Looking for the best portable sound for listening to my classical music collection. No compression, battery lasting 4 - 5 hours. Any thoughts on Apple's new iPod, Sony or Sharp's best minidisc players or a straight forward Walkman type player.
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 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.
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.