thinking of getting an iPod..

[Guest]

how good are they, in terms of sound quality? if its bad, would changing the earphones make a difference, or is it the ipod hardware itself that produces bad sound quality? thinking of getting the ipod nano, 4g. the nano's look really good but i like to know if they produce as good as sound quality as, say, the zen. my mp3s are in 192, 256, 320 and VBR formats.

thanks

[Fawksie]

Audiophiles can argue about the ins and outs of various types of DAC and amplifier, but for most people, any one MP3 player sounds the same as any other. Apple earbuds are cack, as you rightly suspect. Decent in-ear monitors abound, you can pick up Sennheiser CX300s for less than a tenner now, and they'll improve the quality noticeably. You can imagine what you get if you pay more.

[ct3012]

I agree with Fawksie on this one. The Sennheiser CX300s are what I have used for the past 2 years (although I did pay £40 for them), and are really good for the price. You can get a decent set of Phillips headphones for under £20. They aren't as good as the Sennheiser ones, but still an improvement on the provided Apple rubbish - that they charge you £20 if you want to buy them by themselves. For the £50-60 mark you could get a good pair of Denon in-ear buds or Shure ones.
If you're feeling flash, I would definitely go for the Bose in-ear headphones, which aren't the cheapest in the world at £80. But, like Fawksie said, more money means better quality.

[zipporah]

I have a little Zen Stone, but have borrowed my friend's iPod Touch a couple of times. I have some Sennheiser in-ear headphones. I didn't notice any problems with sound quality. It is for me just portable music for walking places, though, so I don't expect anything mind-blowing.

[Guest]

well i went to my nearest apple store which in regent street and got myself an ipod nano today (purple, 16gb)..i'm actually quite satisfied with my purchase. and the ipod earphones which gets such a bad wrap is actually ok, i quite like it.

however, i'm willing to see if theres anything better. when walking in the streets here in london it gets annoying that my music gets drowned so easily by passing vehicles. in-ear earphones may serve as an advantage for shutting this out, but from my very limited experience with these, the setback is that you can hear your own breathing and any bumping with the wires can be heard through the cans. are the sennheiser ones like these or have they improved in dealing with these disadvantages?

after considerable research, i am thinking of getting the sennheiser OMX80, over the ear ones. i want earphones that's bass driven, not one of these cans that produces tinny output equivalent to an old radio from the 50s. what should i look for in specs? the higher the frequency, the better? shame i cannot sample any at the regent street store (prices there to get any are insane anyway). i mainly listen to my music on the commute or whilst working (i'm allowed to listen whilst working in the office and in the library, its a benefit that comes with my job! ha). i wouldnt consider myself to be an audiophile, proper. but i do appreciate quality output.

in addition, i wish to ask..i want to rip mp3s in vbr..whats the best program for this? cd-da extractor (ripping mp3, vbr, 0)? i've used this program but it makes me computer huff and puff, was wondering if there are any other efficient programs out there that could do the job just as well, without forcing my computer to break a sweat.

thanks again.