iPod touch Sound Quality

[ring_wraith]

Ok, I am really confused.

I've been wanting to buy an iTouch for a long time, the only thing that has been holding me back is the online reviews. I've read in way too many reviews for it to be a mistake that the iTouch has mediocre sound quality.

But in this month's Digit, Digit called the iTouch the "best sounding PMP" and rated it even higher than what is widely accepted as the best sounding MP3 player ever, the Cowon iAudio 7.

What is happening? Who do I trust?

[Pathik]

-1 for iPod Touch if Music is the only concern. Though the Touch may become a great option once the SDk and JVm is released.
If you have contacts in the US, get a iPhone instead.

[girish.g]

is iphone's sound quality better than that of ipod touch

[Head Banger]

lol,it beats Cowon.The sq is of touch is above average,nearly equal to n82/n95.

[ring_wraith]

^^ exactly what i thought! But Digit has written just the opposite!

In fact, I own a Zen and even that has gotten a lower score than the pods. I've read a lot of reviews and everyone [including cNet] says that the Zen sounds fantastic while calling the Pods "middle of the road"

Why is Digit giving us wrong reviews?????

[krazzy]

Don't trust the reviews. If you're very particular about what you feed your ears with, then try and hear it for yourself. Maybe a friend or relative has it. Or you can go to an Apple Store if there's one near you. I think they allow you to listen to it before you buy. Carry a good set of earphones with you.

[Pathik]

Originally Posted by girish.g

is iphone's sound quality better than that of ipod touch

Nah. The Same. Digit Mag Reviews are biased towards Apple maybe!

[ring_wraith]

^^ That's exactly what I was afraid of.

And @krazyfrog, no point. I did go the Reliance iStore where they had a touch. I used my EP-630s and gave it a spin, and it sounded pathetic. The sound was completely muddy. But that still does not give a solid answer as the source file may have had that problem. I really need to get my own test songs (layla, slam etc.) to figure out how good it is, and they don't let you do that.

So no iTouch for me. SQ > screen > everything else in terms of importance. I'll just stick to my Zen.

[krazzy]

But you already have a great sounding Zen. Why do you need another great sounding player? All iPod's sound good IMO (good, not great). If you buy it, then just use it as a fancy video player and the Zen for audio.

BTW, I think all these mp3 players are bakwaas. PSP pawns them all. Its the ultimate portable entertainment device. Games, videos, music, web, it ticks all the boxes. Plus its downright sexy to boot.

[ring_wraith]

Ok, here's what.

I have a Zen and a PSP. The thing is, I don't really use the PSP for games and homebrew and stuf much anymore. Mainly for vids. And I use my zen only for Audio. I can't carry around both, as the PSP is not too portable.

Now getting an iPod touch would have been the ideal soln. Great vids, some really cool basic games [most importantly, NES games] and reallllly protable. But the SQ completely put me off. I wish the iPod Touch had better SQ than my Zen, bcoz I am simply not willing to settle for anything lesser.

But I guess I'll just stick to my PSP+Zen for now. Both are amazing devices. At least GOW has released for PSP, so i guess I can play that.

Another benefit is the soon to be launched PSP FW 4.0 Like always, sony will add a big feature to the x.0 firmware. Can't wait to see what it will be. With 3.0 it was PS1 emu.

[gauravakaasid]

^^+1 for that, i found the itouch sound quality lacking

[ajayritik]

Too be really honest even I was planning to get either iTouch or iPhone from US with a friend. It seems he had purchased iPod touch and said that its good! Well then I have to wait and see! Though from many reviews that I read Zen is a good MP3 player no doubt about it!

[ring_wraith]

What pisses me off the most is that Digit rated the zen as "Decent sound quality"

it's called the Touch as Best SQ.....

Why???

[ajayritik]

From couple of reviews I read about DVD writer from digit last year I went ahead and bought Liteon DVD writer but wasnt so impressed with it. So I can understand if it rates iTouch more.

[ring_wraith]

OMG. This is really a revelation to me. I have never really bought my Hardware on the sole advice of Digit. But can Digit be wrong?

[krazzy]

In the March '08 issue of What Hi-Fi, they have reviewed iPod Touch, Archos 605, Creative Zen and Sony PSP. In the Touch review they said it has brilliant sound while in the Zen review they said it has good audio quality. Also even in past when they've reviewed iPods, they've always said the sound quality to be excellent. However in many other reviews from CNET, etc. the sound quality of iPod is said to be not-so-great. So it really depends on our own ears and what we perceive as good quality.

[napster007]

ipod sux big time compared to the zen. Don't believe the digit rev's

[dtox]

chk this out:
http://www.mobile-review.com/article...igits-en.shtml

[ring_wraith]

Originally Posted by krazyfrog.

In the March '08 issue of What Hi-Fi, they have reviewed iPod Touch, Archos 605, Creative Zen and Sony PSP. In the Touch review they said it has brilliant sound while in the Zen review they said it has good audio quality. Also even in past when they've reviewed iPods, they've always said the sound quality to be excellent. However in many other reviews from CNET, etc. the sound quality of iPod is said to be not-so-great. So it really depends on our own ears and what we perceive as good quality.

That is a big problem with Digit reviews then. The whole job of a reviewer is to be completely neutral and not let his personal preference interfere with the review process. What they should have been checking for is tonal normality and distortion levels, and the process should have been the aggregate of a few people, instead of just one person.

[krazzy]

I wasn't talking about Digit. It another magazine, What Hi-Fi. But Digit too seems to be hooked on iPod's sound quality. In all their mp3 player reviews they've given iPod kudos for sound quality. And they tested it with 320 kbps files with Bose in-ear earphones. You can try and read the review at www.ilounge.com. I like their reviews very much as they are quite detailed and despite being a site dedicated to iPod's they seem very unbiased and honestly mention their faults.

[dreamcatcher]

yea even in the cellphone challenge a few months back when they tested the iphone..they said that the iphone comes with crap earphones and does the touch...but the whole review tha the ihone got was somehow a bi biased..there was no way it could have got a best buy..

there was also a hands on with the ipof touch on the same issue...30 days thingy..the touch dint score highly either..i guss it varies from reviewer to reviewer

[ring_wraith]

Originally Posted by krazyfrog.

I wasn't talking about Digit. It another magazine, What Hi-Fi. But Digit too seems to be hooked on iPod's sound quality. In all their mp3 player reviews they've given iPod kudos for sound quality. And they tested it with 320 kbps files with Bose in-ear earphones. You can try and read the review at www.ilounge.com. I like their reviews very much as they are quite detailed and despite being a site dedicated to iPod's they seem very unbiased and honestly mention their faults.

Oh....

anyways, major sites such as Cnet say that the iPod has so-so audio sq.

[krazzy]

Why don't you try Zen Vision W or Cowon A3?

[ring_wraith]

The Vision W is soooo thick and bulky. I'd rather lug my PSP around everywhere.

And the A3 is way too costly.

[eggman]

Digit Mag??
Does it still exist??
And even if it does, does anyone buy it??

[ring_wraith]

^^ ummm... yeah, what planet are you from?

[Tanmay]

iPhone/iPod Touch basically have the same SQ I guess. According to my experience the SQ of iPhone is way better than Nokias n73 or n95 but its not even close to likes of StandAlone Mp3s like Cowon or Creative Stone.

I would suggest you NOT buy the iPod Touch and instead go in for the Cowon A3 from US. It costs just 13k there, and you also get DVR Functionality + Great Quality TV Output !

[dreamcatcher]

Has anyone tried the zune 2??...i went through a few reviews on the net and evryun was more or less satisfied with the output they got..

the zune 2 looks freaking awesome and if had been marketed properly would surely have met the likes of the cowons and irivers..
try it..

[krazzy]

Cowon A3 30 gb is around 20k here. Which is around the same price of 16gb Touch.

[acewin]

as far of the sound quality reviews for iTouch, its good but, I have read reviews stating many of SE Walkman and even K850i having much better sound than iTouch, and dtox has given the link for comparison of iphone and itouch.

My sources of review is same as most of the guys here mobile-review and gsmarena, they give real good details.

as far of the sound quality reviews for iTouch, its good but, I have read reviews stating many of SE Walkman and even K850i having much better sound than iTouch, and dtox has given the link for comparison of iphone and itouch.

My sources of review is same as most of the guys here mobile-review and gsmarena, they give real good details.
But if you see iTouch you cant remain sitting you will start jumping, LOL, the Apple guys really have made a real great touch screen and menu, best available touch screen device of its kind I will say in the market.