Which iriver player has the best sound quality of all?

[clixoveripod]

I think its either the ifp 800 series or clix.

[clieos]

[EDIT] Thread moved.

[caramelsoul]

I couldnt say which has the best from all the iRiver players as i only have the H140, H320 and H10. Which all sound good to my ears.

[LordMattman]

:O I held my first H340 today!!!
It was so light, and small.
Man, I wanted to buy it off the owner haha. I'll ask for a listen and see how it compares to a clix and a H10. (To my ears)

[Llorean]

I have to say the H120 and the iFP-7xx series (which I'm lead to understand is internally identical to the 8xx) both have a bit of noise on lower impedance phones that I don't get on some other players I own (of other brands, so not valid in this comparision). I'd really put their sound quality at "acceptable" rather than "Good" on an overall scale, though as I said, the noise isn't noticeable with other phones, and then they're pretty good.

[thenvk]

its the clix i guess

[Judge]

I've only heard the iFP-395T, H10 and H340, and I'd rate them H340 = iFP-395T > H10. H340 and iFP-395T are different, but both very good. The H10 is worse, IMO of course. I still think my iFP-395T is the best (equal to H340) dap I've ever heard. Excluding H340 -> line-out -> Hornet of course, I'm talking headphone out here.

[andrewmel]

Originally Posted by Llorean

I have to say the H120 and the iFP-7xx series (which I'm lead to understand is internally identical to the 8xx) both have a bit of noise on lower impedance phones that I don't get on some other players I own (of other brands, so not valid in this comparision). I'd really put their sound quality at "acceptable" rather than "Good" on an overall scale, though as I said, the noise isn't noticeable with other phones, and then they're pretty good.

I found this using Shure E500 with my H320 as well, but there is none on my 5G 60Gb iPod.

a

[Larsie]

I've owned several Iriver players. In my opinion the H100 and H300 series sound best. I've heard all of them with my Sennheiser PMX 200, and MX 400 (the stock earphone). The H100, H300 and H10 with my AKG K-601


from excellent to average:

H100 or H300
As far as audio quality is concerned the H100 and H300 series ar equal, I haven't heard anything better so far.
I really like the DAC, however it's a bit unstable on low impedance headphones such as the stock ones, though sennheisser claims it to be 32 Ohm. It will run fine with my Sennheiser PMX 200 (30 Ohm). My AKG K601 is a bit too heavy at 120 Ohm though it still sounds heavenly. I'm looking for a good amp at them moment. (I can't imagine how it could sound even better than now )

T10
Nice and very 'warm' sound (which I actually like, some people might not agree), however not as bright and clear as the H100/H300 (which sound pretty warm too).
I believe all players from the T serie sound equal (can anybody confirm this?) they are pretty cheap, probably even the best 'bang for the buck' players ever made.

U10
Not much difference to the T10, just a little weaker in the low tones. I completely dislike the firmware from the U10 serie, slow as hell, crashes from time to time, difficult to navigate from your pocket.

H10
Sounds like crap in the original firmware (compared to those above). The firmware itself is probably the best Iriver has ever created. Rocksolid, easy to use, easy to control. Such a shame it doesn't meet my first requirement: SOUND, not 'just sound', but that surprise everytime you turn it on. Under rockbox however it's acceptable: little shy on bass, but very good at the high tones.

At the moment I own a H120 and a 20GB H10. The H120 for it's audio quality, the H10 to just hack it to my needs (currently busy on implementing proper scroll support under Rockbox)

[Chris Syncratic]

Gotta say i'm a bit of a novice having never really owned any other iriver apart from my H140, but it has always impressed me with the sound quality! definitly kicked the butt off anything i've owned before

4 years and still going strong.

Chris

[ShyAnne]

Originally Posted by Larsie

T10
Nice and very 'warm' sound (which I actually like, some people might not agree), however not as bright and clear as the H100/H300 (which sound pretty warm too).
I believe all players from the T serie sound equal (can anybody confirm this?)

I never heard a T20, but own two T10 and one T30 and can confirm that they do indeed sound the same. I got the 1GB T10 first pretty early on, liked it so much that I got the 2GB once it had been out for a few months and the price dropped.

Found an incredible bargain on the 1GB T30, so got that too. Must admit ... although I thought the T30 would sound good, I wasn't expecting it to sound as good as T10 since T30 was the "budget" model from that series. But once loaded with music, there it was.... that same pleasantly warm and very big sound, complete with plenty of bass but without being 'boomy' or distorted. Pleasant surprise considering T30 is so light and small.

I prefer the relaxed and somewhat 'warm' sound of these players. I find 'brighter' sounding players cause listening fatigue, which is something I never experience with the T-series players.

The only difference I have found is that T30 is better for recording than T10. First because T30 has line-in, which is missing on T10. But T30 also records better through it's internal mic than T10, even though both have that same feature. I suspect it's because the mic hole is much larger on the T30 and it's centered better over the mic inside the unit. T10 still records well, but internal mic recordings on T30 come out louder and much more clear.

they are pretty cheap, probably even the best 'bang for the buck' players ever made.

Well they were cheap, not so much anymore since they've been discontinued. In particular, the 2GB T10 units still out there are now overpriced.

By the way, nice review of the sound quality of different iriver players, and not just 'cause I happen the agree with your assessments. It was just a really nice summary of the sound differences between the various players.

[snowman]

Remember it's the quality of the music also 128kb pretty low , 192 great, 256 excellent, 320 kb cd quality, the h-10 and h320 are really excellent, also use very good headphones, not buds, koss porta-pro are just excellent

[tranceaddict]

I'm not sure about other irivers, but I've owned an e10 and t30, from what I can tell, there isn't a noticable difference in sound quality between the two.

Also, what's the deal with music file formats, is there a difference in sound quality for example between 128kbps WMA and 128kbps MP3?

[LordMattman]

Got my H340 today!!!!
I'll compare it directly to my E10 and post back once its charged.

[clieos]

Originally Posted by tranceaddict

Also, what's the deal with music file formats, is there a difference in sound quality for example between 128kbps WMA and 128kbps MP3?

In general, the highly the compression rate in a codec, the better it sounds compare to another lower compression rate codec in the same bit rate. That is, an 128kbps CBR WMA will sound better than 128kbps CBR MP3 since WMA has higher compression rate ( *= more detail). Of course, 128kbps CBR OGG (more compressed) will sound even better. The downside is, the higher the compression rate, the more power it require to decode it and hence shorter battery life.

BY the way, it only applies to lossy format.

[Mattxx]

Ah, I've always wondered about those differences too. Thanks for the info

[disguise]

Unlike others here i select the h10 as the player with the best sound.
But i use it with my SRS on and i got new Sennheiser mx-75 sport earphones. Got 2 other irivers but the h10 is the best of all in sound (others are slim-x and ifp340).
Compared to other players, it sure is the best sound of all.

[Alphatier]

Hi there

I own an iFP899 and a T10 FM 2GB, and to me, the iFP has the better sound quality. I used them with my good old PMX60 sports phone and my Shure E2c in-ears, and to me, the 899 has more drive in its sound and is higher in volume, though the T10 still produces a fine playback. The old iFP simply bashes your brains out at normal equalizer setting and 50% volume when using the shure plugs.
Outstanding material, really

Lars

[louisville62]

Can't wait to compare the Clix (I own) to the H10 (I sooooon will own).

[clix_london]

Clix Gen 1
:d:d:d:d:d

[Richos]

being the owner of 2 iRiver's...(new E10 and a 4 year old iFP-795) i have a tough choice to decide between the 2 MP3 players as to which one has the better sound quality...

or so i thought...

when i first had the iFP-795, i didn't think it would have any great audio quality when plugged in with the earphones i had ( Sony MDR-E828 )but then i stumbled across the CustomEQ....oh hello!!....wow...did the sound improve with such few tweaks...so over time and a few more adjustments...the sound was amazing...even better was the 3D effect was also able to be tuned and tweaked just like the CustomEQ....wow...it was so responsive and easily tuned....but then the dreaded day came and the iFP-795 ran out of room....the poor lil thing had been so loyal to me and is still....but the music library i had wasnt gonna fit on without deleting some favourite songs...and i couldn't do that...so then came the E10......

will continue this post soon...need to sleep for school tomo