Looking for a DAP with improved SQ withouth spending much...

[GTaudiophile]

I am looking for a DAP with improved SQ over my SanDisk Sansa.

I am primarily looking at the Cowon iAudio9 ($120) or a Sony Walkman E354 ($70).

Any comments on SQ between these two brands in general?

I guess I was motivated to upgrade recently after listening to music on my Sony Vaio laptop and was really impressed with the sound of the same music with the same IEMs as compared to what was coming out of my Sansa.

 

[gorcorps]

Cowon is a brand known for their SQ. I've had a D2 and now currenty a J3 (which looks like its out of your price range, but still phenomenal). For pure sound quality I would go with Cowon every time, and usually they also have the best battery life in the business. HOWEVER, the iaudio9 in particular has not gotten the best reviews. The battery is rated quite a bit lower than other similar sized Cowon players, and also doesn't have any sort of SD card slot which is another thing I liked about my Cowon players.

If these things are not a dealbreaker for you then I'd go with that. It's also worth noting that Sansas are known for having better than average sound quality anyway, especially for their cost. So it's possible that depending on who you go with it you'll notice a drop in SQ. But if better SQ is what you're aiming for, Cowon is who you have to pick. Just keep in mind that when it comes to SQ you generally get what you pay for. The cheaper iaudio9 is going to behave and sound worse than the pricier J3. They still have very good equalizers and sound enhancements that are MEANT to be played with, so if you don't spend the time playing with the equalizers then you'll be disappointed.

edit: have you happened to check on Rockbox for your Sansa? It's an alternative firmware that's pretty popular on a number of DAPs. I know it runs on a lot of Sansas, just not all of them. You may want to check that out for laughs as the sound quality improvement with Rockbox is impressive. I used to run it years ago on an iRiver device and it made an already impressive sounding player even better.