Q for ex Creative zen Owners

[mboy2004]

I think I'm a bit paranoid because I've posted something similar before but I didn't get a direct comparison from ex creative users.

If there is anyone out there who has used both the Creative Zen series and the Iriver H series, can you give a comparison of the sound quality.

I have heard reports that the Creative has a higher quality sound but i'd rather take it on reports of users..

[Big D]

Try the forum archive.

http://www.misticriver.net/archive/i...reative+zen+nx

And without going to the archives I'll give you my .02... I owned the Creative Zen NX. I found the sound quality to be excellent but to my ears no better than that of the H120. This is a VERY subjective issue though as the human ear varies GREATLY from person to person.

Ooopppsss..

Sorry for the testuser post. This is Jeff in reality.

[mboy2004]

Thanks for that,

I did have a search b4 but my search skills may not be up to scratch because I didn't come up with anything as good as that anyway..

Man i'm so conflicted, my wife thinks i'm a weirdo cuz I can't stop obsessing over the decision.

I definatelly think the H series is the way to go with a set of Shure e2 or similar.. Just seeing the new Creative Zen touch got me thinking about sound quality again.

[Longview]

I am going to buy an iriver H series tomorrow, and i already own a zen xtra, so i'll let you know once i get it all working...but i can say now, the creative sound quality was REALLY good, better than my friends ipod id say if that will help reference it

[mboy2004]

Thanks Longview, why the swap to H series if you don't mind me asking..

[mboy2004]

Hey Longview,

I didn't realise you actually answered my last question in my post about the Creative Zen touch

thx

[winty]

I had a Zen Xtra which I believe was significantly better sound quality than my iHP140. I'll be very interested to see whether you agree. I wouldn't go back to the Zen for love nor money.

[FlameGrilled]

I'm no ex-Zen owner, but a former/returner JB1 owner (the JB1, as the Nomad or DAP Jukebox, is the direct predecessor to the Zen series, but is a recorder proper.. unlike an iHP *coughs*).

I'm still convinced that the JB1/3 had the edge on sheer clean p/b quality, and even if shown differently, the series of JB/zen's dont do bad for what are essentially old-world designs.

Even if you find the audio qual diff negligable, i reckon the excess of output level the JB series had kinda made it damn handy if you wanted to drive heavy duty phones off it - you only make the mistake of plugging in ear/canal phones into the jb series once, without backing the vol level right off :P

Take that lot, remember the amped output of the zen is slightly below that of the JB series, and it all kinda is relative.

The iHP is, quality wise, good even great.. but not spectacularly 'king of the hill' stuff compared to the old-timers. But it is worthy of calling good enough that it sounds fine via phones and line-out to a common ordinary hifi. I wont spec if it'll sound good via audiophile kit.... as i'll never let an iHP near my audio kit nor a Karma or iPod

[Longview]

Originally Posted by mboy2004

Thanks Longview, why the swap to H series if you don't mind me asking..

Well, as you can probably guess, the headphone jack on my Nomad broke, and I have to pay 50 dollars i believe it is to get it fixed. Along with this, some things I dislike about it are :
-a downright bad case; its too big, covers the screen, and mine was exceptionally hard to close
-the dial type device on the side got a bit annoying from clicking it
-you cant really queue up a certain song...i mean there is a way but it would be VERY hard
-the battery lasts only about 6 hours (from personal use timing)
-the "updated" firmware only proceeded to make my computer NOT recognize the device

but overall, it was a good product (up until the headphone jack broke)

i cant wait...tonight....ip od or iriver...we'll see....

[DiGdUb]

i have the nomad zen usb 2.0 and the ihp-100. i pretty much preferred the ihp over the zen, because the ihp sounds more meaty due to its bass. the zen sound does not give me a 'satisfied' feeling.

[XavierGr]

Strange to hear that DiGdUb??
I have heard from many users(that dont support Creative) that Creative products are the best in terms of sound quality.

[yomady]

I just bought the iriver 120 not long ago and i still have my old firewire zen with me.
When I first got the iriver, I was kind of dissapointed about the sound quality. Then, I compared it to the zen side by side with same songs and same earphones. The zen sounds much better than the iriver to me. unlike iriver the sound that zen produces is very clear.
I thought maybe i just too used to creative products because i owned the creative jukebox1 previously also but i also had an iriver cd player b4
: )

Few days ago, my friend came by my house. I did the same test on him.
I let him choose some songs and put them on both players. by the way, he didnt own neither players. The result was the same. He said zen's sound quality is better.

What i get from the iriver
abillity to create folders (this is very useful now i have much better organized mp3 on the player)
better remote
smaller size
light weight
better case
Usb 2.0

What i lose
sound quality
accelerated fast forward (study mode is so stupid)
queue list (The queue list on zen is very useful.)
Zen's control wheel (the jog handle is a pain. Unlike most people i like the buttons on the sides like zen.)
physical looks (ihp120 looks ugly without the case)
firewire

I will wait to see the review of zen touch and decide if i will switch back to zen. The 24 hrs play time is so attractive.

[InsjaHH]

Just curious, but which headphones did you used for the testing? Same question goes for the EQ settings on both players?

Perhaps it was just wrongly set for the wrong type music on the iRiver; ok I just can't believe you say the sound quality just "suck" on the iRiver... or you are just being overreactive and didn't found the right words to express yourself .

Yeah, perhaps I'm also too defending, don't own a Creative Zen myself . Oh well; just stick to the player you like the most and everyone's happy.

[xameius]

I have a Creative Zen Xtra and am replacing it with the H140 because my Zen suffered from the headphone jack problem...I think that if I'm going to shell out that much money for a player, then the quality of the construction had better be good, and Creative failed in that aspect. The side buttons never worked right (I had to jam the volume "rocker" down as hard as possible to get the sound to go down) and the sound quality just didn't seem right to me. Maybe I bought a defective unit, but unless I turned off all of the sound "enhancers" and just played the MP3 normally, there would be like a background hiss and a few pops here and there. I know it wasn't the MP3s because I ripped them using EAC and Lame, and they played BEAUTIFULLY on my PC, but the Zen just didn't seem to handle them properly. Oh well, I get my H140 in the mail today, so after I charge it I hope i"ll have better luck with it.

[yomady]

I set both players to normal no eq no effect SRS off everything off or normal.
The earphones are Sennheiser mx500 and Sony ex71.
Songs are from 128kbit to 256kbit mainly pop hits.
To me Zen has clear and sharper vocal/high range than iriver.
I suspected that the iriver produces too much bass that blow away the vocal part.
I changed the treble boost to 6 and it did help a bit but I still need to find a way to reduce the bass.

Like testuser said it is a very subjective issue about the sound quality.
We dont listen to the same music, use the same earphones or share the same taste, so don’t be upset about what I said.
: )

About the durability issue of the zen, I must agree that creative did a bad job on the quality control recently. Their zen nx and xtra have some serious problems. If anyone going to buy the new zen, you better wait few months to see if there is any major problem.

[FlameGrilled]

All i'll say vs 'meaty' and 'non-meaty' fullness of reproduction of music on either of the mentioned decks is this :-

1) You gotta hear the o/p from the deck with all EQ & DSP set to it's neutral point (i.e. clean).

2) Don't listen, on external amps/speakers or active speakers, from the phones output - use line (where available) or a digital out if your amp/speakers or active speakers supports it.

3) Most multimedia speakers aint a good test of audio performance.

4) the audio output quality (in purity and tone) often reflects the trends of phones/amps/speakers of the same kinda generation as the player.

My old Jb1 phones opinions are taken in ref to listening via Technics RP-F290, Seheisser EH2200, Sony EX71 and MDR-E818's, Koss KTX Pro phones.

Amplified output, taken via the jB1's l/out's - via Exposure 2010 amp and both custom 3-way speakers and Wharfdale Pro D commercial installation speakers.

That info may say lots, little or nothing about my feelings...

[xameius]

I must say I am much more impressed with the 140 than I was with the Xtra. After listening to a few of my favorite songs on the 140 with similar EQ settings on the 140 as I would have had on the Xtra, I find the quality of the 140 MUCH better to my ears. I even tried using the same headphones I used with the Xtra on the 140 and the results are the same to me. The 140 has a much fuller sound and more crisp highs to me. Maybe my ears are different than everyone else's, but I like the 140 better than the Xtra in terms of sound quality so far.