OT: Finally...A Worthwhile MP3 Player (really long)

[dbdynsty25]

Yes, if playing games isn't your first priority on an Mp3 player...the Zune destroys the iPod as far as sound quality, top notch interface, and the far superior Zune software and ZunePass (which Apple doesn't even have). It's a fantastic device...still.

Yeah the app/games list on the Zune Market is pitiful.

I have 2 questions about the Zune:

Who's the internet browsing compared to the Touch?

Can you access the Marketplace and download songs/apps/podcast, directly on the Zune HD (if connected to the Internet of course) like you can on the Ipod Touch?

Browsing isn't nearly as good as the Touch...it's getting better tho. And yes, you can do stuff from the marketplace over wifi from the device.

[fsquid]

me love the Zune, especially since I can download movies off the internet and play them on my TV via the AV Dock.

[F308GTB]

I'm still loving the zune, though I'm never using the built-in HD radio nor games. Strictly Zune Pass music and some podcasts. IMO, the Zune Pass is golden, though I wish it would do better on music suggestions based on what I listen too. I end up having to do most of the footwork to find related artists and such.

[dbdynsty25]

Well...my Zune HD met it's demise while my brother was borrowing it (lost it on a golf course somewhere) so I was in the market for another Mp3 player. The Zune HD was a fine little machine but I was just looking for a little more depth of sound to pair with my Sennheiser IE6 earbuds. Obviously all Apple products are out and I went back to my beloved iAudio/Cowon brand. The update to the S9 (as pictured on pg. 8 of this thread) is the J3. Adds a few more hours of music playback, a better interface and touchscreen response and the best part...expandable memory with microSD cards. I picked up the 16gb J3 from Amazon for 237 and added the 16gb microSD card I had from a previous phone and voila...32gb. They make a 32gb model as well for ~300 but I really only use it at the gym so no need for that kinda capacity. It is slightly overpriced in my mind, but if you search around you can find deals.

Again, Cowon makes ridiculously great sounding MP3 players. You really have to hear one to believe it. Here are a bunch of pics from Engadget...I actually went with the black version instead of the white. So if you're in the market...I personally think the Zune HD and the Cowon J3 are the best out there, with the Cowon edging ahead because of sound quality and the fact that it supports a hellova lot more file types (divx/xvid anyone?).

http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/11/cowo ... -hands-on/

[F308GTB]

I've got a Zune HD with some Etymotic ER6i buds. At first I thought they were some incredible sounding buds, but then I upgraded my listening space at work. I may look like a complete goof at work, but my sound from the HD is sublime listening through my Stax 404s and a Stax SRM-252 amp (I've got the big boy SRM-006t headphone tube amp at home). My ears have been spoiled and when I go back to the Etymotics it sounds like tinny. The last time I was in Japan I picked up the 252 amp as well as some Stax SR-003 "portable/in-ears". Now those things sound almost as good as the SR-404. Only problem is that body are open ear so they aren't good in noisy environments, but I must tell you the sound is incredible. Next time around, instead of upgrading your source, upgrade the phones and add an external amp. You can even get battery powered ones. At home I'll listen to the HD through an older set of Senn HD-580 open-ear cans and a Qinpu A-3 headphone tube amp. Slightly different tone than the Stax setup but still leaps and bounds over in-ears.

For noisy environments, to me it's more about outside noise attenuation. The $80-$150 range of in-ears all pretty much have similar acoustic performance. It's the selection of the tip that makes a bigger difference in attenuation.

[Rodster]

Any thoughts about the new Ipod Touch? I can't believe Apple priced the 8GB model at $229 and the 32GB at $299. Are there any GPS apps for this? If so I may pick one up so I can use it with Ical.

[wco81]

There is no GPS chip in the iPod Touch.

But it uses SkyHook which is a network of known Wifi hotspots to determine your location. Obviously not as accurate as a GPS chip. Supposedly tho, things like Yelp and foursquare just work if you have a Wifi connection when you're out and about.

Camera is a disappointment, only .7 megapixel and not backlit or with LED flash like the camera in the iPhone 4. So the HDR feature won't be as useful.

But the Retina Display should be good for games and reading eBooks and other text-heavy apps.

Things like GPS, better camera obviously add a lot to the cost and can only be recouped by phone contract subsidies.

Unless someone makes an Android PMP with all the features of an Evo or Droid X except for the 3G radio and price it for $300 or less, I would guess smart phones will always have better specs. than a PMP.

[dbdynsty25]

Unless someone makes an Android PMP with all the features of an Evo or Droid X except for the 3G radio and price it for $300 or less, I would guess smart phones will always have better specs. than a PMP.

Well your wish is their command...Archos is rocking all sorts of Android based tablets this fall. And for an 8gb 10" device, 300 bucks (allegedly). Download the free Kindle app and there you've got an e-reader too. Fantastic. I'm actually looking forward to these.

http://www.archos.com/products/ta/index ... us&lang=en

The new touch is okay...if a screen is the only thing you're looking for in an upgrade. 229 is absolutely ridiculous for 8gb of storage. They should have went 179, 249, 349. Oh well. F'em. Cowon makes better sounding players anyway...and my Droid X is a better all around device. So yeah...my MacBook is awesome at least.

[RobVarak]

My Zune 120 died today. I LOVED this player. Without getting into the grisly details of my lifestyle, let it suffice to say that I need that kind of capacity.

Anyway, it seems that in the 2 years since I bought that player the trend has been toward smaller drives. Any options out there for me, who's a compulsive mp3 hog and wants to tote around a stupidly huge amount of music? Keep in mind that I was using about 116gb of the 120, so I'm not kidding here. LOL

I know I can go out and get another Zune 120, but I want to make sure that I'm not missing anything before I go down that road.

[XXXIV]

Id say get a Zune HD since I live and die with it and the Zune pass but your mp3 whoring is not compatible with their max 64 gb of space.

[dbdynsty25]

There really aren't any high capacity options that fit what you need right now. Everything is smaller on flash memory instead of micro hard drives. If you need 120...your choices are pretty much Ipod Classic and Zune 120.

My recommendation would really be to get the Cowon J3 32gb and get a few micro-SD cards because it uses expandable memory, but that would be cost prohibitive if you really want 120 gb of music with you. Just stick with what you know...Zune 120 is probably the way to go really.

[RobVarak]

Thanks for the input, guys.


The plot thickens a bit. There's been a huge rash of failures in the last several days judging from the official forums and some others. MS just released new s/w and firmware for the players last week. Seems like a mighty big coincidence.

[dbdynsty25]

Thanks for the input, guys.


The plot thickens a bit. There's been a huge rash of failures in the last several days judging from the official forums and some others. MS just released new s/w and firmware for the players last week. Seems like a mighty big coincidence.

Warranty replacement time if so. That's even better.

[Rodster]

What's the Zune sound like compared to the Iplod? I think the Iplod has poor sound but i've read that the Zune HD has very good sound and the FM radio is decent. I'm looking for a new MP3 player and have been looking at a Zune HD. Also any try the subscription based service Microsoft offers for the Zune?

[dbdynsty25]

The Zune HD is significantly better than the iPod as far as sound is concerned. Both are trumped by the Cowon J3 (or older S9) but you're limited to your mp3 collection as it doesn't have the Zune pass which is pretty nice. I simply prefer the sound of the Cowon players.

[Rodster]

The Zune HD is significantly better than the iPod as far as sound is concerned. Both are trumped by the Cowon J3 (or older S9) but you're limited to your mp3 collection as it doesn't have the Zune pass which is pretty nice. I simply prefer the sound of the Cowon players.

IYO is the Cowon J3 much better than the Zune sound wise? Thanks the Zune pass is what I was thinking about. I forgot the price of the monthly service but IIRC part of the service allowed you to keep certain songs per month.

[XXXIV]

The Zune HD is significantly better than the iPod as far as sound is concerned. Both are trumped by the Cowon J3 (or older S9) but you're limited to your mp3 collection as it doesn't have the Zune pass which is pretty nice. I simply prefer the sound of the Cowon players.

IYO is the Cowon J3 much better than the Zune sound wise? Thanks the Zune pass is what I was thinking about. I forgot the price of the monthly service but IIRC part of the service allowed you to keep certain songs per month.

10 songs a month are yours to keep which along with the unlimited plays of most songs pretty much pays for the $14.99.

The bad thing is after a while you start to forget about the 10 songs and if you dont claim em you lose me. They do email you but still...

[dbdynsty25]

The Zune HD is significantly better than the iPod as far as sound is concerned. Both are trumped by the Cowon J3 (or older S9) but you're limited to your mp3 collection as it doesn't have the Zune pass which is pretty nice. I simply prefer the sound of the Cowon players.

IYO is the Cowon J3 much better than the Zune sound wise? Thanks the Zune pass is what I was thinking about. I forgot the price of the monthly service but IIRC part of the service allowed you to keep certain songs per month.

Yes. It's not even close once you get it dialed in. The Cowon's are so much more customizable and you can tailor them to your taste. If you like bass, or listen to any jazz or hip hop at all...you cannot go wrong with the Cowon line of players. The S9s are cheap as hell right now. I personally like the J3 better because you can use microSD cards along with the built in memory and it just blends the library together. It's genius. I ended up putting all of my movies and tv shows on one SD card and music on the player itself. Allows me to keep them separate as far as file management goes.

[F308GTB]

The Zune HD is significantly better than the iPod as far as sound is concerned. Both are trumped by the Cowon J3 (or older S9) but you're limited to your mp3 collection as it doesn't have the Zune pass which is pretty nice. I simply prefer the sound of the Cowon players.

IYO is the Cowon J3 much better than the Zune sound wise? Thanks the Zune pass is what I was thinking about. I forgot the price of the monthly service but IIRC part of the service allowed you to keep certain songs per month.

Yes. It's not even close once you get it dialed in. The Cowon's are so much more customizable and you can tailor them to your taste. If you like bass, or listen to any jazz or hip hop at all...you cannot go wrong with the Cowon line of players. The S9s are cheap as hell right now. I personally like the J3 better because you can use microSD cards along with the built in memory and it just blends the library together. It's genius. I ended up putting all of my movies and tv shows on one SD card and music on the player itself. Allows me to keep them separate as far as file management goes.

Hmm, how many higher quality audio products let you "dial in" the sound? Pretty much none. My now dead tube amp, and three different headphone amps (including solid state and tube) have no tonal controls. If you aren't getting the sound you like, I'd say it's not the source but the cans. Better quality cans make all the difference. Even crap sources sound good on my Stax 006t/404 rig.

Regarding big storage mp3 players, I think the only ones out there that are new are some Archos video players. Archos 7 can have 320gb of hard disk storage. Been thinking of one myself. My Zune HD (32mb version) is great for the Zune pass, but I don't have any of my personal mp3s on there. I need 200+ gb for my own stuff.

[F308GTB]

EDIT: Sources/amps should be neutral in sound, adding an equalizer just makes a system ghetto IMO, as evidenced by the large number of cars around me with bass heavy systems that rattle the whole dang car. You should hear what the engineers want you to hear.

[wco81]

EDIT: Sources/amps should be neutral in sound, adding an equalizer just makes a system ghetto IMO, as evidenced by the large number of cars around me with bass heavy systems that rattle the whole dang car. You should hear what the engineers want you to hear.

I don't know, some people have made careers out of remixing someone else's music.

Can expensive headphones really fix badly compressed audio? There are many tracks which sound okay through a computer's speaker but put them out on even mid-fi speakers and they sound like AM radio.

[dbdynsty25]

Hmm, how many higher quality audio products let you "dial in" the sound? Pretty much none. My now dead tube amp, and three different headphone amps (including solid state and tube) have no tonal controls. If you aren't getting the sound you like, I'd say it's not the source but the cans. Better quality cans make all the difference. Even crap sources sound good on my Stax 006t/404 rig.

I'm strictly talking portable mp3 players with compressed music. Sure, your high end equipment with lossless audio and neutral tones will always sound better with some 400 dollar cans, but for portable use with small headphones, you need a little help to get the most out of the audio. Mp3 players just in general don't sound all that good because they aren't powerful enough. Who wants to carry and amp to the gym? That's my point. And of course better headphones make them sound better...I'm a Sennheiser man, so the HD25-1s that I use on my Cowon are outstanding.

I mean...it's all about sound and how you like listening to music which is exactly what I said. The EQ on the iPods and Zune HD is laughable when it comes to tinkering...which I still believe you need to do with portable audio.

[RobVarak]

db,

What do you hear about the Cowon X7?

http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/08/cowo ... screen-am/






103hr battery life for music playback? I'm already in love. LOL

Screen 4.3″ 480×272
TV Out (composite) + Line In
Size: 78.6 x 14.5 x 126.9 mm
Weight 212g
Colors: White, Black, Dark Purple
Capacities: 80GB, 120GB, 160GB (They also mention Flash 2GB but im not sure what that means, if its additional memory on top of the HDD or if its a stand alone flash capacity- likely the former)
Battery: 103h audio, 10h video
Audio: <P3/2, WMA, OGG, FLAC, APE, WAV
Video: AVI, DIVX, Xvid, WMV, ASF
Bluetooth 2.0 A2DP/AVRCP
BBE 3.0, Speaker, FM Radio, Recorder, Pictures, Documents, Flash Player, Dictionary, Notepad, Comic Viewer, Stopwatch, Calculator

[dbdynsty25]

Rob...haven't used that particular model, but if it's the new X5 then you're in for a treat. They are quite a bit bigger than the Zune 120 you had, so there is that, but they sound like all other Cowon devices because they use the same sound processor. One thing to keep in mind with all of the Cowon products...the interfaces are usually fairly clunky when compared to iPods or Zunes...so there's a learning curve. Check out these forums for info on that particular model...from some people that own em, rather than my comparison opinion.

http://iaudiophile.net/forums/index.php

Now that I look at that site...it appears that X7 isn't even on there yet! Has it even been released? The specs are damn impressive.

[RobVarak]

Korea only for now. Speculation seems to point to a December US release, although there's nothing official.