I love the community and wealth of knowledge here at cnet and I haven't been able to find a relatively recent thread with the same parameters as I'm looking for, even though I'm sure you guys hate having so many of these threads.
My biggest concern about my next mp3 player will be overall sound quality, and I have high quality headphones that I will be using with it. Expandable (sd not micro) memory would also be a very nice feature but if the storage is large enough that's not necessary. I'd probably be looking for expandable memory if the built in is under 32gb. Physical size, video playback, and many other features really aren't important to me. I'd like to spend somewhere in the $150-250 range.
My last mp3 player was an X-Fi which I really enjoyed but my ownership was cut short due. It had very good sounding audio, but now the price went up since I bought it, and I've also been hearing a lot about Cowon. I previously hadnt heard of Cowon so I'm a newbie on that, what's the difference between J3 and S9??? Basically I have an open mind to anything except Apple. I tried to include as much info as possible, so if you have other questions please ask. Thanks much

Chowhound
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GameFAQs
GameSpot
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TechRepublic