Audiophile MP3 Player

Posted by: The Strat (Fender) on 07 March 2009

Chaps,

OK for my serious listening at home I choose a dedicated CDP (and vinyl) but when at airports, on trains and banged up in a hotel I make considerable use of an iPod/lossless/Shure 420s and I suspect in my next car whenever that might be there will be an MP3 interface.

Seems to me that the challenge could be on for Naim or whoever to come up with audiophile(ish) MP3 player. It might be slightly bigger to accommodate a better DAC/output stage.

Am I barking up the wrong tree?

Fender (Strat)
Posted on: 07 March 2009 by joe90
Try: iPod/lossless/Shure 420s
Posted on: 08 March 2009 by nap-ster
You could try a LOD with a decent portable headphone amp/DAC in the meantime.
Posted on: 09 March 2009 by Patrick F
Just so you know you can put red book files on a ipod. and high res as well.
Posted on: 10 March 2009 by pcstockton
iPod? Hi-Res??? Really?

Well 24 bit for sure. But I thought they topped out at 48khz.
Posted on: 10 March 2009 by js
Zoom H2/ Shure 530
Posted on: 11 March 2009 by ferenc
quote:
Originally posted by js:
Zoom H2/ Shure 530


Korg MR-1 for sure Smile
Posted on: 11 March 2009 by sbilotta
I use Cowon D2 and lossless audio (or MP3) for when I travel. Great quality !
Posted on: 11 March 2009 by js
quote:
Originally posted by ferenc:
quote:
Originally posted by js:
Zoom H2/ Shure 530


Korg MR-1 for sure Smile
No doubt. Smile These really do sound better than dedicated MP3 players but to be honest, I use a sansa fuze at 320 bit rate and the 530s for portability and noise isolation. It was the best sounding player that fit into the earphone case along with the buds. The case is a 4.5" X 3" oval and 1.3" deep. The key word for me here is portable and I found the phones were more important than moving to lossless without going to all the way to wav with something like the zoom which is too bulky for how I want to use it. If you use a Sansa, stay away from the EQ. Just kills it. Bigger difference than larger file size for instance. Fuze and clip are their better sounding units and the fuze is expandable with micro sdhc.

The current 120gb Ipod classic is a great all around unit for less compressed files. It was my other consideration but they're all a bit too limited to take full advantage of uncompressed or lossless so I opted for size over a very slight performance increase in larger files on players that are otherwise limited anyways. I find 320 FBR very close to lossless enjoyment wise in portable use on any of these players with buds which isn't ever going to be completely natural. Wouldn't use any mp3 player for home use, for instance. Prefer both WMA and AAC to LAME MP3 and always FBR. 320 bit rate seems enough to connect the dots and not sound sterile or odd. Audiophile mp3 player is a bit of an oxymoron. Doesn't mean that there isn't better or worse and what's right for my needs may be very different than that for others. Just relaying my personal experience. If I wanted better sound I'd use the bulkier Zoom H2. Still fits in a shirt pocket and really has significantly more slam than any dedicated MP3 player, can play 24/96 and is under $200. Gave me a bit of perspective on which way I wanted to go.
Posted on: 12 March 2009 by Rockingdoc
In my experience an external amp and better phones make more difference than the player.
(Ipod120Gb/Graham Slee Voyager/Shure e530)
I do have a Tascam which offers higher sampling rates, but prefer the memory capacity of the iPod.
Posted on: 14 March 2009 by Eric Barry
How is the Zoom as a recorder? Good enough to capture live music in a satisfying manner? Good with speech?
Posted on: 14 March 2009 by js
It's pretty god all the way around. The internal mics are limited as you would expect for the price and the mic inputs less good but the results from just using as is are surprisingly acceptable.