Best Portable Sound

SONY D-777. You can find it used.

For true portability an Ipod is definitely the way to go. The 30GB version holds 7500+ songs and sounds better than the minidisk players I have heard. They also sound great with etymotic headphones.

Definitely the ipod. I have the 15 GB version, which is slightly thinner and lighter than the 20 and 30 and holds 3500 songs. Nice sounding headphones and can be hooked up to a radio/stereo at a friends house, the office, etc.

Ipod is cool, but it is not good for classical as it is compressed.

With a 777 or old "portable" CD, a Grado phone, or a HD580/600 with a small amp, you can get superb sound which MP3 no way to compare.

iPod is not limited to compressed formats. Uncompressed, the 15 GB version will store approximately 12 full albums. Looking for input from someone who has ACTUALLY COMPARED sound quality iPod, minidisc and / or CDP. Thanks in advance for any info.

I have a Sony MiniDisc player (MZR500) and also a RIO Volt.
Either will do compressed or noncompressed.
The mini-disc with 80 minute discs using the 2X ATRAC (160 minutes) compression is a higher quality than MP3 or WMA at even high bit rates (+128)IMHO.
You do not have to use this option, however.
The 2x option on minidisc is also almost indistinguishable from CD's.
I do have decent headphones (K0SS 35's) and would highly recommend a mini-disc player over any portable format out there. The size and sound quality are great.

I have heard the hard drive based players and for pure storage they are great, but size is generally bigger.

I have a minidisk deck and portables for about 5 years, and AFAIK they always compress audio, at least with ATRAC3 for 80min, which is yet tolerable, but it's still MP3-kind of... Don't really use them anymore... IPOD might be the best, I don't know if its DAC any better then in a good portable CDPs. However, you at least eliminate poor optical reading mechanism of portables, so assuming you've done very good audio extraction, you can get some better quality.

About the Gaps. Try to go into Preferences in iTunes. Under Importing you can adjust the gap between songs. If you set it to No Gap it records the CD just the way it sounds. This should work. Let me know!

How about that ultra-sweet-awesome backpack boombox they have at sears? Its the ultimate in portable audio, everyone will like you! suddenly velvet ropes will part, your appointment book will be full, opportunities will arise, doors will open, and you will get a new sence of self worth.

either that or people will label you as a "Tool" and you will feel like an idiot.

hahahahhahaha

why not just go buy a good walkman and good set of headphones?

I've been hearing alot about the Rio Karma played, which is 20 gb, does not insert gaps between tracks, has a very fast access to tracks, and can be obtained for $264. It has a digital equalizer that you can customize or not use at all, and is supposed to sound better than the Ipod. Anyone have any experience with this?