Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Help choosing player: Sound quality, durability, bit rates

Jul 28, 2005 3:12PM PDT

I am in the market for a hard-drive MP3 player. I am not a newbie as far as dealing with MP3s, I'm experienced in converting sound files to MP3 and burning them onto CD-R's, am knowledgeable about bit rates, etc. I've also downloaded music from ITunes and Wal-Mart and have never had any trouble using that software.

However, I've only taken a minor plunge into getting something other than a CD player with MP3 capability, that being a Frontier Labs Nex 1A, that uses CF cards. It's not exactly the finest piece of electronic equipment I've ever held in my hands but it gives decent performance for what it is, and has sort of whetted my appetite for something more.

Also, you have to go about it in a bass-ackward and probably illegal way ... even though the instruction manual gave instructions for doing this ... to use downloaded music on the Nex because it doesn't accomodate DRM encoded files, and aside from the trouble I'll wager you lose some sound quality.

So, I'm looking for recommendations for a player and thought I'd turn here for advice.

First off, I'm looking for something with at least 20 GB of memory. The mini players with 5 GB or so are tempting because of the price, and if there are some out there that meet my other criteria please don't hesitate to recommend them for my consideration. But I'd kind of like something a little bigger.

Aside from that, my No. 1 consideration is sound quality when it comes to music. I realize that you are not going to get the same sound quality with something the size of a cigarette pack playing compressed files that you will with a $10,000 stereo system. But sound quality when it comes to music is extremely important to me. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that if something has head and shoulders better sound quality, but is less user-friendly when it comes to the controls, interfaces, software, downloading, etc., I'd still be highly tempted to go with the better sound. (FYI, I realize I'm most likely going to have to get some upgraded headphones). And I'd also like a decent equalization setup, preferably one that would let me customize my settings.

As an addendum, I'd also prefer something that has the capability to play other types of files than MP3s, like WMA, etc.

I'm also looking for something that is going to be durable. I don't tend to abuse my electronic equipment, neither do I treat it like fine china. But while I know things happen, I do have the expectation that something I pay several hundred dollars for will last a decent amount of time with proper care and not have to be disposed of annually. Along those lines, I'm looking with something that I can purchase an extended warranty on if the manufacturer doesn't offer a full year, because I know some folks, like Rio, only offer a 90-day warranty and that just ain't gonna cut it with me, because it shows they don't have much faith in the product and as I said, I'm not independently wealthy enough to where I can handle shelling out a few hundred bucks every six months for an MP3 player and tossing the old one out like a toilet paper roll.

Finally, I need something that will play MP3s encoded at a very low bit rate. This may sound a little funny being that I was so concerned about sound quality when it comes to music. However, I specifically mentioned music there because an awful lot of my MP3 collection consists of old-time radio shows which are encoded as low as 32 kbs simply for space purposes.

I'm willing to consider products from any manufacturer ... Apple, Creative, Dell, I-River, Sony, doesn't matter to me. I'm not beholden to any one of them.

I do realize that I'd need an Ipod to be able to play the stuff I've downloaded from ITunes on a portable player ... right now it's just on my computer plus I've burned it to audio disc ... but while I'm certainly willing to get an Ipod if it meets my criteria, if another player is right for me and does a better job of providing what I'm looking for, there are certainly other options for purchasing and downloading music, even though I do not do an inordinate amount of downloading.

Thanks in advance for any help, and I hope I haven't been too long-winded. Happy

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
ok
Jul 28, 2005 3:49PM PDT

that is a long message man.
I don't know

- Collapse -
Longwindedness ...
Jul 28, 2005 4:01PM PDT

... may stem from the fact that in "real life" I'm a professional journalist. It took me about two minutes to pound out that epistle because writing that much, that fast is what I do for a living. Happy I also have never got the hang of e-mail or message board shorthand. I just tried to be thorough and list exactly what I'm looking for, hopefully somebody will be able to offer some input.

- Collapse -
As far as sound quality....
Jul 29, 2005 12:43AM PDT

I would go with a creative player if you are looking for good sound quality. I bought the zen micro and it has awesome sound quality I hook it up to my 460 watt sony stereo and it sounds like the cd if not better.

Most mp3 players will allow you to customize your eq's.

And as far as ITunes stuff goes since you already have them on a cd couldnt you just rip them on your computer in a different format? I am not sure I just thought I might mention it.

Also if you are wanting really good sound quality record your songs at a higher bit rate, like 256 or 192 kbps.

- Collapse -
I always do music at 192 ...
Jul 29, 2005 3:32AM PDT

... the only really low bit rate stuff I have is the old-time radio shows I mentioned, but that stuff pretty much circulates primarily at low bit rates, although I did actually get my hands on some first-generation stuff recently that I burned to CD as WAVs for archival purposes and encoded at high bit rate MP3 for portable player usage.

What you posed about the ITunes stuff is the bass-ackwards way I mentioned that you have to use to get purchased, downloaded music on my Nex IA that uses CF cards. As I said, that adds another step and a bit of trouble to the mix, plus to my ears ... and if I'm wrong on the facts, please enlighten me, although this could be totally subjective ... the stuff that I've burned onto audio CDs from ITunes doesn't sound like true CD audio, it sounds like something has been lost in the conversion from AAC to WAV and I fear converting those WAVs to MP3 will reduce sound quality even more.

- Collapse -
You are probly right...
Jul 29, 2005 5:41AM PDT

Converting them more would give you worse quality, just a thought.

What format is most of your music in? If it is already in mp3 format just go for the Ipod, but you always have to worry about the battery. you aare not able to switch them out. So when it goes you have to send it to apple.

- Collapse -
Right now I'm leaning ...
Jul 29, 2005 6:31AM PDT

... toward Apple or Creative, with the Dell DJ as a darkhorse. I've gotten a little guidance here and at some other places I've posted seeking information, and I'm going to investigate and compare things over the next month or so ... birthday is in early Sept., and she who must be obeyed Happy has said I can buy a player as a present ... and see what I come up with as the best for my needs.

On one other forum I posted this request to, a couple of folks really touted Rio products to me, most notably the Carbon, but those scare me. If anyone out there has 'em and likes 'em, more power to you, but even though it seems to be pretty easy to get an extended warranty to tack onto their atrocious 90-day standard warranty ... as I said in my first post, that shows a ton of faith in their products; my Nex Ia was less than $100 and came with a year warranty ... there are simply too many horror stories about Rio products floating around at too many places.

As far as my music, what I've ripped from CDs, etc., is straight MP3, at 192 as I said. I've got several ripping programs but I usually end up using CDex, it's simple and fast and it works flawlessly for me, have never been displeased with anything I've used it on. The thing is, though, I'm willing to explore things beyond the MP3 format, like WMA, lossless stuff, etc., I've just concentrated on the MP3s because I got familiar with the format doing the old radio stuff, I learned how to do MP3s working with those, the music came later.

- Collapse -
...
Jul 29, 2005 1:05PM PDT

Do not get an ipod if you want good sound quality, the Zens, the Rios, the iRivers and iAudios all sound a lot better.
If I was you I would get the iAudio X5 http://www.iaudiophile.net/content.php?review.24 .It has the best sound quality of all DAPs, on par with the Rio Karma. And with the X5 you can use OGG Vorbis, the best sounding lossy format, both WMA and AAC sound like crap compared to Vorbis.

- Collapse -
I would go with the Creative
Jul 30, 2005 5:51AM PDT

I just bought the creative after tons of research and this little player is awesome, besides having to charge it through the usb, I need an ac adapter and since creative doesnt offer one that is a problem..... I thought one came in the box.