mp3 player + headphones recommendation

[Damphire]

Hi. I wanna buy some mid-priced mp3 or mp4 player because I'm traveling a lot lately. The criteria: sound quality.

I considering the Sony NWZ-S616 with Creative EP-630 in ear headphones but I don't have any experience with these products. Have any of you tried them? for that price range do you have another recommendation?

Thanks

PS: Not precisely a topic related question but I figured you guys should know about audio quality ;-)

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

I haven't got any firsthand experience, but I've heard from numerous sources that the Sandisk Sansa players are pretty great sound quality -wise considering the price. I have a Creative Zen with Koss Sparkplugs myself. The Sparkplugs are pretty nice (and cheap), but you really need a player that can EQ some of the low end away with them.

 

[Metaltastic]

Umm...ipod?

 

[Damphire]

Umm...ipod?

Not a big fan of Ipods, too expensive and "trendy"

 

[jrt12]

+1 on Creative Labs products... great features, great sound and more affordable than Apple. I have a 30 gig Zen Vision (mp3, video, radio and recorder) and I love it. I paid $200 for it two years ago. 30 GIG for $200!! kicks Apples ass anyday

 

[Joematthews]

I think my creative zen is possibly the best mp3 player around at the moment. Its light, thin and looks good. The sound is good and it is really cheap... and the best part.... I brought mine for £50 with 4gb of memory, and went to amazon and brought an sd card for £10. Now I have a 12gb mp3 player for £60.

It doesn't have games and shit but it doesn't bother me because I have better things to do with my time.

As for headphones... I dunno, just make sure you get some non stock ones if you get the zen becasue the ones that come with it are shite.

Joe

 

[oscillat0r]

Not sure if all Sansa products are the same sound-quality wise but I went from a Sansa connect to an original 30gb Zune and the Zune p4wn3d the Sansa with the same WMA source material.

If you get a Sony product then you should be okay w/headphones as I've really liked the earbuds that came with my walkman phones in the past.

That said, if you want to spend a little extra I'd recommend a set of Grado headphones (about $70). They're open-air, so not as small as buds and not great for a plane as there is no isolation but they are comfortable to wear for a long time and they sound phenomenal. I wear mine at work most of the day.

They are pretty lightweight and are surprisingly compact (the earphones swivel all the way around)


Jesse

 

[oscillat0r]

I seem to kill threads. is it my breath?

 

[Damphire]

Thank you for your opinions but the issue is now suspended due to financial problems XD. I won't be buying anything until next month (damn you crisis!!!)

 

[oscillat0r]

Thank you for your opinions but the issue is now suspended due to financial problems XD. I won't be buying anything until next month (damn you crisis!!!)

I know the feeling - just found out I owe the government two and half grand...and they won't accept my first born.

That's why I'm trying to live vicariously through everyone else's purchases for the next few months.

 

[xMannequiNx]

Not a big fan of Ipods, too expensive and "trendy"

Thats what I thought too for years...until last year I got one and fucking fell in love lol

 

[jrt12]

well there's more to it then "its trendy", there was the whole DRM thing... which i refused to even touch. so i've never used itunes or any of their products. i konw its gone now, but i dont think you can remove it from any of the mp3s you bought previously, correct? so throw a big middle finger to Jobs and get any of the other brands (i recommend Creative) who dont tie you down to proprietary software.

 

[xMannequiNx]

yeah that is true that you are stuck with itunes, which sucks if you have windows.

and im not sure what your talking about with the mp3s...All my music is in 320 mp3 or V0 mp3 format and they all sync to my ipod with no issues. The only time I had to deal with songs are when I bought them through the itunes store (you have to authorize a computer to use purchased music). And if you have multiple comps with music you can use manual management on your ipod settings where instead of syncing with a computer, it lets you drag and drop all the music and playlists that you want.

 

[oscillat0r]

I feel like I'm going to HAVE to buy an ipod, not to listen to my music necessarily but because its the only thing they make adapters for anymore. Try buying a car stereo with a Zune dock!

 

[jrt12]

nope, there's the universal adapter for ALL systems, the 1/8" headphone jack output --> aux input. most after market car stereos as well as many stock car stereos include the aux input now.

 

[oscillat0r]

yes thats true but

a) you lose a lot of integration. I finally have a car with stereo controls on the steering wheel and i'm going to use them dammit. I hate having mp3 player mounts and stuff stuck to my dash or cables coming out of the front of my stereo. i'm all about integration.

b) gain staging is a bitch - i can never get cd playback and 1/8 input playback at parity w/o adding noise.

(my car has an 1/8" input but its in the glove box, real handy )

 

[xMannequiNx]

but when you have the ipod dock built into the stereo you can use the stereo to navigate instead of looking down at a tiny little screen

EDIT: ^^ too late osc beat me to it lol

 

[jrt12]

ah nice... i love steering wheel controls. thats a good point! i dont know if they can rig those up to after market units or not.

i'm also curious about the Speed Controlled Volume units, if that feature can be adapted to aftermarket stereos or not. those things kick ass

 

[mintcheerios]

For sound quality, battery life, useful firmware upgrades, and features, go with Cowon. Their current flagship player is the S9 (it used to be the D2 which I own). The 32gb version just came out. Battery life is 55 hours. If having a nice screen isn't an issue, the Cowon iAudio 7 player is a good choice.

http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/cowon/s9/

All Cowon players use USB mass storage to load music so no software is required. Every mp3 player should have this.

 

[Joematthews]

Wow, the s9 is a stunning bit of design, looks ace, but from the video I watched the GUI didn't look the greatest.

Joe