What's the best MP3 player?

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Firefly

Firefly

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Underscore said:
The point is just that your MP3 player still plays MP3s in the same way, it doesn't make any difference if it can make phone calls too.
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Rambowjo said:
Firefly, the fact is that a decent DAC costs next to nothing. The "dedicated sound hardware" that you are talking about is the exact same stuff in phones and MP3 devices. You might hear a difference if you're using hi-fi gear, but then you wouldn't use the jack. The only real advantages to MP3 devices, which is why I use them, is that they usually have a way better interface, and a seperate battery (not draining your phone).
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I have heard a difference in the past. There is a difference in quality from player to player. Plus the point you made about the interface and file management software.
 
dragonfliet

dragonfliet

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Firefly said:
Thank you. I rest my case.
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If by rest your case, you mean:
Most MP3 players spit out the same results during testing, especially when you consider that a variance of +/- 5dB in each testing measure is indistinguishable to the human ear. Most of the variances we see between players aren't worth mentioning.
...
These are "portable" music players. They are used as a means to shoehorn music into all the circumstances of your life that are the least ideal for appreciating the finer nuances of recorded audio. When you're on the bus, or at the gym, or driving in your car, the ambient noises all around you mask enough frequencies to make our lab measurements inconsequential.
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In other words, IT DOESN'T ACTUALLY MATTER. The AVF thread says essentially that you need to be running it from a line out to a high-quality amp (which I'm betting dollars to donuts you aren't going to be doing). The grand scheme of it is that the quality is more or less a wash across the spectrum. Unless you're using super-high fidelity headphones in a quiet environment, a smartphone will be as good as an ipod will be as good as a sansa will be as good as a creative zen. YES there are differences, but they are minute. If you want a dedicated DAC, that's fine, but any decent smartphone will do as good of a job (audio quality wise), which was the point of this thread spiraling out of control in the first place.
 
dragonfliet

dragonfliet

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Firefly said:
read the whole thing and you'll see that they do.
anyway, I have heard a difference
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In a quiet environment with top of the line equipment, they can notice the most egregious differences, yes. But this isn't the environment one uses a portable player for. Unless you want one solely for listening while sitting in a library and using your headphone amp with, it won't matter--which, again, that review says.

Likewise, I doubt you've ever even listened to music on a smartphone. You keep insisting they use a smaller headphone jack, which none of them do (sure, crappy phones of the past have done so, but not a smartphone).
 
Zxanphorian

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Sir_Brizz

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