Poll: Is There a Sound Quality Difference Between mp3 Players?

*stevenator65* · 06-25-08, 09:55 AM

I'm taking a poll. Let us know if you feel there is a difference in sound quality between varioius mp3 players. This assumes you test with the same quality music and headphones, of course. Also, let us know what mp3 player and headphones you're rockin'. I may use your quote for a MobilitySite article. Thanks for your feedback.

spunker88 · 06-25-08, 07:07 PM

I think there is. It depends what kind of audio card/mixer options there is on the player.

Listening to mp3s on my axim with x50mix at its optimum settings is a lot different then listening to mp3s on my cheap $20 flash based mp3 player.

If the mp3 player has options on its equilizer that enhance the audio then, yes it will sound better. Not as good as my axim is. But, other than that its all about kbps.

But im willing to put up with the lower quality on my flash mp3 player, b/c i take it everywhere and dont have to worry about it breaking, b/c its only $20 for another. And besides these flash mp3 players are very durable.

*stevenator65* · 06-25-08, 08:07 PM

Thanks Spunker for your feedback. If you assume you have the same exact music playlist and headphones, and test the same playlist and headphones with different players, would you hear a difference?

Obviously, if you keep the variables the same, but just change the mp3 player, do you feel there are sound quality differences in the player?

**psionandy** · 06-26-08, 01:54 AM

I'm not convinced that I can recognize difference due to Hardware.., however I can tell the differences due to different EQ settings. now some of these are set as default on players and can't be changed, some can.

foosa123 · 06-26-08, 03:10 AM

to me, i can certainly tell the difference when comparing older players and newer players, but if i'm comparing to newer players like an ipod classic and a zune then there may only be a very subtle difference if any at all

in the end it probably comes down to headphones/speakers to me i think

Big_Cat_Steve · 06-26-08, 05:58 AM

Hey Steve, hope this has helped you. I personally cant really say I've noticed much except for the volume level (between the two I have halfway has a noticable audible level) but quality is just as good.
Cheers
Steve

bdimon · 06-26-08, 06:05 AM

The players all sound the same quality although some have more volume. There is a huge difference in headphones, though!

crabh6315 · 06-26-08, 01:57 PM

There are players which have hardware and software enhancements of which have obvious differences, for example iAudio X5 with BBE, To me it is something I prefer for music listening, BBE gives an Audio spatial enhancement a 3D effect for audio of which you cant do with equalizer settings, some player have Bass enhancements such as many of the Sony players do. If you set all the Equalizer settings flat on all players and use the same headphones for testing purposes you can audibly tell differences that are small to large from player to player, some players have more distortion than others, and some have a greater audio response time to the frequencies they are playing.
All players will have differences just because there hardware is different, for instance they have different “wattage”, voltage and current outputs of which will give perceptible audio differences. The software enhancements such as “BBE from iAudio creates difference in “time” of how the waveforms are reproduced on the player.
In answer to your question; Yes there will always be differences small or big that can be audibly perceived.

crabh6315 · 06-26-08, 02:39 PM

The player I have personaly tested with Headphones Bose QuietComfort 2 and required adaptors, are as follows;
iAudio X5 30GBL, Apple iPod 4GB Mini, Apple iPod 20GB, Apple iPod Nano 2GB, Apple iPod Shuffle 1GB,
Sony Walkman NWZ-B105F, SanDisk Sansa e260, Microsoft Zune, IRiver E100, Creative Zen Vision:M, COBY MP-C7095, RCA Lyra (don’t remember Model?), and a few others I cant remember, I had made a list of about 40 players that I have to look for? I had created a matrix to rate the players by price, size, capacity, user friendly and sound quality. I had done this when I was looking for players to purchace for myself and my daughter.
I was a Test Engineer for 32 years before I retired, so the methodology of my approch to rate the player might be different from others, I looked more on the technical and sound quality aspects of the player first, rather how cool they looked on my arm? Of which is how my daughter and her friends rated their choices.
Post here if you need the “matrix” and I will post here or email it to you?

FYI; There are MP3 player rate list on the Web, but I have found those list heavily biased by how much kickbacks they get from the manufactures.

*stevenator65* · 06-26-08, 06:52 PM

crabh6315 welcome to MobilitySite! You rock! Thanks for your excellent feedback. I may quote you in my article. And I completely agree, there are hardware differences between various players that affect the sound. Also, I'm sure there is software in the players meant to optimize their sound.

Foosa123, great point as well. The iPod and Zune both have good quality and likely use the same audio chip.

Thanks for all the feedback. Whatever your opinion is, I appreciate the effort you put in with your comments.

*stevenator65* · 06-28-08, 09:51 AM

Bump to the top. Need more votes!

*hyedipin* · 06-28-08, 11:28 PM

The best Mp3 player i owned was 64MB storage capacity iRock mp3 player, which I bought from Radioshack about 5 years ago. That was one incredible little thing, had the best sound I heard ever. I only could hear the same thing on iPod shuffle. For some reason HDD based players tend to be inferior when it comes to reproducing the sound. It could be the intereference, or just my imaginanation, but so far nothing came close to that little thing I bought for $99. After that I had also bought 128MB MMC card for it.

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Portable Media - MP3 Players, XM to Go, Media Players, etc