Hi

I'm new on here so please be kind. I bet there is already a thread asking about this and if there is I'm sorry but here it goes. I'd like to know what portable music player and portable media player have the best audio quality. I know people might be saying it's about what you hear but from your experiences I'd like to know. I would also to know what was the loudest device you had although I've read that the amplitude of the headphones most dictates volume. If possible if you could name me a device with the combination of best audio quality with loudness that'd be great. The reason I'm wanting to know this is because I'm considering buying a new device as my current one is too small. Many thanks.

Kind regards
Sam

I vote for the Red Wine Audio iMod.
An iPod (4, 5 or 5.5 generation) with a vastly improved line out.

So what can you do with that then? What do you with the dock cable?

Leading the audio signal into a dedicated headphone amplifier.
After all, you are talking about the best audio quality. Right?

Indeed I am and yes it is the best quality but I'm talking about through the headphone out. Yes it would be great if you could have both the line out and headphone out with the mod but you can't so it's no good to me

Cowon iAudio portable players are widely considered to have high quality audio, as a search on this forum might have learned you.

Yes I have heard that Cowon iAudios are good. I was considering buying an A2 a while ago but I wasn't sure so left it. You can never tell really. I bought an Archos PMP a year ago and the sound quality on it was rubbish. Which iAudios in particular would you say have high quality audio?

I have a Cowon iAudio X5L and that has excellent quality audio, it's the only Cowon player I've owned though, so I can't say anything about the others.

Cool can it go loud whilst retaining the same quality or does it distort a lot?

It handles higher volumes pretty well, I haven't found it to distort the sound... not noticeably anyway. I run it through a headphone amp most of the time since I have rather high impedance headphones, but it performs better than any other portable media player I've tried even without it.

Can anybody with an iMod please run some RMAA numbers? They are ridiculously hard to find on the net.