WALKMAN advice

[wee tee cee]

Can anyone recommend a portable mp3 player for about £100.I dont need much in the way of features,just concentrating on sound quality.I have tried my sons i pod touch/classic/nano and cant say the sonics have impressed me that much.Between 4-16gb would be ample and the ability to load it with my apple lossless music.
The sony players seem to get good write ups,anyone able to provide their own experience.
Thanks Tony.

[Stratmangler]

Can anyone recommend a portable mp3 player for about £100.I dont need much in the way of features,just concentrating on sound quality.I have tried my sons i pod touch/classic/nano and cant say the sonics have impressed me that much.Between 4-16gb would be ample and the ability to load it with my apple lossless music.
The sony players seem to get good write ups,anyone able to provide their own experience.
Thanks Tony.

I think you're looking at something fruit based here - AFAIK none of the other portable player manufacturers support ALAC because of licensing - they don't want to pay any, especially not to Apfel ;)

[Tim]

No competition IMO if SQ is most important. Cowon

Cowon - Amazon (http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/275-7746165-3488232?ie=UTF8&tag=firefox-uk-21&index=blended&link_code=qs&field-keywords=cowan&sourceid=Mozilla-search#/ref=a9_sc_1?rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Acowon&keywords=cowon&ie=UTF8&qid=1314447865)

http://www.cowonuk.com

You need to move away from Apple if you want the best SQ ;)

[Stratmangler]

No competition IMO if SQ is most important. Cowon

Cowon - Amazon (http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/275-7746165-3488232?ie=UTF8&tag=firefox-uk-21&index=blended&link_code=qs&field-keywords=cowan&sourceid=Mozilla-search#/ref=a9_sc_1?rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Acowon&keywords=cowon&ie=UTF8&qid=1314447865)

http://www.cowonuk.com

You need to move away from Apple if you want the best SQ ;)

+1

[foxysounds]

My Sony NWZ-A818 player sounds way better than my friend's iPod - even though I'm using the headphones supplied with my player and he's using upgraded headphones. The A818 is an old model now but I doubt that any Sony player will sound as bad as an iPod.

I haven't heard the Cowon players so I can't compare them but I've heard good things about them.

However, as Stratmangler said, the Apple lossless format is proprietory so to move away from Apple you would need to convert your ALAC files to FLAC using something like dBpowerAMP.

Simon.

[colinB]

The new Sony a series is out now. I have the old one and it records iplayer tv beautifully as well as sounding better than ipod.

[wee tee cee]

Gents,
Many thanks,I had never heard of the cowan player,they look very interesting.
Regards Tony.

[kml]

I have the Cowon s9, excellent sound quality, 32gig plays Audio: MP3, WMA, FLAC, OGG, WAV, APE Video: DivX, XviD, WMV, drag and drop files and no need to mess around with Itunes. I use it with a Cmoy headphone amp in an Altoids tin and a pair of Sony MDRv6's

http://inlinethumb03.webshots.com/46786/2367475350102950911S600x600Q85.jpg

The user interface takes a bit of use to fully understand it. It's not as intuitive as an Ipod.

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cheers
ken

[wee tee cee]

Ken,
Thanks for that,the link was excellent for a techno eejit like myself.
Regards Tony.

[s70rmp]

i'm very happy with my iPod classic 160gb :)

[wee tee cee]

Ordered the cowon e2.Nice and simple wee device with no frills and allegedly sporting the revered cowon sonics.If its as good as they say I will eventually get one of theyre bigger players.
Many thanks for all the advice.
Regards Tony.

[Tim]

Ordered the cowon e2.Nice and simple wee device with no frills and allegedly sporting the revered cowon sonics
I used to use a 5th Generation iPod classic which has a good Wolfson DAC, I also have a shuffle, but since hearing a Cowan, the Apples have never left the draw.... I must get round to putting them on eBay. Let us know what you think of the Cowan? IMO it kills the iPod stone dead for SQ and you can put whatever file format you want on it, I use FLAC.

[wee tee cee]

Its a 4 gig,so im going to rip some lossless stuff onto windows and make up a play list that I can I can just skip through.Is FLAC the equivalent to apple lossless?

[Tim]

Is FLAC the equivalent to apple lossless?
Yes, they are both lossless formats, but I would prefer to say ALAC is Apples equivalent of FLAC ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Lossless_Audio_Codec

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Lossless

[wee tee cee]

Came home to the wee cowon player last night,loaded some lossless music via windows and am delighted with the way it sounds.Sounds as good if not better than the lap top.Wont make your ears bleed though.....

[Tim]

Glad you like it, beats the pants off an iPod IMHO ;)

[synsei]

I arrived a little late to this thread (better late than never ;)) but this is my two penneths worth: Modern iPod's are very much style over substance in my extensive DAP player ownership experience, as is the vast majority of Apple's other kit IMO. The best iPod of the lot was the original 20gb version, which had the most glorious SQ when set up correctly and used with good quality cans. These were made in the US rather than China, which may explain why. Cowon players are the best by far in SQ terms these days. :cool:

[Tim]

Cowon players are the best by far in SQ terms these days.
Agree 100% iPods are ideal for people who want to use iTunes and need simplicity . . . as you say they are a 'lifestyle' product, more than an audio product. But if you are serious about SQ, then its Cowon - no brainer IMO ;)

[wee tee cee]

I bought the cowon e4 and run sennheiser hd 202s with it.VFM it wipes the floor sonically with all my sons apple players.For under £70 I reckon you would have a hard time beating them.They wont flap your trousers volume wise......
If you just want to listen to music,the wee cowon excels.

[kml]

They wont flap your trousers volume wise......

Here's the solution for that, and it's in an Altoids tin, how sexy is that.

http://www.jdslabs.com/products.php

Best bang for the buck head phone amp period. :eyebrows:

cheers
ken

[Canetoad]

I have one of those boards. I just have to get around to building it. :lol:

[Ali Tait]

They are ok, but the Graham Slee Voyager is better IMHO, a superb little heahphone amp.

[wee tee cee]

Here's the solution for that, and it's in an Altoids tin, how sexy is that.

http://www.jdslabs.com/products.php

Best bang for the buck head phone amp period. :eyebrows:

cheers
kenKen,
That box of tricks could result in some pretty interesting airport security conversations....I tried the Fiio amp/dac and was not very impressed to be honest I dont think my diy skills are up to building one.
Regards Tony.