Sound Quality of different MP3 players

[bonzobanana]

I've used various mp3 players and call me sad but recently put the same files on my various players and tried them with the included and upgrade headphones out of sheer curiousity about which players sounded best.

The players I own;

generic 128MEG mp3 player from ebuyer.
Iriver N10 128MEG
Iriver ifp-790
Archos XS200
Creative Muvo 64MEG
generic 128MEG player that is very, very old and the rechargable battery only lasts about 20 minutes now. OK as a USB drive.

Also used Ipod shuffle and Teknika 256 MEG cheapie from Tesco (£9.97)

Headphones owned;

Sennheiser MX500s (old ones that have been through the wars)
Sennheiser PX100s
Iriver ifp-790 headphones (sennheiser MX400 RCs rebranded)

Anyway in order of sound quality (not all options have been tested).

1. Iriver ifp-790 with own headphones.
2. Archos XS200 with PX100 headphones
3. Iriver ifp-790 with PX100 headphones
4. Archos XS200 with ifp790 headphones
5. Archos/Iriver 790 with MX500 headphones (about the same quality)
6. Iriver N10 with its own captive headphones (not tried third party)
7. Creative Muvo with PX100s (nice sound but not great volume)
8. very old 128MEG player with PX100s (surprisingly nice sound on this player)
9. Ipod Shuffle with PX100s
10. Teknika/ebuyer 128MEG with PX100s
11. Archos XS200 with own supplied headphones.
12. Ipod Shuffle with Apple headphones.

My opinion of headphones;

1. Iriver headphones from ifp790 (actually prefer these to PX100s)
2. PX100s
3. MX500s
4. Archos headphones
5. Apple headphones

Music used;

Enya- orinnoco flow
Orbital - Petrol
Orbital - Tension
Daft Punk - Human after All (justice mix)
Jurassic Park Main Theme
Bentley Rhythm Ace - How do I do dat

So generally very dynamic electronic music with strong bass and minimal vocals except for Enya.