What mp3 player should I get?
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Soldato
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Sony players tend to have a lot of hiss once you upgrade to efficient IEMS, so I'd avoid for that reason unless you don't mind it.
Cowons have a lot of flexibility for EQ'ing, which is a love/hate thing on HeadFi.
The Clip has a nice neutral frequency response, but at the same time it's a bit thin sounding and something like a J3 should put a much bigger smile on your face.
I'm currently looking at the Cowon D3 which has just been released abroad, since it looks to have a digital-out, which is something of a holy-grail thing for audio nerds like myself, since it means the player could be paired with a far superior portable DAC/amp combo to the one in the player. I'm currently using a Teclast T:51/Nationite S:Flo2, which is something of an obscure player but offers stunning sound quality at the cost of a basic, fiddly UI and crap battery life. It's fairly cheap but I wouldn't recommend it unless you're prepared to deal with it's quirks in your quest for portable audio nirvana.
Cowons have a lot of flexibility for EQ'ing, which is a love/hate thing on HeadFi.
The Clip has a nice neutral frequency response, but at the same time it's a bit thin sounding and something like a J3 should put a much bigger smile on your face.
I'm currently looking at the Cowon D3 which has just been released abroad, since it looks to have a digital-out, which is something of a holy-grail thing for audio nerds like myself, since it means the player could be paired with a far superior portable DAC/amp combo to the one in the player. I'm currently using a Teclast T:51/Nationite S:Flo2, which is something of an obscure player but offers stunning sound quality at the cost of a basic, fiddly UI and crap battery life. It's fairly cheap but I wouldn't recommend it unless you're prepared to deal with it's quirks in your quest for portable audio nirvana.
Soldato
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Scratch the D3, now it's out... damn... the hardware is ancient and it struggles to run Android properly, can't do HD video without crawling. Oh well. FiiO X3 is next on the list!
Soldato
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They can... if you're prepared to spend lol. My new plan is ridiculous, in true Head-Fi fashion:
iPod Touch > CypherLabs Algorhythm DAC (true digital out from iPod) > Headstage Arrow HE amp > IEMs. Nice and portable *eye roll*
Regular iPod + portable amp setups work well though, it's just the DAC stage is really important and Apple devices have 'okay' ones rather than anything fancy, and you can't bypass it using the line-out, unlike other players with dedicated outputs.
The UI on the Hifiman's is pretty wack. Their battery life also sucks too. Those kind of players are for people who put sound quality above everything else, even usability. I say this as an S:Flo2 owner, who also has to put up with a mediocre, buggy player in order to listen to quality sound.
This hobby is stupid but once you've heard good quality sound on a portable, it's hard to stop resist looking for upgrades.
iPod Touch > CypherLabs Algorhythm DAC (true digital out from iPod) > Headstage Arrow HE amp > IEMs. Nice and portable *eye roll*
Regular iPod + portable amp setups work well though, it's just the DAC stage is really important and Apple devices have 'okay' ones rather than anything fancy, and you can't bypass it using the line-out, unlike other players with dedicated outputs.
The UI on the Hifiman's is pretty wack. Their battery life also sucks too. Those kind of players are for people who put sound quality above everything else, even usability. I say this as an S:Flo2 owner, who also has to put up with a mediocre, buggy player in order to listen to quality sound.
This hobby is stupid but once you've heard good quality sound on a portable, it's hard to stop resist looking for upgrades.
Yup spot on assessment, trouble is they started out using wolfson dac's which are decent, then they had to go ahead and change that obviously for cost cutting.
Though i have a dodgy mk1 nano it'll be nice to give an lod a try i plan on grabbing me the ibasso d12 in the next couple months. I'll be sure to let you know how it is.
Yeah i know about the hifiman, same can be said for the sflo, many have moved onto the cowon s9/j3 and said the ui and screen is a god send.
Why on earth can't someone just get it right, good screen good dac good ui with a decent run time/storage and a line out, it's really not that difficult. I think the cowon d2 got the closest imo.
And yeah tell me about it, the never ending chase for audio nirvana, still i love it
Though i have a dodgy mk1 nano it'll be nice to give an lod a try i plan on grabbing me the ibasso d12 in the next couple months. I'll be sure to let you know how it is.
Yeah i know about the hifiman, same can be said for the sflo, many have moved onto the cowon s9/j3 and said the ui and screen is a god send.
Why on earth can't someone just get it right, good screen good dac good ui with a decent run time/storage and a line out, it's really not that difficult. I think the cowon d2 got the closest imo.
And yeah tell me about it, the never ending chase for audio nirvana, still i love it
Soldato
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Sound quality is a low priority when devices are made to be PMPs and do everything, so it's not really a surprise. The market for a digital audio player is quite small now, and so the only people making DAPs with decent hardware are smaller Chinese companies who don't have the nous or money to develop fancy UIs. I think the D12 has the same DAC as the S:Flo2 (and upcoming FiiO X3), it's just the amp stage of my player that could use ugrading (the LO is also more neutral than the HO). The Hifimans all use even more high-end DACs which I'm dying to hear. Problem with all of them is the components are all power hungry so they chew through players batteries at a rate of knots.
The thing I like about the CypherLabs product is that it will mean I get a reference quality DAC but still get to use a UI that doesn't suck, plus things like smart playlists e.t.c. Size is a bit of a concern but the Arrow and newer Touch are wafer thin. Also means separate power for each stage of the chain, which means charging will be a bit of a bugger but hopefully overall battery life should be better.
Cowon's player's house sound is a bit meh for me. Sure it's flat/neutral but it's also rather thin and dull. You have the BBE EQ on the touch Cowon players but a decent player/phones shouldn't need EQ'ing. My 3GS gets absolutely destroyed by the S:Flo2, which is annoying because it means I have to keep using it. No EQ'ing can change the soundstage, level of microdetail, roll-off e.t.c.
Anyway, portable hifi has come a long way since the days of the iMod! The best hope lies in the East since China has quite the audiophile market and the players are slowly improving in quality.
The thing I like about the CypherLabs product is that it will mean I get a reference quality DAC but still get to use a UI that doesn't suck, plus things like smart playlists e.t.c. Size is a bit of a concern but the Arrow and newer Touch are wafer thin. Also means separate power for each stage of the chain, which means charging will be a bit of a bugger but hopefully overall battery life should be better.
Cowon's player's house sound is a bit meh for me. Sure it's flat/neutral but it's also rather thin and dull. You have the BBE EQ on the touch Cowon players but a decent player/phones shouldn't need EQ'ing. My 3GS gets absolutely destroyed by the S:Flo2, which is annoying because it means I have to keep using it. No EQ'ing can change the soundstage, level of microdetail, roll-off e.t.c.
Anyway, portable hifi has come a long way since the days of the iMod! The best hope lies in the East since China has quite the audiophile market and the players are slowly improving in quality.
Well id say the main bugbear with my s9 is that it can sound a touch sibilant, plus it needs to sound warmer, it can be very cold to listen to at times, i appreciate a sound more like a valve amp.
Least i can roll the opamps to tailor the sound to my liking.
Just had a nose at the x3, oh now that's interesting a dap you can change the dac/amp sections now that does have me very interested, might save me buying the d12 as i run optical from the pc to my denon av1802r anyway.
To the op sorry about this, just two nerds having a natter.
Least i can roll the opamps to tailor the sound to my liking.
Just had a nose at the x3, oh now that's interesting a dap you can change the dac/amp sections now that does have me very interested, might save me buying the d12 as i run optical from the pc to my denon av1802r anyway.
To the op sorry about this, just two nerds having a natter.
Soldato
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You'd quite like the S:Flo2, it sounds quite like what you'd be after. Bit of a faff to use though. The Hifiman 601 and 602 also fit the same bill, although cost a bit more.
Cowon D3 looked to be good but the hardware is basically too old to run the software properly so it's really sluggish. I was hoping I could use the digital out on it but I already have a player that has a sluggish buggy UI lol. I want either a sidestep SQ wise that's easier to use, or something that is uber, which is what this Algorhythm thingy is all about.
Also want some ACS T1 customs haha. Anyone lend me a grand?
Cowon D3 looked to be good but the hardware is basically too old to run the software properly so it's really sluggish. I was hoping I could use the digital out on it but I already have a player that has a sluggish buggy UI lol. I want either a sidestep SQ wise that's easier to use, or something that is uber, which is what this Algorhythm thingy is all about.
Also want some ACS T1 customs haha. Anyone lend me a grand?
I asked this very same question the other day, what mp3 player to get and on these very forums.
My budget, pretty much the same as yours, if not lower. Then I thought, you only live once and bought at 8GB Apple iPod Touch 4th Generation for £170.
It came today and I have to say, It was one of the best purchases I have ever made, I love it!
Therefore I recommend an Apple iPod Touch, 4th Gen!