Best sounding portable MP3 player. (Best SQ)

[GCAdidas13 10+ year member]

I gotcha.

Look for an ARCHOS hard-drive based mp3 player. I have the Recorder 20 (pictured below) and I've had it for about 1 or 2 years. It is a bit big, but it feels solid. The only problem is that you have to be a little more gentle with it, as it has a laptop hard drive in it.

There is a "Freeware" upgrade to the firmware on the unit available at http://www.rockbox.org. It is sweet. Also I should tell you that I run this unit in my stereo and I can say that there is no difference between playing an MP3 song from a disc vs. playing an MP3 song from the player.

Also it is upgradeable to any size, with any notebook hard drive. Right now in mine I have a 60GB hard drive (with 30GB of music on it, 5,664 songs).

As for the headphones go, if you want something that sounds awesome all around (And do not mind earbuds) I would suggest the Sony Fontopia Earbuds (model MDR-EX51LP or similar), shown below as well.

Archos MP3 player:

Earbuds:

 

[ExS 10+ year member]

This is pretty new and cool looking 20gig mp3 player.

 

[iLL-Faded 10+ year member]

This is pretty new and cool looking 20gig mp3 player.

havent seen that, is it coming out?

 

[iLL-Faded 10+ year member]

are the sony earbuds worth the price like 40-150?

 

[GCAdidas13 10+ year member]

are the sony earbuds worth the price like 40-150?

I purchased the earbuds that I posted for $41.99.

And they are **** worth it.

Imagine a pair of earplugs that have speakers in them //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

The lows are unbelievable... I play tones on them down to at least 40 with no need to turn down the volume...

The highs are also unbelievable... quite a few times i've found myself listening to songs that i would normally consider a little harsh with a great amount of enjoyment

 

[ExS 10+ year member]

havent seen that, is it coming out?

I think it's already out.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000BKBHK6/qid=1139419620/sr=8-7/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i7_xgl/026-8388140-5054841

 

[Raven 10+ year member]

SQ out of a portable player is dependant on it's power output. Most of them only do ~80 milliwatts / channel. If you really are concerned about the SQ, get a cheap but reliable MP3 player, and buy a CMOY headphone amp off ebay or just build one. I can tell you from experience that a cheap generic CD player amped sounds better than music directly off my Sound Blaster Live! sound car.

 

[Shugarra 10+ year member]

SQ out of a portable player is dependant on it's power output. Most of them only do ~80 milliwatts / channel. If you really are concerned about the SQ, get a cheap but reliable MP3 player, and buy a CMOY headphone amp off ebay or just build one. I can tell you from experience that a cheap generic CD player amped sounds better than music directly off my Sound Blaster Live! sound car.

QFT

Oh yeah, just like to add that your headphones are going to make a much larger difference in sound quality than the player.

 

[GCAdidas13 10+ year member]

Get Sony Fontopia.

 

[iLL-Faded 10+ year member]

What about the new iRiver? $249.99 for 1 gig

http://www.iriveramerica.com/prod/ultra/u10/U10-1GB.aspx#%22

The remarkable new iriver U10 features an eye-catching, direct-click interface that makes it easy to fly through your media collection and find the right song, video, photo or game. Plus, the iriver U10 works with both subscription and pay-per-song music services, so millions of songs are available to you.

MSRP: $249.99 click here to buy

FEATURES

• Plays music, video, photos and more

• Plays up to 34 hours of music*

• 1GB internal storage**

• Support subscription music services

• Ultra-bright, 2.2" vivid color display

• Stunning direct-click interface

• Up to 28 hours of rechargable battery life

• Music support: MP3/WMA/OGG

• Multimedia support: MPG4 simple profile QVGA (15fps)

Macromedia Flash Lite™ 1.1/non-progressive JPG

• Skip-free listening

• Digital FM tuner

• Integrated voice recorder

• Alarm clock

• Enhanced 3D audio (includes SRS WOW™)

• fast USB 2.0 transfers

• 1 year warranty

PACKED WITH

• iriver earphones

• Installation software CD

• Preloaded tracks from eMusic®

• Preloaded Macromedia Flash Lite™ game

• USB 2.0 transfer cable

• Printed manual

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

• Windows XP (SP1 or higher)

• Windows Media Player 10

• CD-ROM Drive

• USB Port

What's this? >

Item

Category

Specification

General Continuous Playback Time

Approx. 28hours *MP3, 128kbps,

EQ Normal, Vol 20, LCD Off

Connection Type

USB 2.0

Equalizer 10 EQ, User EQ and SRS WOW

Dimensions 2.7” x 1.8” x .6”

Weight 2.50 oz

Operational Temperature -5 ° C ~ 40 ° C

Line In/Out With Cradle only

Display Main Set Display

2.22 inch 260,000 color

QVGA TFT-LCD

Power Supply AC Adaptor DC 5V/2A(optional)

Battery Internal Li-poly rechargeable battery

Audio

Frequency Range 20Hz ~ 20kHz

Headphone Output Power

15mW® + 15mW(L)(16 Ohm)

at Max. Volume

S/N Ratio

90dB : A weighted

No. Channels

Stereo (L+R)

FM Tuner Frequency Range

87.5MHz ~ 108MHz

S/N Ratio

60bB : A weighted

No. Channels

Headphone/Earphone-Cord Antenna

Audio Support Audio File Type

MPEG 1/2/2.5 Layer 3,WMA,ASF,OGG

Bit Rate

MP3, WMA : 8Kbps ~ 320Kbps / OGG : up to Q10

Tag

ID3 V1 Tag, ID3 V2 2.0, ID3 V2 3.0, ID3 V2 4.0

Multimedia support File Type

MPEG4 simple profile QVGA(15fps), Macromedia Flash Player, TXT, non-progressive JPEG

O/S Windows requirement

Windows XP with SP1

 

[HincklNutt 10+ year member]

the new 5th gen video's have an updated eq, and better sq than previous versions. and i never complained with any of the others ive had!(1st gen mini, 3rd gen 10gig, 4th gen 20gig, and now a 30gig 5th gen)

 

[azbass 5,000+ posts]

iAudio X5

 

[adio 5,000+ posts]

What about the new iRiver? $249.99 for 1 gighttp://www.iriveramerica.com/prod/ultra/u10/U10-1GB.aspx#%22

The remarkable new iriver U10 features an eye-catching, direct-click interface that makes it easy to fly through your media collection and find the right song, video, photo or game. Plus, the iriver U10 works with both subscription and pay-per-song music services, so millions of songs are available to you.

MSRP: $249.99 click here to buy

FEATURES

• Plays music, video, photos and more

• Plays up to 34 hours of music*

• 1GB internal storage**

• Support subscription music services

• Ultra-bright, 2.2" vivid color display

• Stunning direct-click interface

• Up to 28 hours of rechargable battery life

• Music support: MP3/WMA/OGG

• Multimedia support: MPG4 simple profile QVGA (15fps)

Macromedia Flash Lite™ 1.1/non-progressive JPG

• Skip-free listening

• Digital FM tuner

• Integrated voice recorder

• Alarm clock

• Enhanced 3D audio (includes SRS WOW™)

• fast USB 2.0 transfers

• 1 year warranty

PACKED WITH

• iriver earphones

• Installation software CD

• Preloaded tracks from eMusic®

• Preloaded Macromedia Flash Lite™ game

• USB 2.0 transfer cable

• Printed manual

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

• Windows XP (SP1 or higher)

• Windows Media Player 10

• CD-ROM Drive

• USB Port

What's this? >

Item

Category

Specification

General Continuous Playback Time

Approx. 28hours *MP3, 128kbps,

EQ Normal, Vol 20, LCD Off

Connection Type

USB 2.0

Equalizer 10 EQ, User EQ and SRS WOW

Dimensions 2.7” x 1.8” x .6”

Weight 2.50 oz

Operational Temperature -5 ° C ~ 40 ° C

Line In/Out With Cradle only

Display Main Set Display

2.22 inch 260,000 color

QVGA TFT-LCD

Power Supply AC Adaptor DC 5V/2A(optional)

Battery Internal Li-poly rechargeable battery

Audio

Frequency Range 20Hz ~ 20kHz

Headphone Output Power

15mW® + 15mW(L)(16 Ohm)

at Max. Volume

S/N Ratio

90dB : A weighted

No. Channels

Stereo (L+R)

FM Tuner Frequency Range

87.5MHz ~ 108MHz

S/N Ratio

60bB : A weighted

No. Channels

Headphone/Earphone-Cord Antenna

Audio Support Audio File Type

MPEG 1/2/2.5 Layer 3,WMA,ASF,OGG

Bit Rate

MP3, WMA : 8Kbps ~ 320Kbps / OGG : up to Q10

Tag

ID3 V1 Tag, ID3 V2 2.0, ID3 V2 3.0, ID3 V2 4.0

Multimedia support File Type

MPEG4 simple profile QVGA(15fps), Macromedia Flash Player, TXT, non-progressive JPEG

O/S Windows requirement

Windows XP with SP1

if this took regular batteries, had 2 gigs and could possibly record from the radio, this would be a fuccin winner!