Cheapest audiophile grade MP3 player?

[slackerinabox]

I'm on a limited budget but need an mp3 player for working out and commuting. Storage size isn't that important, a few hours of music would be fine. But I have sensitive ears and don't want something crappy sounding (I was going to get a 2nd gen shuffle but read that has static during quite sections).

I don't want to spend a lot since i'll be ordering $99 headphones as well (v-moda vibe). Again, sound quality is very, very important. 1+gb is fine

Thanks for any leads!

 

[jpeyton]

1st Gen Shuffle

 

[biggestmuff]

"Cheap" and "audiophile"? hahaha.

Hmmm. High quality sound on a device that stores around 1GB? Ever heard of a portable CD player?! LOL!

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: biggestmuff
"Cheap" and "audiophile"? hahaha.

Hmmm. High quality sound on a device that stores around 1GB? Ever heard of a portable CD player?! LOL!

i said "cheapest" not cheap, per say. I'd rather pay more money for something that sounds great than something that has a lot of storage, that is all.

 

[biggestmuff]

Originally posted by: freedomsbeat212

Originally posted by: biggestmuff
"Cheap" and "audiophile"? hahaha.

Hmmm. High quality sound on a device that stores around 1GB? Ever heard of a portable CD player?! LOL!

i said "cheapest" not cheap, per say. I'd rather pay more money for something that sounds great than something that has a lot of storage, that is all.

Okay, then purchase a player that will playback .wav with good quality converters.

/thread

 

[0roo0roo]

question is whether your headphones are actually going to let you enjoy any supposed difference. or are you just being nit picky for no good reason. audiophile...well spend 150+ on canal phones first before picking on the players, otherwise even that shuffle is good enough.

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
question is whether your headphones are actually going to let you enjoy any supposed difference. or are you just being nit picky for no good reason. audiophile...well spend 150+ on canal phones first before picking on the players, otherwise even that shuffle is good enough.

well, i was thinking about using decent (v-moda vibe or shures) canal phones.

 

[uhohs]

the vibe's are 80 something from amazon.

 

[0roo0roo]

heh ok, i'm used to seeing threads in hardware with people asking whether they should buy a high end soundcard for the dirt cheap speakers

well i dunno, i never heard that the new shuffle had problems, the old one had decent sound. might as well get the nano if you can afford shures. nano doesn't seem to have quality issues with audio.

 

[Excelsior]

Something from iAudio.

http://www.cowonglobal.com/

 

[f4phantom2500]

Dude save your $100 on the headphones; first pick up some Koss KSC75's, they're very very good, at least give them a shot. Second, Creative MP3 players tend to have good sound quality from my experience, maybe a Zen Nano Plus?