Help choosing an MP3 player.

[Dave_George]

Hi all,

Im looking for some help/opinions whilst choosing an MP3 player, understand the basics but hopefully some owners out there who may be able to shed some more light on specific brands for me.

I need something that I can store my whole music collection on - 250 cds - so im thinking its got to be an HDD type preferably 20gig +.

Sound quality is of upmost importance, as well as making my collection mobile to play through two sets of Sennheisers (Open back audiophile models and also in ear smaller type) the unit will spend a large amount of time connected to a fairly decent NAD/KEF system providing a source, so connectivity needs to be good too.

Build quality is important, im wanting something that looks and feels well made and with connections that can handle being moved between headphones and hifi system fairly regularly.

It would be nice to get something with reliable software for transferring to make the archiving process as easy as possible.

Im currently looking at models from Sony, Iriver, Creative and Philips - forgive me but the ipod thing has never really appealed to me and I would like to be different. If i really need to consider/listen to the ipod then i certainly will.

Storage of photos and videos is not required and wont be used so im looking for an audio only machine first and foremost.

Be interested to hear from anyone with any experience with players of this kind.

thanks and regards

David

 

[3-Wheel Drive]

Several of my friends have the Creative Zen Jukebox, and they absolutely love them. They hold like 30+ GB, no pic/vid capabilty, and well-built, and only around $200. None of them have had any problems with them in the year or so they've had the players.

I'd definately recommend it.

 

[F1GTR]

If I were in the market for one, these would be my picks:
1) iPod 5G 30GB + ROCKbox
2) Creative Zen Vision:M
3) Cowon iAudio X5L (getting old now though) + ROCKbox

Throw in a pair of decent headphones and you're set.

iRiver have been coming out with crap recently, so they're the only other choices I would seriously consider. But wait 'til Christmas there may be some new players coming out.

EDIT: If you don't mind an older player, check out the iRiver H100 and H300 series, which are iRiver's sadly discontinued audiophile players. The H100 has optical out, and line out while the H300 has line out and a colour screen. Both can be picked up at around £130 on eBay. I myself have a H300, and it's build quality is second to none, one has even been run over by a bus and it still survived. The H100 is probably more durable with it's metal housing. Both are ROCKbox compatible.

If you're wondering what ROCKbox is, check out this:

Yes, I use it on my iRiver, massive improvement in battery life (I used to get like 8 hours previously) I have done a battery test recently here:
http://www.misticriver.net/showpost.php?p=467775&postcount=63

While I can't fully comment on the iPod, the user interface is mostly the same in terms of functionality, with the added plus of being able to make your own themes. Battery life is about 11hrs, since ROCKbox hasn't been fully optimised for iPods yet. But IMO, it's still worth it for the extra features such as:
- Gapless playback (listening to Pink Floyd and live albums is pure bliss!)
- Wider format support: FLAC, OGG, WAV. I could go on, but I've forgotten
- Lots of games. Doom, Pacman, and a Gameboy emulator
- Replaygain support
- UMS capability, this is a big reason for me, you can totally bypass iTunes and organise your music your own way. The player will just show up as a HDD so you can organise folders in a file tree format and you can put anything else on it. I've once installed Photoshop on my iRiver so I can plug it into any PC and work on my magazine design.

Rockbox for the iPod 4G, Color, Nano and Video models all have a very wide range of codec support - MP3, Ogg Vorbis, Musepack, FLAC, AAC, ALAC, AC3 and WavPack are all supported in Rockbox. Additional music playback features include gapless playback and customizable crossfading, as well as a five-band fully-parametric equalizer to fine-tune sound output. iPods also get ReplayGain support for volume level normalization, and a large number of plugins, including games, applications, and "demos" - have some fun when you've got some free time to kill, open files with the text viewer, make use of the stopwatch, view some JPEG photos, or turn your iPod into a desktop clock. Also enjoy On-The-Go playlist creation and adjustment, full file bookmarking support and much more.

Extra views on ROCKbox + iPod are here:
http://www.misticriver.net/showthread.php?t=39188

It's also open-source, so it's constantly improving.

Just replace "iPod" with iRiver H100/300 or X5L

 

[dougiemeats]

How about the Zune? I'm an iPod man myself (60GB iPod 5G), but I think Microsoft's new player is something to at least consider. You might want one now though, so maybe waiting for the Zune is out of the question.

Edit: I thought you were George Morley for a minute.

 

[Dave_George]

EDIT: If you don't mind an older player, check out the iRiver H100 and H300 series, which are iRiver's sadly discontinued audiophile players. The H100 has optical out, and line out while the H300 has line out and a colour screen. Both can be picked up at around £130 on eBay. I myself have a H300, and it's build quality is second to none, one has even been run over by a bus and it still survived. The H100 is probably more durable with it's metal housing. Both are ROCKbox compatible.

Found the H120 for sale at £120, think they are few and far between, must say it looks exactly like the sort of thing im after.

Maybe tempted with that one, at 20gb its perfect and has the vital hifi connections, thanks for that one!

thanks guys for the other suggestions too.

regards

David

 

[F1GTR]

You can upgrade the HDD to 30gb no probs. But if you get the 40 gb versions of any H series player, you can bump it up to 60gb. Though I have seen a H320 with a 40GB HDD, but the owner had to remove the protective padding.

Sound quality on those players is the best by the way, and there's a 5-band eq to play around with (provided you install ROCKbox onto it).

 

[Dougboy]

If i were to get a new DAP, i'd get a creative Zen vision:M

Or you can always wait for the 6g ipod to come out this fall/winter(or so they claim)

As for rockbox, i dont find it very useful. There are more adjustments and EQ settings but theres nothing wrong with whats on the apple firmware. It does inrease battery life on irivers but its the opposite on ipods I have rockbox installed right now but i often just use the ipod firmware

 

[F1GTR]

Wait until they optimise it. Battery is still roughly the same anyway (10 - 11 hours a charge).

 

[Dave_George]

Gone with GTRacer4's advice and ordered an iriver H120.

It looks perfect and with line in/out aswell as optical line in/out it should suit my needs well.

20GB is plenty enough and it looks well made too.

thanks for the recommendation there chap.

regards

David

 

[F1GTR]

Good choice! I'll PM you a forum that will really help alot (and get you into ROCKbox!)