MP3 player advice needed

[mrsmr2]

I'm very new to MP3 players having had a Sony MZ-R909 MD player for the last few years and I'm after some advice.

It's getting to the time when copying everything in real time and typing in song tracks letter by letter is getting tedious plus the capacity of the MDs are quite short.

However, I am very happy with the audio quality of it, even on LP2 mode.

I've tried an IPOD 80GB and Nano in two different shops and wasn't overly impressed with the sound quality. However, as I didn't know the quality of the source, the bit rate or the quality of the headphones it's difficult to make a fair comparison.

I tried a colleague's Nano with a recording at 320kbps and that was pretty good but nothing spectacular.

I've done a fair bit of research on MP3 players and have a list of features that I would like:

- sound quality at least as good as my MD player (I would encode MP3s at 320kbps);
- ability to play OGG Vorbis;
- have long battery life (>30 hours if possible);
- ability to simply connect the player to the PC and drag files over using Explorer;
- video playback is not important;
- FM radio would be nice but not too important; and
- durable so I guess flash would be the best option.

I had thought about the U3 4GB or the X5L 30GB. However, having found this website and seen all the other models, I'm not so sure now.

Between the U3 and the X5L, which has the better audio quality?

Are there any other iAudio models which might suit me better?

Any help and advice would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks very much

[mssx]

X5L. don't worry...it has great sound quality. it can play oggs and everything in that list of yours.

but it's not flash, HDD. i think u will be better off with high storage mp3 players if u plan to use such high bitrate songs..

just my 2 cents

[mrsmr2]

Thanks for the response.

I've now spotted the D2. It looks like it does everything the U3 does plus play video at a better frame rate than the X5 and U3.

I appreciate this is a new player but would it be of equal of better audio quality than the X5 or U3? It has a higher power headphone output than those two so at least it will provide a stronger signal (but I'm not sure how relevant this is).

[Lighter]

Originally Posted by mrsmr2

I appreciate this is a new player but would it be of equal of better audio quality than the X5 or U3? It has a higher power headphone output than those two so at least it will provide a stronger signal (but I'm not sure how relevant this is).

I would look really closely at the D2. I love my X5L, but it's a year and a half later and lots of progress in the world of DAPs. Cowon has a reputation for native sound and for all the built-in tweaks if you don't like the native sound. It's really a product line for folks who listen to music.

When you are pricing your new DAP, also include decent 'phones from the get-go. The included are some of the best five dollar 'phones on the market, but they suck.

[mrsmr2]

Thanks, I've come to the conclusion that the D2 is the one for me.

I use Sony MDR-EX70 which I think are great.

A mate has just got some "etymotic er-4p" so I'm going to see if I need to upgrade

[mrsmr2]

While waiting for the D2, I've carried on researching players and have come across the NW-S706. Apparently, it comes with good quality headphones (better than my ex70s) and noise cancelling features built into the unit.

Anyone have experience of the sound quality of one of thess players?

Thanks

[oskarthunberg]

I had a Sony NW-HD5.

PROS:
Great sound quality
Good GUI
Great battery life

CONS:
You're stuck with the SonicStage software (it's not as bad as it once was, you could live with it, but it's far from the best).
Poor audio output volume (the best earphones need a strong signal - but the Sony-phones that came with the player actually was quite good.)
No DRM-support apart from Sonys own.
Poor Codec-support (the player could only play Atrac and MP3, no aac, no WMA, no OGG, no FLAC - and there was no ATRAC lossless at the time, there might be for the newer players though).

Good luck, I have considered that SONY-player myself, but now I have the D2. It can do all that the SONY-players can do (except for the built in noise-cancelling) and a lot more. And the importatant thing- I can expand the memory.

[mrsmr2]

Thanks for the input.

I should have updated the post but I'd forgotten about it.

Like you Iwent for the D2.

Great player.