Ipod vs Creative

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Wuzup101

Platinum Member
Feb 20, 2002
2,334
37
91
Originally posted by: Pr0metheus
I absolutely hate the ipod. I got one last november for my bday (2003). It was f*cking horrible. Crashed on me 2x in a month took me a whole weekend to set it up. I finally got rid of it by giving it to my mom and got an Iriver H140. Which just last week broke. But I loved it. Getting a 40 gb creative Zen touch in january. Only problem i see with the zen is the lack of accessories. im probably going to mod the case it comes with so i can access the panel.

Do yourself a favor and atleast look at the 4gen before buying the creative. There has been quite a few improvements to the software and hardware to avoid the crashing and other problems. They 4Gs are the best working ones yet.
 

sjgmoney

Senior member
Apr 28, 2004
219
0
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I'm interested in opinions on various players ability to connect to stereo systems, car radios, external speakers etc. I'm very rarely walking around with headphones on (although I'd love to zone out the wife more often :) ) but I am in the car a lot and like to listen to music on my stereo system.

How do these players sound when connected to external devices? Is there a lot of distortion? I've had an older mp3 player for years with a flash card that takes way too much fine tuning to get it to sound serviceable when connected to another device. I'd like to attach any new player and not have to adjust the player's volume or sound controls AND the stereo's controls also.

Thanks for any opinions.
 

mrSHEiK124

Lifer
Mar 6, 2004
11,491
2
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hmm, I know for sure the iPod is good for things like that (there is a whole bunch of things for sale to get it do this, FM tuners, tape adapters, etc.)
 

raildogg

Lifer
Aug 24, 2004
12,884
569
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i dont know all the fuss about the iPod, there are players better than it with much longer battery life. I guess its just a trend --- kinda like the tamagachi or personel pet craze of like years ago, which I took part in :eek:

or whatever the name was i forgot
 

Wuzup101

Platinum Member
Feb 20, 2002
2,334
37
91
Originally posted by: sjgmoney
I'm interested in opinions on various players ability to connect to stereo systems, car radios, external speakers etc. I'm very rarely walking around with headphones on (although I'd love to zone out the wife more often :) ) but I am in the car a lot and like to listen to music on my stereo system.

How do these players sound when connected to external devices? Is there a lot of distortion? I've had an older mp3 player for years with a flash card that takes way too much fine tuning to get it to sound serviceable when connected to another device. I'd like to attach any new player and not have to adjust the player's volume or sound controls AND the stereo's controls also.

Thanks for any opinions.

I use a griffin iTrip for listening to my iPod over the speakers in my car. It's a small FM device that fits right on top of the iPod and actually makes it look much like a remote control. It can be tuned to any FM channel that you want, in incriments of .2 Hz (I believe Hz is the right unit anyway?). Then you just tune in your car stereo (or home stereo) and you're good to go. Of course, you can always connect the line out right to the home stereo also... (may need an adapter from radioshack...)

 

Gurck

Banned
Mar 16, 2004
12,963
1
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Originally posted by: sheik124
hmm, I know for sure the iPod is good for things like that (there is a whole bunch of things for sale to get it do this, FM tuners, tape adapters, etc.)

Any player with a line-out can be hooked up to an fm transmitter, a tape adapter, or a head unit with a line-in. That last is the best-sounding option. You don't need the ipod specifically to do this, though it's not surprising that its proponents are sufficiently lacking in technological common sense to know this... ;)
 

sjgmoney

Senior member
Apr 28, 2004
219
0
0
I understand that the line out jack is the way to go, I'm interested int he distortion if any that occurs and if some players are better than others in this regard.
 

Gurck

Banned
Mar 16, 2004
12,963
1
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Originally posted by: sjgmoney
I understand that the line out jack is the way to go, I'm interested int he distortion if any that occurs and if some players are better than others in this regard.

I haven't heard much about that... actually, the line-out is the only output worth a damn on the ipod - its headphone jack measures in at about 0.42% THD (more than 4 times the accepted audible level) and has bass attenuation to save on its already meager battery life, which results in tinny sounding music for which the best description even its fans can come up with is "neutral" or "clean" ;)
 

terraphile

Member
Sep 13, 2004
44
0
0
One thing nobody's mentioned... The ipod does not have sound quality greater than 128kbps MP3's and does not support OGG or FLAC. There is a HUGE difference between 128 and 320 kbps mp3s, and for that matter, OGG and FLAC. This fact alone should deter anyone that has more than a passing interest in the sound quality of their music from considering the ipod. Unfortunately this is something most people are not aware of and now we have armies of Ipoddites who are missing out.

It's pretty bad that none of these online music stores sell music in FLAC, the only format I'd be willing to pay for. HDD's are insanely cheap these days... and you can always convert to ogg if you want to be able to hold more on your mp3 player.

And BTW, dont any of you use Winamp or Musicmatch, Winamp IMHO Kicks the crap out of itunes (And definitely WMP 10) especially for how fast and compact it is, and most mp3 player should be recognized as a mass storage device that you can just use winamp or musicmatch to export your playlist to the Mp3 player.

 

Wuzup101

Platinum Member
Feb 20, 2002
2,334
37
91
Originally posted by: Gurck
Originally posted by: sheik124
hmm, I know for sure the iPod is good for things like that (there is a whole bunch of things for sale to get it do this, FM tuners, tape adapters, etc.)

Any player with a line-out can be hooked up to an fm transmitter, a tape adapter, or a head unit with a line-in. That last is the best-sounding option. You don't need the ipod specifically to do this, though it's not surprising that its proponents are sufficiently lacking in technological common sense to know this... ;)

LOL yes we're all lacking in technological common sense... please keep insulting us because we're not like you. Obviously any "line out" can be connected to a "line in." Please though, I'm an engineer, I'm lacking in technological common sense, someone help me.
 

loic2003

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2003
3,844
0
0
I've found the Griffin iTrip to be really top notch and so handy. I have an iPod dock mounted on the dash of my car so I can just slap in the iPod with the iTrip and I'm listening to my tunes. When I park I unplug the iTrip and put in the earphones and I can carry on listening to the same tune as when I arrived. The range is good also; if I drive with a friend, he can tune into the same frequency and we can both listen to the same tunes in separate cars (we're looking at a range of about 10 to 15 metres on a clear frequency).
It also is well handy if you arrive at a party or something and there's no decent tunes on the go, so you can play those on the iPod without worrying about bringing wires or whatever.

I like the way it's all in one neat package, the sound quality is perfectly acceptable although you do get the odd hiss as you go through tunnels or whatever as you would expect if you were using a radio.

I've found it's best to have a neutral sound output when connecting the device to an external source so you can use the equaliser, etc of the amp rather than that of the original output device. Otherwise you can have too much boost on certain frequencies. For example if you had bass boost on your iPod and then sent that to an amp wich further boosted the bass, you'll probably find the sound too bassy.

A really sweet piece of kit that apple produce is the airport express stations. These connect to your wireless network and can play music from iTunes wirelessly, so you can have one next to your Hi-Fi in your lounge and play tunes from your PC/Mac from the other room, or have your notebook with you and play tunes through the hifi wirelessly: http://store.apple.com/1-800-M...0.6.21.1.9.1.0.0.0.1.0
 

Gurck

Banned
Mar 16, 2004
12,963
1
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Originally posted by: Wuzup101
Originally posted by: Gurck
Originally posted by: sheik124
hmm, I know for sure the iPod is good for things like that (there is a whole bunch of things for sale to get it do this, FM tuners, tape adapters, etc.)

Any player with a line-out can be hooked up to an fm transmitter, a tape adapter, or a head unit with a line-in. That last is the best-sounding option. You don't need the ipod specifically to do this, though it's not surprising that its proponents are sufficiently lacking in technological common sense to know this... ;)

LOL yes we're all lacking in technological common sense... please keep insulting us because we're not like you. Obviously any "line out" can be connected to a "line in." Please though, I'm an engineer, I'm lacking in technological common sense, someone help me.

Want a cookie? I'm talking about general trends amongs its users & proponents, not you specifically. Sorry to burst your balloon, but you're only one person. Pull your head out of the clouds - and anything else it might be in - and try to pay attention. Common sense, backed up by observation, tells me that the player which appeals to the lowest common denominator, with its simple UI (simple in part thanks to having no features) and its manufactured appeal to kids and fashion idiots ($$ + TV = anything you want), will have the least tech savvy users.
 

Safeway

Lifer
Jun 22, 2004
12,081
9
81
I am a three time iPod lover. About to be four time. The Creative is a sh!tty wanna-be ... I mean, have you USED the Creative? They make a mockery of the touch pad idea they stole from Apple. The full size Zen is a pain in the arse to organize so file browsing can only take 2 minutes. You must structure your files perfectly or you'll be scrolling for days.
 

sjgmoney

Senior member
Apr 28, 2004
219
0
0
I guess I should have been clearer, or actually I guess I should understand better (bad english, I know, I know): On thesee players is there a separate line out interface besides the head phone plug? My old mp3 player simply used the headphone jack as a line out and there was mucho distortion.

It sounds like the Ipod has this separate line out (please confirm), do the others also?

Thanks
 

Gurck

Banned
Mar 16, 2004
12,963
1
0
Originally posted by: sjgmoney
I guess I should have been clearer, or actually I guess I should understand better (bad english, I know, I know): On thesee players is there a separate line out interface besides the head phone plug? My old mp3 player simply used the headphone jack as a line out and there was mucho distortion.

It sounds like the Ipod has this separate line out (please confirm), do the others also?

Thanks

Yes, most have a seperate line-out. In the ipod's case, the line-out is the only output that's any good, though most other players offer high quality through both outputs for a lower price. I guess higher quality components would have cut into Bono's salary and their advertising budget too much :)
 

KoolDrew

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
10,226
7
81
My cousin had a Creative and the HD crapped out on him so he had to return it. He bought an ipod instead and likes it better.
 

loic2003

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2003
3,844
0
0
Originally posted by: Gurck
Yes, most have a seperate line-out. In the ipod's case, the line-out is the only output that's any good, though most other players offer high quality through both outputs for a lower price. I guess higher quality components would have cut into Bono's salary and their advertising budget too much :)

Original.

Of course you neglect to mention that U2 did the advertising campaign for free, even though you have been informed about this several times, but hey, who cares about detail?

Again you whine about the sound quality. Remember that these devices are ---->P-O-R-T-A-B-L-E<---- and so all of them will come with small earbud and not ear-encasing headphones so any minor difference in sound quality is negated by background noise. Who's going to lug around a huge set of headphones with their dinky player? You miss the point of these devices.

If sound quality is of that much importance why don't you just buy a portable CD player? Then you can have your massive headphones plugged into your CD player and also have a pouch of CDs strapped to your belt.

Or.... you could have a 12V car battery in a backpack and have a 12V -> 240VAC converter in there plugged into a £2000 amp with an LP player connected to it. Then you could plug in some £500 headphones and enjoy near perfect sound ;)
 

Gurck

Banned
Mar 16, 2004
12,963
1
0
Originally posted by: loic2003
Originally posted by: Gurck
Yes, most have a seperate line-out. In the ipod's case, the line-out is the only output that's any good, though most other players offer high quality through both outputs for a lower price. I guess higher quality components would have cut into Bono's salary and their advertising budget too much :)

Original.

Of course you neglect to mention that U2 did the advertising campaign for free, even though you have been informed about this several times, but hey, who cares about detail?

Again you whine about the sound quality. Remember that these devices are ---->P-O-R-T-A-B-L-E<---- and so all of them will come with small earbud and not ear-encasing headphones so any minor difference in sound quality is negated by background noise. Who's going to lug around a huge set of headphones with their dinky player? You miss the point of these devices.

If sound quality is of that much importance why don't you just buy a portable CD player? Then you can have your massive headphones plugged into your CD player and also have a pouch of CDs strapped to your belt.

Or.... you could have a 12V car battery in a backpack and have a 12V -> 240VAC converter in there plugged into a £2000 amp with an LP player connected to it. Then you could plug in some £500 headphones and enjoy near perfect sound ;)

I was pretty obviously being facetious, but the truth is we have no idea what kind of money changed hands regardless of what we're told. As politicians have taught us for hundreds of years, what people say often isn't true. Most of us learn this by the time we're 15 or so...

Who's whining about sound quality? I made an honest statement about it and you come back with 'sound quality isn't important'... In which case, why pay more for the ipod? But that's a question you obviously can't answer, since you've failed to do so despite having numerous opportunities in this thread. There's no rule against using a DAP at home, in the office, or in other quiet places, which your whiny, childish "P-O-R-T-A-B-L-E" comment obviously doesn't take into account. Further, a mere $60 will get you some great canalphones - Shure ec2s - which offer excellent isolation and small size - smaller than most earbuds.

Why lug around a portable CD player when most non-Apple DAPs will play flac &amp; ogg? Flac is lossless (CD quality) and ogg, while lossy, sounds better than mp3 and aac. On portable amps, there are many options, and none require a car battery or have a 4 digit price tag - generally a few 9v's.

Your post displayed an astonishing lack of knowledge about electronics and sound, not to mention a good bit of immaturity. It's not surprising you like the ipod to the point of flaming people in its defense. If build quality, sound quality, price, and features aren't enough to sway a prospective ipod buyer toward a better &amp; less expensive DAP, your post surely should do the trick - thanks :)
 

loic2003

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2003
3,844
0
0
Originally posted by: Gurck
I was pretty obviously being facetious, but the truth is we have no idea what kind of money changed hands regardless of what we're told. As politicians have taught us for hundreds of years, what people say often isn't true. Most of us learn this by the time we're 15 or so...
They get revenue from the U2 iPod (and of course the music on it + itms downloads), so if you want to pay for Bono + chums you can. Otherwise, you don't. Just because you were wrong, it doesn't mean apple are liars!

Originally posted by: Gurck
Further, a mere $60 will get you some great canalphones - Shure ec2s - which offer excellent isolation and small size - smaller than most earbuds.
So you slate the iPods for being what, $70 more but then you suggest blowing $60 if you get a cheapo player because otherwise you won't be able to tell any difference in sound quality? What a saving. Do mom and pop fork out for your earphones? ;)


Originally posted by: Gurck
Why lug around a portable CD player when most non-Apple DAPs will play flac &amp; ogg? Flac is lossless (CD quality) and ogg, while lossy, sounds better than mp3 and aac.
Um.... you "forgot" to mention apple lossless encoding that plays on the iPod and iPod mini: link
Furthermore iTunes does it all for you; it's 3 clicks away.

By the by, have you seen that you can play your iPod through the new BMWs? Companies associating with apple and the iPods include: Bose, HP, Altec Lansing, JBL and BMW: iPods aren't just for the H4xor k1dd13s market as you claim!

Immaturity? Quite obviously I was posting in a light hearted, tongue-in-cheek manner as you were previously. Stop being so defensive. I wasn't really serious about the car battery/amp rig either, in case you think I was... but if you do put together a setup like I suggested, do post pics :D

Why do you dress your dog?
 

Taejin

Moderator<br>Love & Relationships
Aug 29, 2004
3,271
0
0
Originally posted by: loic2003
Originally posted by: Gurck
Yes, most have a seperate line-out. In the ipod's case, the line-out is the only output that's any good, though most other players offer high quality through both outputs for a lower price. I guess higher quality components would have cut into Bono's salary and their advertising budget too much :)

Original.

Of course you neglect to mention that U2 did the advertising campaign for free, even though you have been informed about this several times, but hey, who cares about detail?

Again you whine about the sound quality. Remember that these devices are ---->P-O-R-T-A-B-L-E<---- and so all of them will come with small earbud and not ear-encasing headphones so any minor difference in sound quality is negated by background noise. Who's going to lug around a huge set of headphones with their dinky player? You miss the point of these devices.

If sound quality is of that much importance why don't you just buy a portable CD player? Then you can have your massive headphones plugged into your CD player and also have a pouch of CDs strapped to your belt.

Or.... you could have a 12V car battery in a backpack and have a 12V -> 240VAC converter in there plugged into a £2000 amp with an LP player connected to it. Then you could plug in some £500 headphones and enjoy near perfect sound ;)



Lol, do you even listen to your music? If you had an ear worth having, you would immediately recognize the difference between a 5 dollar Apple earbud to a 50 dollar Sony MDR EX71SL -> 180 dollar Shure e3c and up.

Small sound difference? Puhleez. Huge quality difference, huge clarity difference, and the basic sound starts with the DAP, my friend. Don't go spreading your ignorance to people who haven't bought a DAP, and attempting to ruin any future enjoyment and exploration they might do with their player.

Haha..."and so all of them will come with small earbud and not ear-encasing headphones so any minor differences in sound quality is negated by background noise".. Either you speak out of total absence of knowledge, or you shouldn't be listening to music with that ear of yours, because obviously everything sounds like a single note beep to you..

And fyi, from the forums I've been to on DAPs, the Rio Karma is reported to have the best output for music. Creative and iRiver comes in second, while the iPod is last. Subjective, and the positions among the last 3 may switch from user to user, but I am pretty sure that the Karma has the best sound quality if that's what your priority is.
 

loic2003

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2003
3,844
0
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Originally posted by: Taejin
Lol, do you even listen to your music? If you had an ear worth having, you would immediately recognize the difference between a 5 dollar Apple earbud to a 50 dollar Sony MDR EX71SL -> 180 dollar Shure e3c and up.

Small sound difference? Puhleez. Huge quality difference, huge clarity difference, and the basic sound starts with the DAP, my friend. Don't go spreading your ignorance to people who haven't bought a DAP, and attempting to ruin any future enjoyment and exploration they might do with their player.

Haha..."and so all of them will come with small earbud and not ear-encasing headphones so any minor differences in sound quality is negated by background noise".. Either you speak out of total absence of knowledge, or you shouldn't be listening to music with that ear of yours, because obviously everything sounds like a single note beep to you..

And fyi, from the forums I've been to on DAPs, the Rio Karma is reported to have the best output for music. Creative and iRiver comes in second, while the iPod is last. Subjective, and the positions among the last 3 may switch from user to user, but I am pretty sure that the Karma has the best sound quality if that's what your priority is.

So your point is if you blow more cash on earphones then they will sound better. Huge suprise there, then. Of course, none of the products actually ship with these super-expensive ultra-great earphones you talk of. Even the rio Karma in all it's glory only ships with a £5 pair of mx300's like these. (where's the background noise suppression?!).
Why are you comparing $180 earphones to those shipped with the products?

If I were to be as dramatic as you'd I'd say to stop spreading your lies and using FUD to confuse and frighten people into buying an inferior product which I've read has a tendancy to break (dodgy scroll wheels that you can't use with one smooth motion).

The Rio Karma also has a cheap plastic look to it, coupled with a 90 day warranty, so you can be sure the manufactures hold lots of confidence in the tasty piece of kit :disgust:

Well done for going to the forums, I'm proud of you. Of course, you don't accept what I say which is fair enough. Don't expect me to accept what you claim, however, especially when your source of 'knowlege' is some kid who likes his new christmas prezzie ;)

Interestingly, I was checking out the new iriver gear and yet again their website is screwed. See if it works for you:
quality
 

Taejin

Moderator<br>Love & Relationships
Aug 29, 2004
3,271
0
0
"and so all of them will come with small earbud and not ear-encasing headphones so any minor differences in sound quality is negated by background noise"
- loic2003

My bad, I thought you meant that earbuds didn't really affect sound quality, but it seems that either I can't understand what you mean, or you can't articulate yourself clearly. I prefer the latter over the former but.. ^_~
Again, my purpose in quoting you was to disprove the fact you stated that sound quality wasn't important on DAPs. You went as far as to say "Again you whine about the sound quality. Remember that these devices are ---->P-O-R-T-A-B-L-E<---- and so all of them will come with small earbud and not ear-encasing headphones so any minor difference in sound quality is negated by background noise." I'm keeping you from spreading your lies and telling people reading this thread that quality DOES matter on DAPs, and that not everyone wants the smallest DAP possible when one a wee bit bigger would provide better sound quality. My iRiver is the size of my freaking wallet, why do I give two shits whether another DAP is slightly smaller or not? it's plenty portable - I can think about sound quality.

I never claimed that the Rio Karma had a bad scroll wheel or not. I am totally ignorant concerning these matters, because I have *never owned a Rio Karma*. What I did claim was that I had seen reviews by other audiophiles that seemed to generally support the fact that they thought the sound coming out of the Rio Karma was the best. I don't care whether it has a dodgy scroll wheel or not, I merely stated what I consider to be reliable opinions. Why don't you go asking around at head-fi or some other audiophile forum? Those forums are far more reliable than you will ever be - same as the way any newb would ask around anandtech forums for reliable hardware help, so would one new to higher-quality music would go asking around at head-fi. Of course, you seem to love your opinions very much, so I suggest you stick with your worthless 200+ dollar paperweight and tell yourself that the scroll wheel is worth that much.


Don't be a snivelling idiot and put words in my mouth. I never asked for any presents this year, and thus I never received any. I work in an undergraduate lab and bought my own DAP, and my own earbuds (Shure e3c), after considerable use of the Sony MDR-EX71SL.

And I don't understand how you got to your link. Did you make it up? Why don't you try www.iriver.co.kr and check out the H10's. Works perfectly fine for me - but I guess anyone who can't operate anything marginally more difficult than an iPod would have difficulty reasoning anything out.

EDIT: And this post is tongue in cheek too! (Juuuust like yours) So don't say I'm defensive ^_~.
 

Gurck

Banned
Mar 16, 2004
12,963
1
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So spending $100 more for much lower sound quality is ok, but spending $60 more for much higher sound quality isn't? :confused: Want to tell me where in the commercials it told you that, or did you actually come up with this little gem of hypocrisy &amp; bad money management on your own?

On apple's lossless vs. flac, I think the benefits of using a more popular &amp; widely supported standard are self-explanatory. Suppose you get a better player? That's right, it's re-encoding time. Using iTunes, if you can get past all the bugs it has when trying to manage a large collection, doesn't result in the same sound quality &amp; error-free music that using EAC plus a better format / encoder does.

I believe some Rios don't come with the standard cheap earbuds, but rather the less expensive Sennheiser buds, correct me if I'm wrong on that.

An ipod lover hasn't a leg to stand on concerning looks &amp; build of the player - it doesn't get much worse than tacky white plastic &amp; gaudy lights. The thing looks like something only a child could love. Which, of course, most do... Then you have this problem with the minis. But hey, at least the money they save on cheap build quality gets passed on to the cust... er... oh, wait a minute...

You've still failed to answer the question of why the ipod is worth $100 more than other players which do the same thing (but with higher sound quality &amp; better battery life) or a few bucks more than players with those qualities and other features, such as a line-in, recording capability, FM tuner, and universal mass storage standard support.

**SPOILERS**
It's because money doesn't grow on trees. I know most of you little "omgz teh ipod iz rulz!!1!1oneone" brats don't understand that, so I'll repeat it - Money doesn't grow on trees. Apple had to make the choice between advertising on TV (expensive enough as it is) and during the baseball playoffs (just insanely, ridiculously expensive - you know how many millions of dollars 30 seconds during sports playoffs fetches?) and providing quality for a decent price. They chose the former, and seeing as how most consumers are stupid and believe everything they hear on TV, it was a good choice - as a business. The actual product, however, is a piece of siht. I like to think that, as a tech-centered community, AT is more intelligent than average and sees through advertising bullshit... Unfortunately, many posters here continue to prove me wrong. Here's another example of a company which utilizes the Apple Business Strategy - Bose.

Last little gem - "Why do you dress your dog?" - I don't, where'd you get that idea? He sure is adorable though, isn't he? What does my dog have to do with digital audio players, by the way? Or are you just changing the subject in an attempt to detract focus from how wrong and unknowledgeable you are concerning digital audio players and indeed, sound &amp; electronics in general? :)