Help! Zen Micro or iPod?

cormie

It makes you wonder alright, I mean, the H1XX series is perfect hardware, it has optical out, included LCD remote but a bad firmware, with rockbox it's just excellent, no complaints at all. However, the likes of the H3XX, iRiver have seem to have taken a turn for the worse, I mean the H3XX is amazing too, but things like including a non-lcd remote instead of the LCD one and taking away optical out are just nonsense. There are a few things about their H10 too that would make you wonder.

Anyway, Nala, I suggest you get a H320 which will cost you about €260 I think. You wont regret it:) especially when rockbox is implemented:)

Nala

We have a winner.

The Creative Zen Sleek.

Perfect.

cormie

Did you order/get it yet?

Get some proper earphones, the ones with that don't look the best:o

Enjoy it:)

Nala

No, haven't ordered it yer cos I've to save up a bit first. It's exactly what I was looking for

cormie

Make sure you do some research on it now Bosco, I don't know anything about it, are you just judging it by it's sleek appeal or have you read reviews and the likes? Hope it works out well for you anyway:) Poker = money;)

Nala

Bosco?

Not many reviews available at the minute but there probably will be soon. If I pass my repeats, this will definitely be my back-to-college treat! It's perfect, it's got loads of memory, good battery life, looks great, supports the file types I use, radio & recorder...just hope they don't sell out. It could be an action replay of all the iPod craziness last Christmas.

Very, very glad I didn't buy the iPod or Micro...

RicardoSmith

I went for the micro because its smaller, and has a removable battery.

BTW if you ever do a comparision between a iPod and any other MP3 player you'll realise that iPods sound worse than everything else. Most people never compare them though.

Gangsta

ok so which MP3 player has the best sound quality??

RicardoSmith

Gangsta wrote:

ok so which MP3 player has the best sound quality??

Not the ipods unless you use the line out via a dock. From what I've read the Creatives are the best with the Cowon and Iriver closely behind. Depends on the bitrates you use, and what earphones etc. Its also subjective too.

rsynnott

RicardoSmith wrote:

BTW if you ever do a comparision between a iPod and any other MP3 player you'll realise that iPods sound worse than everything else. Most people never compare them though.

Not quite true; they reproduce sound less accurately. Many people prefer this (this is the same motivation as is behind continued production of valve-based amplifiers; they sound wrong, but arguably nicer). There was a distortion issue in 3G iPods, apparently; this was fixed by firmware update, and didn't occur elsewhere in the line.

RicardoSmith

rsynnott wrote:

Not quite true; they reproduce sound less accurately. Many people prefer this (this is the same motivation as is behind continued production of valve-based amplifiers; they sound wrong, but arguably nicer). There was a distortion issue in 3G iPods, apparently; this was fixed by firmware update, and didn't occur elsewhere in the line.

Theres a distortion if you use the EQ. Theres a Bass rolloff if you use the earphone socket with many higher quality earphones of between 16 to 32 ohms. Comparing a 4G myself via a line in on a couple decent HiFi's, both with a flat EQ the iPod earphone out is obviously (IMO) less accurate, but its not nicer. The iPod sounds deficient. Via a line out the iPod is noticably better. Its not like Apple have coloured the sound a certain way, to improve it. Its more likely they just couldn't be bothered to fix it. In the same way they didn't bother with the battery issues, until public pressure made them address that problem. The iPod Shuffle doesn't have the same problem.

I don't see its the same thing as tube amps at all. These problems are not improving the sound, either to non audiophiles or audiophiles.

rsynnott

RicardoSmith wrote:

Theres a distortion if you use the EQ. Theres a Bass rolloff if you use the earphone socket with many higher quality earphones of between 16 to 32 ohms. Comparing a 4G myself via a line in on a couple decent HiFi's, both with a flat EQ the iPod earphone out is obviously (IMO) less accurate, but its not nicer. The iPod sounds deficient. Via a line out the iPod is noticably better. Its not like Apple have coloured the sound a certain way, to improve it. Its more likely they just couldn't be bothered to fix it. In the same way they didn't bother with the battery issues, until public pressure made them address that problem. The iPod Shuffle doesn't have the same problem.

I don't see its the same thing as tube amps at all. These problems are not improving the sound, either to non audiophiles or audiophiles.

Equalisers exist for the purpose of causing distortion, don't they? And the headphones are outside spec. As a matter of interest, do other players support those headphones properly? That's quite impressive. Some people allege that it sounds nicer, just as some allege that the vacuum valves sound better. Don't see it myself, but I'm not terribly discerning.

PWEI

Nala wrote:

We have a winner.

The Creative Zen Sleek.

Perfect.

Does the Creative Zen Sleek have a random/shuffle function?

RicardoSmith

rsynnott wrote:

Equalisers exist for the purpose of causing distortion, don't they? And the headphones are outside spec. As a matter of interest, do other players support those headphones properly? That's quite impressive. Some people allege that it sounds nicer, just as some allege that the vacuum valves sound better. Don't see it myself, but I'm not terribly discerning.

Equalisers distort sound yes. They alter the spectrum of the sound. But they shouldn't cause unmusical distortion. Thats my vague understanding of it anyway. I used to like a touch of extra bass and mid, myself, these days I find that things sound better with a flat EQ. I never had much time to play with an iPod, only borrowing them from friends. But I don't like the sound from them.

At the end of the day its subjective taste. But theres a board consensus on which mp3 players sound the best.

mada999

I bought an archos gmini xs 100 a little while back...does the job....

http://www.archos.com/products/gmini_xs_100/

Bard

Feck Creative, Apple and iRiver ... I still want one of these.

cormie

Bard wrote:

Feck Creative, Apple and iRiver ... I still want one of these.

That's the bees knees alright. The best MP3 player out there.

grimloch

cormie wrote:

That's the bees knees alright. The best MP3 player out there.

Tee hee hee, I got one the other day. A great use of 389.99 if I do say so myself but good god my bank a/c hurts and I have a few of you lot to thank for it because I probably wouldn't have noticed it otherwise.

Apart from the uncomfy bundled headphones which need to be replaced with a better set its fantastic.

cormie

Well I spent €460 on my 40GB iRiver back when it first came out and I don't regret it on bit, I listen to it about 17 out of every 24 hours so I'm getting good value for money anyway:)

andrew163

Bard wrote:

Feck Creative, Apple and iRiver ... I still want one of these.

Which, the player or the girl listening to it?

It is a nice player though.............*sigh*