I dont want an iPod, what MP3 player should i get? - Page 3

Elspeth · 26th November 2005, 12:33pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Largest of Gregs

im sure she would love this one...

anything from john lewis website really as I can get a discount there

What that one

Quiz Bhoy · 26th November 2005, 12:39pm

I've ordered this bad boy through my work so I get it for £165

20Gb version

Largest of Gregs · 26th November 2005, 12:46pm

sony bean is shite when you see it, so i scrapped that idea

Elspeth · 26th November 2005, 12:52pm

I've already got a NW HD3 anyway (20gb), but I want a wee one for the gym. I wouldn't take the HD3 to the gym

Lyris · 26th November 2005, 2:21pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tommy

I've got the silver (HD5), its brilliant.

Have you gone into the service menu to disable the European volume restriction? And also have you tried turning up the Digital Sound Preset Bass and Treble options all the way up?

Makes an already good player mind blowingly good! I love getting people who swear by the iPod (in an overly zealous way) to listen to it and watching their faces

Tommy · 26th November 2005, 2:23pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lyris

Have you gone into the service menu to disable the European volume restriction?

Aye.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lyris

And also have you tried turning up the Digital Sound Preset Bass and Treble options all the way up?

No cause I'd lose all the middle then surely?

I love my Sony, get it up ye Apple lovers.

walf riggum · 26th November 2005, 2:26pm

get the new sony walkman, they are the business

**djtoast** · 26th November 2005, 2:54pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lyris

And also have you tried turning up the Digital Sound Preset Bass and Treble options all the way up?

Makes an already good player mind blowingly good! I love getting people who swear by the iPod (in an overly zealous way) to listen to it and watching their faces

Hmmm, I don't intend to sound patronising here but I probably will.

Artificially inflating the bass and treble is an old trick for making music players of all descriptions sound more "lively" or "exiting" but it really DOESN'T improve the sound; if it were that simple, the people in the studio with the £100,000 worth of bass and treble controls would have done that for you.

Your ears are most naturally sensitive to frequencies closest to those used by human voices, kind of in the middle of the audible spectrum. Boosting the frequencies your ear isn't as sensitive to, at the top and bottom, brings out basslines and bright sounds like cymbals, which you might not otherwise have noticed as much, but this happens AT THE EXPENSE of the vocal / guitar / keyboard sounds that are also present, so it's not the musical equivalent of a free lunch.

If that's your personal preference, fine, but someone with a great deal of talent and experience has (usually) invested a lot a time and effort in mixing music to sound the best it can, and bar SMALL tinkerings to compensate for differences in playback equipment, wildly altering that is likely to make the sound acoustically tiring: you'll rapidly habituate to the new balance of sounds and lose the benefit, and with it lose the homogenity and subtlety of the recording.

Largest of Gregs · 26th November 2005, 3:36pm

ooooooooooooooooh

GoddamnElectric · 26th November 2005, 3:45pm

I'd add to what Toast said by mentioning that while the brand of player you chose may only make a small difference to the sound quality you hear, the brand of earphone you use makes a huge difference. Those packaged apple earphone should be banned as an afront to music. Spend £20-30 on some decent Sony Fontopia brand phones and you'll never look back. Unless you push the boat out for some Shure branded 'phones... I bought the e2c model a while back and it's like comparing night with day. Plus you can run your player at a much lower volume and hear every note, increasing battery life.

**djtoast** · 26th November 2005, 3:52pm

That's a good point: the sensitivity of headphones / earphones varies HUGELY, some are pretty much twice as loud as others for the same amplifier output.

Something around 103 complicated unit involving decibels, watts and metres is probably ideal.

Tommy · 26th November 2005, 4:01pm

I invested in good Sony earphones (about £30 - they stick right in your ear) however the volume output of the prepacked ones is far superior. :s

GoddamnElectric · 26th November 2005, 4:04pm

Seems to change a lot brand to brand. With my Shure's i havent ever had my iriver past 1/4 volume. I suspect going higher than that would damage my ears.

Lyris · 26th November 2005, 4:07pm

Quote:

Hmmm, I don't intend to sound patronising here but I probably will.

Artificially inflating the bass and treble is an old trick for making music players of all descriptions sound more "lively" or "exiting" but it really DOESN'T improve the sound; if it were that simple, the people in the studio with the £100,000 worth of bass and treble controls would have done that for you.

Yeah, I do realise it's not the proper sound. Seeing as I'm a total video geek, this must be the audio equivalent of getting a TV and jacking the colour and sharpness up to full. I do really like how really bassy stuff sounds, though.

SlayerVixen · 26th November 2005, 5:56pm

I really like that new Sony Walkman, seeing as my 8 month old Ipod Mini died the other night, i might just get one. However what is the problem with the software?? Is it complex to use or something??

Apple...bastards that they are, are trying to tell me my year warranty is up when clearly it isn't!