Newbie question about mp3 players and sound?

[colinuk]

If i have an ipod and a creative and a cowon s9, playing the same track from the same mp3 with the same headphones, am i going to hear anything different from one to the other.

Or is it the quality of the headphones and the quality of the mp3 that matter the most?

I ask as i am after a good mp3 player for 200-250 quid, but not sure what to get and some people have told me its the headphones that matter, not the player as the dax player is all the same... which im not 100% sure about.

Any advice?

TYIA

ColiNfr.

 

[Big Kev]

It's a combination of three mate, the player, the headphones and the quality of the MP3.

Out of those 3, the S9 would be the best with regards sound quality, although the Sony X1060, which I own, is regarded as being on par, if not slightly better than the Cowon.

The stock headphones will be ok, but in order to get the best out of the player, you do need some decent phones, but the really good ones are as dear, if not dearer than the player.

It depends upon your requirements for your player, as to whether you'd have enough money left for some good headphones mate, as you could go a Sansa Clip, which is very small in capacity and extra's etc, but very cheap, or if you go S9 or X1060, then your budget will be gone.

 

[colinuk]

Thank you for the reply.

to be honest i think 90% of the features of these mp3 players would be wasted on me, all i need is something i can store songs on and listen to at work. I dont need a big screen or touch screen or wifi ect. Just a decent size hdd and good sound output via headphones.

People at work keep telling me go for the ipod, but to be honest, ive had nothing but issues with apple in the past, so looking for others.

I will have a look at the Sony X1060 - thank you.

ColiN

 

[Razor-BladE]

The Sony NWZ-S639 gets good reviews and costs only sub £100 for the 16gb version. That's the one i'm gonna be getting. Then you can spend more of your budget depending on how much you have, on better headphones.

 

[mattyfez]

I recently got a sansa clip 4gb, very happy with audio quality, but i ditched the stock headphones.

Another plus is it supports FLAC files as well.