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[Bluey]

I have a Creative Zen 20gig player and to be honest I find the sound quality
cold and sterile, even when it goes through my amp (I'm told that the Zen
actually has better quality than the Ipod!).  If I play the same file through
my PC and Hi FI while switching with my mixer and the Zen, I can hear the difference.
When I start to crank up the EQ and other audio fx on my PC then it really is
a sad state of affairs for the portable player.

Is it the lame DA converters, or the signal to noise ratio ?  I also found that the
EQ setting on the Zen a total joke, with many presets simply distorting the sound
because of bad interpolation and subsequent clipping.

However if I get a top of the line portable CD player at a moderate price, I know that
it is going to sound better than what I have heard so far from portable players.  They
even have nice bass boast functions, EQ, spatialisation functions , which are hardly
comparable to the Zen.

I'm quite fed up with reading reviews by unqualified writers, both in the popular PC press and internet. They are more interested in interface, size and functionality.

So which is the best portable player for sound quality, with good audio fx also ?

Thanks.
Bluey.

[MarSies]

Hi Bluey

I have an IRiver iHP-140 and a 60 GB iPod. The iRiver has a far better sound quality compared to the iPod. To my opinion there is no portable player with a real good sound quality. There are very few audiophile buyers so why wast money on that. If there was a real good audiophile player I would certainly buy it.

A few things:

• The DA converters are a joke. If they could crank that up it would be great.
• Things like compressing music make it sound like it's being squeezed through something.
• Get a good headphone, a bigger difference then better DA converters.

Now it's only about usability. Handling more then a thousand songs on a portable player requires some thinking and management. The PC, ergonimic, design and audio world have to work together to make it work. It seems that to me that so far the design world has won the battle and they get the most money to make a new device.

To me the iRiver is the best!!

Marsies .....

[Bluey]

I have just seen the spec on the X-Fi new soundcards from Creative.

What is interesting is the S/N ratio and DA convertors on the card, but
also the 24 bit output "Chrystaliser" claims and headphone fx i've read
in some reviews.  It does sound awesome.

What i've heard though is that X-Fi Processing will be introduced into
later models of portable players.  So I expect maybe 18 months
before we see this.

Something has to distinguish the portable player market, its all just
a very much of a muchness lately.

Bluey.