Hi!
Need a little help here. I am looking for a portable mp3 player. What i need is:
1. good sound quality
2. easy/quick UI
3. good battery life
Sound quality is in first place. Video support is not important. But its welcome. And one more thing. Lossless support is not priority but it would be nice because i have BIG collection of lossless music (FLAC, APE).
Here is my list:
- Apple iPod Nano 3 (8GB)
- iriver clix2 8GB
- Samsung YP-P2 8GB
- Meizu M6 SL 8GB
- Cowon iAudio D2 8GB
- SanDisk Sansa e280 8GB
- Creative Zen 16GB
What to choose? Any other recommendation?
thanks
iPod nano.
Why? Is it really best one? Because if i compare it with others its the "weakest" of all in specifications.
Have smallest screen, display color "only" 64k, doesn´t have touch display, audio support is only MP3, AAC, WAV. And battery life is one of the lowest. don´t have on the go deleting, bookmarks. For same price i could get better than this. Please i need some explanation. Maybe UI?
Edit: rockbox don´t work on 3g Nano?
Why? Is it really best one? Because if i compare it with others its the "weakest" of all in specifications.
Have smallest screen, display color "only" 64k, doesn´t have touch display, audio support is only MP3, AAC, WAV. And battery life is one of the lowest. don´t have on the go deleting, bookmarks. For same price i could get better than this. Please i need some explanation. Maybe UI?
Unless you have vision defects display size and colour is irrelevant, it's a music player the screen is too small on all devices in this class to function as a video player, unless you really need to be able to play DRMed WMA file audio support is also irrelevant as you can cross code into the player's native format. Most host software does this automatically if told to. So it comes down to
Audio Quality
Capacity
UI (inc host software UI)
Battery Life
Weight
So tabulate the specs in these departments (you'll probably have to score the UI one based on your own personal taste) then make your choice. Unfortunately little hard testing is done on audio quality so you just have to trust that all the major players will have adequate quality.
One thing that the iPod does do which I bet none of the others do is proper gapless playback. This alone would be enough to make me buy the iPod over any of the others.
Yes i know that display is last problem here because i am looking at audio device. So most important thing is SQ. Second is UI. And third is battery life. Weight is really not important. I still can´t deicide because in our country there is no support for iTunes online store or for adding album art. This is important. And if i am correct i NEED iTunes for uploading music to Nano? And i have all my music stored in folder like artist/album/folder.jpg as album art. Ripped with EAC in mp3 256-320. No iTunes. And one more thing. I have a lot of additional music in FLAC and APE. Backup of originals for archive.
I still don´t know what to buy. Nano sounds great but... iAudio D2 is really good player and have very good rank. What bothers me is UI in D2? Is it good or is bad? Because sound quality is good.
1. good sound quality
Creative Zen. Definitely.
Yes i know that display is last problem here because i am looking at audio device. So most important thing is SQ. Second is UI. And third is battery life. Weight is really not important. I still can´t deicide because in our country there is no support for iTunes online store or for adding album art. This is important. And if i am correct i NEED iTunes for uploading music to Nano? And i have all my music stored in folder like artist/album/folder.jpg as album art. Ripped with EAC in mp3 256-320. No iTunes. And one more thing. I have a lot of additional music in FLAC and APE. Backup of originals for archive.
I still don´t know what to buy. Nano sounds great but... iAudio D2 is really good player and have very good rank. What bothers me is UI in D2? Is it good or is bad? Because sound quality is good.
It's easiest to use iTunes for the nano but there are other programs that support it see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_iPod_managers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_iPod_managers)
256KB/s MP3 is mostly a waste of space on something with only 8GB of storage, you are probably going to want to cross code it down to 128KB/s AAC at the most.
On the iTunes side you can just import your entire music collection into iTunes without it copying the files or transcoding. You just need to make sure the correct options are set in the preferences before you add your songs. iTunes doesn't know about folder.jpg files. However you can just drag jpegs into iTunes for album art and it stores them away in it's own special structure.
There is a program called iCoverArt which claims to be able to automatically insert folder.jpgs into iTunes however it has not yet been updated for the lastest versions of iTunes. Older versions of iTunes used to embed jpegs directly into each AAC file which was a fantastic waste of space. Newer versions squirrel it away in an "Album Art" directory which has a special directory structure of Apple's devising.
The iTunes album acquisition for albums you've already ripped is not very useful, it got much of my collection wrong or failed entirely OTOH I've got some fairly eclectic stuff. The lack of iTunes music store being a factor depends on if you would actually buy anything from it. Personally I buy all my music on CD.
Thanks for that. Now i have these on my list:
- Cowon iAudio D2
- iPod Nano
- iriver clix2
Have you considered a mobile phone with SD(HC) slots?
Personally I came to the conclusion that carrying two mobile devices with me that are "both" able to play music isn't necessary nowadays.
Have you considered a mobile phone with SD(HC) slots?
Personally I came to the conclusion that carrying two mobile devices with me that are "both" able to play music isn't necessary nowadays.
No! And i don´t want phone as my mp3 layer. I will use it a lot of time connected to my original car radio (Opel Astra H CD30 with aux in). But i will use a lot of time on the street also or a walk in nature.
sorry for my bad english.
I can recommend IAudio D2 or IAudio7. Support for FLAC and OGG, excellent sound quality. Indispensable advantage is very good Headphone output - At home am tested with my Sennheiser HD650 (300 ohms), sounds beautiful.
I can recommend IAudio D2 or IAudio7. Support for FLAC and OGG, excellent sound quality. Indispensable advantage is very good Headphone output - At home am tested with my Sennheiser HD650 (300 ohms), sounds beautiful.
Thanks. At home i have Beyers DT880 (250 ohm), HD595 & waiting for Denon D2000. Does have D2 good and simple to use (quick) UI?
No hesitation, iAUDIO7 16 GB
Around 190 euros in Europe.
50 hours battery life
Full UMS
Good quality
EQ fully customizable
and so on
I am not a user D2, but in discussion are not mentioned any problems. I forgot - D2 support with newest firmware also APE.
Need a little help here. I am looking for a portable mp3 player. What i need is:
1. good sound quality
2. easy/quick UI
3. good battery life
Sound quality is in first place. Video support is not important. But its welcome. And one more thing. Lossless support is not priority but it would be nice because i have BIG collection of lossless music (FLAC, APE).
1. For good sound quality, buy a good headphone.
2. IMO iPod has the best UI thanks to the click wheel.
3. Cowon and iPod have awesome battery life.
Cowon D2 supports FLAC and APE. So there's your answer.
Iriver E100 (4 or 8 gb model)
minisdhc, flac radio, video, photo, recording (mic, line-in, fm)
can work as usb flash memory
sound quality is great
Is there any reason why you are limiting yourself to small solid state/flash memory devices in 4GB-8GB capacities? You can pick up a 80GB iPod classic for $250 along with many other 80GB players (the Zune is another example).
If you must limit yourself to 4-8GB capacity DAPs, then I recommend a couple of models. First, I would recommend the 3G iPod nano (that's third generation, not the capacity) as the device has a nice bright screen and is really small. Although you put it in your list and then bashed it the next post after (why?). On top of that, its battery will last for 24 hours. I think that is more than long enough. If it isn't, I would hate to see what you think is long enough. The main reason why I recommend the iPod nano is that, from my experience, it is the all around easiest DAP to use and sync to.
Secondly, I would recommend a Creative Zen as its screen is a little bigger than the Nano's and its output audio quality is generally regarded as being better. Its battery life might not be up to your liking though but it has a SDHC expansion slot which means that you will be able to purchase a memory card down the line. Your mp3 collection at 256kbps-320kbps is really overkill especially for portable listening. But, if you must carry around music at that high of a bitrate, I would go with a Zen (as you can expand the memory) or a full fledged 80GB iPod classic.
The reason being is that a portable player with 8GB of memory can only hold about 1000 songs at 256kbps and about 750 songs at 320kbps (that is assuming an average song length of 4 minutes). An 80GB player can hold about 10,000 songs at 256kbps and 7,500 songs at 320kbps. Not only that but full sized players often get better battery life as an iPod classic can go for 30 hours of audio playback. Not only that but video playback becomes a pretty nice feature on these full sized players.
That is why I think you should spend the extra $50 and get a 80GB iPod classic or an 80GB Zune. I would recommend the iPod classic over the Zune even though the Zune has a larger screen. The reason being is that I find iTunes a lot easier to use than Microsoft's Zune software and Microsoft stuck with a 320X240 screen in the new Zunes. The screen is blurry when compared to that of the smaller iPod classic. If anything, Microsoft should have used a 480X320 screen in the Zune but they didn't.
Why? Is it really best one? Because if i compare it with others its the "weakest" of all in specifications.
Have smallest screen, display color "only" 64k, doesn´t have touch display, audio support is only MP3, AAC, WAV. And battery life is one of the lowest. don´t have on the go deleting, bookmarks. For same price i could get better than this. Please i need some explanation. Maybe UI?
Ok, if you want more than a music player, get a 32GB iPod touch.
Gapless, Browsing, Touchscreen, applications, games, youtoube, google maps, pop/imap mail, etc, etc.
If I had to pick player from what is listed I'd say ipod nano.
Its very small and looks good
UI is one of the best
Good battery life
Sound quality is fine (just get some decent headphones)
you don't have to use iTunes, you can even use WMP11
Also with such small storage space (8gb) I wouldn't bother with using lossless audio on it.
I would recommend the iAudio D2 16GB since it also has a SD expansion slot to add additional SD(HC) cards, except for one glaring issue with the firmware:
The firmware versions for the D2 played havoc with AAC support.
Earlier versions (v2.21 and older) supported AAC.
Then versions later than that dropped AAC support when APE support was added.
Now, with the most recent firmware update (v2.55 or better), AAC support has been mostly been added back in to join APE, with a few restrictions. First, the AAC files must have the .aac extension, not .m4a. Second, the D2, even with this new firmware, won't read the AAC tags properly. It just displays the file name.
Maybe a firmware upgrade still-to-come for the D2 will add the ability to read tags in AAC again.
Were it not for this, the D2 is pretty much a no brainer for sub-$250 USD MP3 players.
Ok guys thanks for all help. iPod Nano sounds great choice but... I think that Cowon iAudio D2 is better choice. Sansa is also looking good and from what ive heard its great player. But the again iAudio D2 seems to be also very very good player. And it have very good codec support, very good sound and nice interface. So i will buy D2 probably. I think its best choice here.
Sure you'll pleased
One more thing before buying D2. Do you guys think that this is fake? This website: http://tinyurl.com/5p4vdk (http://tinyurl.com/5p4vdk)? Because i am not sure if its really NEW and 5th generation... Because i don´t want iPod Classic 6th generation. As i read 5th generation has much better sound. But i am worried if that iPod on link is fake. Probably NOT new or is? I have bad feeling buying from that seller...
One more thing before buying D2. Do you guys think that this is fake? This website: http://tinyurl.com/5p4vdk (http://tinyurl.com/5p4vdk)? Because i am not sure if its really NEW and 5th generation... Because i don´t want iPod Classic 6th generation. As i read 5th generation has much better sound. But i am worried if that iPod on link is fake. Probably NOT new or is? I have bad feeling buying from that seller...
First of all, it's a manufacturer refurbished unit. I don't know how you feel about buying a refurbished unit for 135 pounds.
Amazon.COM UK site has a brand-new 5th generation black iPod 30GB unit on sale for 219 pounds with free shipping to the UK, as a comparison.
Amazon.COM UK site - Apple iPod 30GB (5th Generation) New Black
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-iPod-Video-B...7534&sr=8-1 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-iPod-Video-Black-Generation/dp/B000HZBQ42/ref=pd_sbs_ce?ie=UTF8&qid=1215627534&sr=8-1)
Ok thanks for that. Now i must choose between:
1. Sony NWZ-A828 8GB
2. Samsung YP-P2 8GB
3. Cowon iAudio D2
This is it. Best one?
Ok thanks for that. Now i must choose between:
1. Sony NWZ-A828 8GB
2. Samsung YP-P2 8GB
3. Cowon iAudio D2
This is it. Best one?
The Sony model doesn't have an FM stereo tuner, no memory card expansion, and no standard USB 2.0 connection. However, it has pretty good battery life.
The Samsung 8GB model is pricey (can cost as much as the Cowon D2 16GB on some sites) and has no memory card expansion. There's also no AAC support.
The Cowon model as stated, has a regular SD memory slot for adding expansion cards via 1 or 2 GB SD or 4/8/16 GB SDHC cards. It also has standard USB 2.0 connectivity and an FM stereo tuner. It's battery life is also supposed to be better than the Samsung, and at least equal to that of the Sony model. The AAC support is mostly there, and another firmware update as outlined above should hopefully give full tag support for AAC files.
If given the choice of those 3, I would definitely choose the Cowon D2 16GB. You get twice as much built-in memory for the same price as the others and better overall flexibility and battery life.
Ok thanks for that. Now i must choose between:
1. Sony NWZ-A828 8GB
2. Samsung YP-P2 8GB
3. Cowon iAudio D2
This is it. Best one?
The D2 is the only one that supports Flac and Ape. You already know what you need.
Thanks again. I ordered Cowon D2. Today was shipped and i will get it (i hope) this weekend. Thanks again.