Spec me an mp3 player

Hi James,

I have had my D2 for a year now and after using Sennheiser MX500's which I found disappointing, I have since used PMX100's for a few months and PX100's which I have found a substantial improvement. Are PX100's low impedance or high? I have considered buying iGrado's also. I don't like IEM's as I'm worried I will damage my hearing with them.
 
Big Kev said:
For that price, the Sony NWZA818 8G is supposed to have the best sound quality available for under £100 mate.
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ive got that sony and it's awsome.
i pod's for me tend to be a tad bit over rated and personally i dont want to buy something from apple because everyone else has got one.
buy the sony m8.
 
HamZilla said:
Hi James,

I have had my D2 for a year now and after using Sennheiser MX500's which I found disappointing, I have since used PMX100's for a few months and PX100's which I have found a substantial improvement. Are PX100's low impedance or high? I have considered buying iGrado's also. I don't like IEM's as I'm worried I will damage my hearing with them.
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Senn px100's? they are 32ohm mate which is fine really. its hard to quantify the difference the impedance will make when you are talking about earphones vs headphones, especially as the mx500's arent all that great anyway. its far more apparent when you move from a player that has no problems with low impedance loads (like the h10 or old skool irivers) and then to the D2 - its obvious straight away that something is missing. or moving from the d2 to a different player using the same earphones. again its right in your face.

there's a detailed thread on iaudiophile on the issue here: http://www.iaudiophile.net/forums/showthread.php?t=16317&highlight=impedance (just so people cant accuse me of making this up lol)

Measurements were taken with a calibrated true RMS meter with 0.1mV resolution and 0.5% accuracy @ 50mS sampling intervals.

Remember we're trying to get a 0 dBu line level output, 1mW. (0 dBm = 1kHz @ 0.775mVAC RMS @ 600 ohm)

EQ 0/0/0/0/0, all processing off.

Source: 1kHz test tone @ 0 dBu, 16-bit PCM @ 44.1kHz, converted to Flac.

Results:
Code: 
==================================================
== Load  == Volume == Voltage (AC RMS / dBm) ==
===============================================
== 16 Ω  ==   45   ==     290mV  / -8.53     ==
== 16 Ω  ==   46   ==     326mV  / -7.51     ==
== 16 Ω  ==   47   ==     366mV  / -6.51     ==
== 16 Ω  ==   48   ==     410mV  / -5.52     ==
== 16 Ω  ==   49   ==     518mV  / -3.49     ==
== 16 Ω  ==   50   ==     659mV  / -1.41     ==
===============================================
== 120 Ω ==   45   ==     332mV  / -7.36     ==
== 120 Ω ==   46   ==     372mV  / -6.37     ==
== 120 Ω ==   47   ==     417mV  / -5.40     ==
== 120 Ω ==   48   ==     466mV  / -4.41     ==
== 120 Ω ==   49   ==     587mV  / -2.42     ==
== 120 Ω ==   50   ==     736mV  / -0.44     ==
===============================================
== 600 Ω ==   45   ==     336mV  / -7.25     ==
== 600 Ω ==   46   ==     376mV  / -6.27     ==
== 600 Ω ==   47   ==     422mV  / -5.27     ==
== 600 Ω ==   48   ==     471mV  / -4.34     ==
== 600 Ω ==   49   ==     593mV  / -2.33     ==
== 600 Ω ==   50   ==     746mV  / -0.32     ==
===============================================
== 51k Ω ==   45   ==     337mV  / -7.25     ==
== 51k Ω ==   46   ==     377mV  / -6.27     ==
== 51k Ω ==   47   ==     423mV  / -5.27     ==
== 51k Ω ==   48   ==     472mV  / -4.30     ==
== 51k Ω ==   49   ==     596mV  / -2.27     ==
== 51k Ω ==   50   ==     750mV  / -0.28     ==
===============================================
== 100kΩ ==   45   ==     337mV  / -7.25     ==
== 100kΩ ==   46   ==     377mV  / -6.27     ==
== 100kΩ ==   47   ==     423mV  / -5.27     ==
== 100kΩ ==   48   ==     472mV  / -4.30     ==
== 100kΩ ==   49   ==     596mV  / -2.27     ==
== 100kΩ ==   50   ==     750mV  / -0.28     ==
===============================================
==  0 Ω  ==   45   ==     340mV  / -7.15     ==
==  0 Ω  ==   46   ==     381mV  / -6.18     ==
==  0 Ω  ==   47   ==     428mV  / -5.15     ==
==  0 Ω  ==   48   ==     477mV  / -4.23     ==
==  0 Ω  ==   49   ==     603mV  / -2.19     ==
==  0 Ω  ==   50   ==     758mV  / -0.19     ==
===============================================


Obvious Observation 1: Be critical in your distortion listening tests. Don't set the volume to one step below maximum just because you think that full volume is obviously distorted. It might not be. Otherwise it's much lower than a line level source. LISTEN.

Obvious Observation 2: Hmm. The output @ 16 Ω is quite a bit shy of 37mW/ch.

.....click the link to read the rest
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the tests show you just how the power drops with typical 16ohm earphone (by 12 percent! over a 12ohm load). now normally you'd think its not a problem - the d2 is a powerful player anyway. but it translates into poor performance at the bottom where the impedance of a set of earphones can drop off towards 16omh or low, and thats where the player struggles. you can see from the tests tha he did do that the player was most at home with the 51ohm tests. unfortunately he didnt test 32ohm but you can be assured it will perform better than it would with 16ohm. people have reported some success using an inload resistor. i forget the correct name but basically it increases the impedance of the earphones you use it with at the expense of some volume. some earphone responded very well, other not so well.

a little off topic, i did some comparisons of my iphone and my sony using rmaa. the iphone actually comfortably wins just about every test - its better in other words. but where it falls flat on its face is when the eq comes in to use - apple have always been crap at implementing equalisers. shame really. the amusing thing is, the distortion problems that everybody's getting with the apple players can be solved (well, 95%) by reducing the playback volume in itunes (doesnt actually alter the music file) to about 85% before syncing. that goes to show right there that it's a software problem that apple are not prepared to fix.
 
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I came so close just now to getting rid of my iPod Touch, I ejected it using iTunes and for some reason 15Gb worth of music had vanished.

I've had this happen once before, well similar anyway and if it happens again Apple can **** off.
 
Jihad said:
I came so close just now to getting rid of my iPod Touch, I ejected it using iTunes and for some reason 15Gb worth of music had vanished.

I've had this happen once before, well similar anyway and if it happens again Apple can **** off.
Click to expand...

Similar thing happened to me yesterday. When I loaded up iTunes, it suddenly reverted to a "first run" state and asked to configure preferences and the music library had lost a load of playlists I'd configured and had removed the music from the library and I had no idea why.

I also, foolishly, ticked the box to let iTunes organise and sort my music. All I can say is it completely destroyed my meticulous folder organisation I'd set up.

The saving grace is that the actual hardware is so aesthetically pleasing and easy to use.

If I were to buy a new player, I'd probably consider the Cowon players since they can play a huge variety of formats and have an FM radio.
 
I would suggest the iriver H320/340 for great sound quality and features, but they have been discontinued for 2 yeras :( . I will be so sad when mine eventually dies.
 
The NWZ-A816 is just the 4GB version of the A818 so they have identical everything except for the memory capacity. :)
 
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