good sounding mp3 player without any sound enhancements

[desperate]

hi
i would like to know if there is an mp3 player with good sound quality without any of the sound enhancements, not even the equalizer, so is there something out there which sounds good without the BBE,BBE+, DSEE, CLEAR BASS,S-AMPLIFIER i had the D2+ but i felt it sounded better without all the enhancements, had the sansa clip plus which again i felt sounded better without all the tweaks of rockbox in fact it sounded better in the OF[equalizer off], also had the ipod shuffle and had the opportunity to compare the clip plus and the shuffle and i felt that the clip plus sounded better than the shuffle, also also had an old sony discman with parametric equalizer and clear bass but again i liked it when all these enhancements were turned off. all these enhancements i felt were in a way creating something artificial
i have gone through many topics but it seems people give advice based on the sound enhancements so once again is there a player which sounds excellent without any enhancements not even an equalizer

[CrowdAds]

[mamamia88]

Seems like you should just turn off the sound enhancements on your current players and just focus on acquiring higher bitrate/flac music.

[Tapeworm]

Originally Posted by desperate

. . . so once again is there a player which sounds excellent without any enhancements not even an equalizer

You've already listed several. There's nothing wrong with using a player with any sound enhancements, Bass Boost, or EQ turned off. That's why they have an OFF setting in the 1st place.

[FreeZ5]

Personally I am very happy with the Clip Plus in the Original Firmware without any EQ adjustments. It and the Clip Zip and Clip original are definitely among the best little players out there (except I broke the clip on mine recently).

Enjoy what you already have.

Steve

[skip252]

Originally Posted by mamamia88

Seems like you should just turn off the sound enhancements on your current players and just focus on acquiring higher bitrate/flac music.

As long as the files they have now are transparent to them, upping the bitrate, quality settings or going to lossless files isn't likely to bring an audible improvement. Most people that believe that haven't done the need testing to confirm for themselves if they can really hear a difference.

As Tapeworm said you've already listed several players that sound very good with all enhancement turned off. Getting headphones that allow you to hear what they're delivering would be the next step. That's where I would be looking for to improve the sound being delivered. What headphones have you been using?

[mamamia88]

Originally Posted by skip252

As long as the files they have now are transparent to them, upping the bitrate, quality settings or going to lossless files isn't likely to bring an audible improvement. Most people that believe that haven't done the need testing to confirm for themselves if they can really hear a difference.

As Tapeworm said you've already listed several players that sound very good with all enhancement turned off. Getting headphones that allow you to hear what they're delivering would be the next step. That's where I would be looking for to improve the sound being delivered. What headphones have you been using?

just assuming it's not good enough for him since he's looking for a new player. what i'm saying is that the player is only important up to a certain point. he has a few good ones i'm saying that if he wants better sound quality then he should focus his money/effort on either A)better headphones or B)better music files

[skip252]

Oh, I agree...to an limited extent. If you've got crappy files it doesn't matter what DAP or headphones you use to play them. Garbage In, Garbage Out.

It's not my intent to turn this one of those "what bitrate" type threads. I'm just pointing out that the one place you will almost always improve how a DAP that's putting out a good signal sounds will be the headphones. If I had good headphones and a DAP that's known to be able to reproduce what it's given accurately and things still sounded bad, then I'd look at the quality of the files.

[desperate]

Originally Posted by mamamia88

Seems like you should just turn off the sound enhancements on your current players and just focus on acquiring higher bitrate/flac music.

i already have higher bitrate music, the thing is i couldn't tell the differnece between flac and good ripped mp3 in blind test, even if i could i had to really focus ,it was not as though the difference was blatantly audible.

i believe that when u compare players side by side that is when u know which sounds better, i had the chance to compare shuffle and clip plus and i liked the clip plus, couldnt compare clip plus with D2+ or the sony so if anyone has done the comparison side by side with enhancements off i would like to know which one sounds better [ in my country its not easy or possible to try for a few days then return the product ]

the sony models available in my country are the older A series[NWZ-A844/T,NWZ-A845/B], S series[NWZ-S764/B] E series[474,363,373] and also have the option of buying any of the cowon models. without the sound enhancements who is the winner is it cowon or sony?

i was also considering the zen style m300 which has expandable memory any suggestions on how it sounds and if i assume that the j3 sounds better without any sound enhancements and since it has been put to rest what would be its replacement

i do have a good pair of earphones and i believe that each player does sound different with the same headphones so if anybody has compared the sony and the cowon[with everything flat] which one would it be and how does the winner among the above said two compare with the clip plus?

[The DarkSide]

Go Sony, you'll never look back.

[mamamia88]

Originally Posted by desperate

i already have higher bitrate music, the thing is i couldn't tell the differnece between flac and good ripped mp3 in blind test, even if i could i had to really focus ,it was not as though the difference was blatantly audible.

i believe that when u compare players side by side that is when u know which sounds better, i had the chance to compare shuffle and clip plus and i liked the clip plus, couldnt compare clip plus with D2+ or the sony so if anyone has done the comparison side by side with enhancements off i would like to know which one sounds better [ in my country its not easy or possible to try for a few days then return the product ]

the sony models available in my country are the older A series[NWZ-A844/T,NWZ-A845/B], S series[NWZ-S764/B] E series[474,363,373] and also have the option of buying any of the cowon models. without the sound enhancements who is the winner is it cowon or sony?

i was also considering the zen style m300 which has expandable memory any suggestions on how it sounds and if i assume that the j3 sounds better without any sound enhancements and since it has been put to rest what would be its replacement

i do have a good pair of earphones and i believe that each player does sound different with the same headphones so if anybody has compared the sony and the cowon[with everything flat] which one would it be and how does the winner among the above said two compare with the clip plus?

Well its kinda hard to compare side by side in that case. My e475 sounds very similar to my rockboxed zip. When you add in eq on the zip it may even sound better. Can't comment on the cow on never used one

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[desperate]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

Go Sony, you'll never look back.

from the above said models which series should i go for?[no expandable memory makes me a bit reluctant though] did u compare the sony with the cowon

[The DarkSide]

Get a 16gb E Series player,...since all sound pretty much the same. I have the S639,...it's one of my favorite players (I own a few,...).

[mamamia88]

Originally Posted by desperate

from the above said models which series should i go for?[no expandable memory makes me a bit reluctant though] did u compare the sony with the cowon

depends on how much space you need. what is the current size of your music collection on your pc?

[The DarkSide]

I own Sony and Cowon,...I prefer the Sony.

[BruceBanner]

Yeh my next player is likely to be Sony based purely on TDS recommendation. I have tried sansa and enjoy my current cowon, but i am intrigued to hear the sony's.

[Marvin the Martian]

I've had a few Sonys over the last few years, and they do sound nice.

[The DarkSide]

My recommendation is based on the fact I'm not fond of BBE,...so some others might have a variance of opinion. I find BBE to sound too artificial, and it removes my bass - I can't be havin' that.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

My recommendation is based on the fact I'm not fond of BBE,...so some others might have a variance of opinion. I find BBE to sound too artificial, and it removes my bass - I can't be havin' that.

[desperate]

maybe ill go with sony too but i also wanted to know abt the creative zen style m300 how does it fare in sound quality? in fact how do creative products fare as a whole in sound quality? and what abt the successor of cowon j3?

[The DarkSide]

The creative zen style doesn't sound half as good as the lowest cost Sony. It's as simple as that,...