portable mp3 players... playback quality

[ThriceNightly]

do all mp3 players provide roughly the same playback quality or are some better than others.

as well as listening to them with earphones i also occasionally like to hook up to my hifi (denon3803 and monito audio silvers)

any reccomendations for a good performing player?

ps i currently have a creative nuvo 256 which sounds great but is lacking storage space.

 

[Jimbo Mahoney]

I bought a Creative Zen Xtra 40GB partly because of its sound quality.

I think they do vary, especially the small SS ones (probably not enough space for you though).

You could also think about picking up a headphone amp, like a Chu Moy (sometimes listed as cmoy on the auction site).

http://www.dansdata.com/cmoy.htm

I run my Creative without any EQ or EAX through something like that, then to pair of Sennhesier HD25sp's (closed phones) and the sound is pretty sweet. That's my main portable device, although I recently got a Samsung YP-Z5 for running and generally having it with me all the time:

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/2006/03/samsung-ypz5-review.php

It doesn't have a customisable EQ, but the sound quality is pretty good. 4GB and it's really small! It also acts like a removeable drive - something my Zen Xtra doesn't and I find it much nicer than using software and drivers.

The latest gen iPods are supposed to have decent sound quality too. When I bought my Creative Zen, the iPods hadn't been around long and were really expensive and known for their mediochre sound quality, but I think the later gen ones got sorted.

HTH.