too much in that respect. Greatest difficulty I have had is finding MP3s of good quality...

[jollyeskimo]

i highly recommend the pa2v2 if you're looking to get a head amp

a local toronto ryerson grad makes them and they're stellar... well reviewed at headfi and they work great w/ both my er6is and hd555s

as for a source... anything w/ a real line out would be good if you're getting a head amp

I love my PA2V2... matches extremely well with my Alessandro MS-1's. Battery life is also exceptional, I've only had to change batteries once on a intercontinental flight; the rest of the time I charge it once or maybe twice a week. If you plan on getting the PA2V2, ask Gary for the Canadian price... he offers it to Canadians for $55CAD shipped as opposed to the $60USD regular price.

I've used the Cowon D2, but moved on to a 2G Touch for portable connectivity and gaming. The ipt2g actually has a very decent headphone out when I'm the go with my q-JAYS, but when I'm using it in the car or at home, I drive the amp with the line out via a DIY line out dock.