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Sound quality difference between various mp3 players

ibex333

ibex333

Diamond Member
Does anyone know if there is a significant difference between different mp3 players when it comes to sound quality provided they are all paired with identical pairs of quality headphones?

will a Rio S30S sound worse than an Apple iPod? Will a Sandisk Sansa sound as good as Zune HD or Creative Labs Zen?
 
Yes, there are big differences. Cowon is touted as one of the best sounding brands out there now. Apple is designed for the mass market, and if you're picky about sound you'll be able to tell their stuff is generally lacking balance. I hear the Zune sound is pretty good,and I wasn't impressed with my Creative mp3 player when I had it.

The huge caveat here is that everybodys ears are different. Stuff that sounds good to me might not work for you. For that reason I'd go with something that gets good reviews in the sound quality department, and has a customizeable equalizer. That way you can tweak it how you want it.

And of course you should get some semi-decent headphones.
 
Do you know any good websites where I can see reviews and comparisons between various mp3 players? I am trying to find something that's:

a)Relatively small
b)Has a large amount of memory for it's size
c)Can stay securely on my arm with an armband during jogging/running/gym workouts
d)Has an easy to use program for mp3 uploads from PC. I absolutely hate the iPod's itunes software and it's "Libraries" BS.
e)Has good to very good sound quality.
 
My question is what is your audio equipment going to be for listening? I imagine earbuds/headphones?

I'd probably read up on Head Fi if you're really concerned with quality
 
Yeah Head Fi is a good one. I'd also check out anythingbutipod.com for reviews on players AND headphones. DAPreview isn't bad either.
 
DLeRium said:
My question is what is your audio equipment going to be for listening? I imagine earbuds/headphones?

I'd probably read up on Head Fi if you're really concerned with quality
Click to expand...

i always wondered the same thing, and have tried a billion different headphones to find one i like the sound out of. that said, i had my sons zuneHD at my friends custom shop one day. one of his customers had just replaced an amp in his vwbug and he was tuning it down for lower sub bass or something and i noticed he was using his ipod nano as the source. we started talking about souond quality and stuff, and eventually i put the zuneHD on it. sounded friggin awesome. this was no regular custom system, he has 2500w worth of amps, high end speakers everywhere and has won shows with this system. it is one of the best souonding systems ive ever heard. while i could tell a difference between the zunehd and the nano, it wasnt a huge difference. the nano was a bit flatter and lacking the highs, and the bass was a bit fuzzier and didnt give crisp sound. we also tried some creative mp3 player another guy (the tinter) used while he worked and it sounded like crap. a lot could be chalked up to recording level, but there wass a definite sound difference.

i was impressed with the sound of the nano as well as the zuneHD
 
+1 for Cowon being the best sound. I just couldn't stand the sound on my iPhone. And after going through Sandisk (which is quite good), Zune and iriver, I settled on Cowon as the best sound, especially with their BBE.

Love my current Cowon S9 :]

IMG_0259_resize.jpg
 
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Deeko said:
I've actually read that the Sansa Clips have among the best sound quality out there....
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They probably have the best SQ of shit you can buy at Best Buy, but that's hardly the majority of what's available. Don't get me wrong, I've had Sansas before and they're by far the best bang-for-your-buck mp3 players anywhere but I found the SQ lacking a bit. Still beating Apple but that's not hard.
 
gorcorps said:
They probably have the best SQ of shit you can buy at Best Buy, but that's hardly the majority of what's available. Don't get me wrong, I've had Sansas before and they're by far the best bang-for-your-buck mp3 players anywhere but I found the SQ lacking a bit. Still beating Apple but that's not hard.
Click to expand...

I specifically mean the Clip though. I had a Sansa e260, it was decent, but the cheap Clip player is supposed to be considerably better.
 
The chip they use with Sansa Clip and Fuze is quite good, but overall the EQ is a bit lacking vs Cowon.
 
zerogear said:
The chip they use with Sansa Clip and Fuze is quite good, but overall the EQ is a bit lacking vs Cowon.
Click to expand...

And yet the Cowon costs much, much more. I did a lot of research, and settled on the Sansa Clip + Meelectronics earbuds thanks to everyone who posted in this thread. This combo will be perfect for my workouts. ; )
 
Headphones are far more important, but given identical speakers/headphones then anything but iPod (though the Shuffle is OK).
 
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