Comments on: Do All mp3 Players Sound Alike?

By: Steve Laser

Steve Laser — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:36:46 +0000

Spuffler,
Excellent comment. I appreciate your input. I was more concerned with illustrating that there are differences between the players. That is why I attached links to some other sites that did different kinds of tests. My main premise was to provide information that countered the following statement, “The chosen player has a great deal to do with how you access your music, but very little to do with how it sounds…”

The test methods used by the various parties are listed for the most part if not on this post, then in links to their sites.

I agree that there is some subjectivity in measuring sound quality. In the beginning of my post I said, “But if you test mp3 players using the same playlist and headphones, I believe you will hear differences.” I believe that to be true.

Again, thanks Spuffler for your input.

By: Spuffler

Spuffler — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 03:51:42 +0000

Pardon my lack of interest: test methods seem to be missing. Was the testing conducted using the same headphones in all players, and always comparing the exact same file? Seems obvious that sonic soundstages are vastly different for comparing a joint stereo 22KHz MP3 of Vivaldi played on any player using $10 earbuds to a 2 channel rip from an LP as played on full sennheiser headphones. Best is relative: what is ‘best’ to you is not ‘best’ for me.

By: Julie

Julie — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:30:43 +0000

Great job on a really great article. I enjoy your articles quite a lot because you don’t regurgitate what you’ve read in other articles - you add your own unique perspective to it. Thanks for another great article!

By: CFrom

CFrom — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:42:57 +0000

Doug: this is the entire quote from your article, “The chosen player has a great deal to do with how you access your music, but very little to do with how it sounds. Sure, there are some variables, such as a 5+1 channel equalizer, and VPT surrounds sound. But the truth is, the more important factors relate to the format of your music, how it was recorded onto your device, the quality of your headphones…and a whole host of other factors.”
Based on Steve’s sound quality research, which obviously interests him more than the factors you reviewed (size, buttons, etc.) I think you should realize that you’ve learned something from reading Steve’s article! Why Doug do you have such a need to defend yourself? It’s almost troubling to read your reply, going on and on, defending yourself for what, NOT doing the research, b/c that’s not your main interest? I like to read about these products, and if I want to read drama, I can pick up a good fiction book by Danielle Steel. Sorry dude, you need another hobby.

By: dgoldring

dgoldring — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:55:51 +0000

Steve,

Very interesting article. Well researched and everything. The only real problem I see with it is that your whole premise seems to be off. Yes, you did accurately quote my article, but when you look at the whole paragraph, I never made the leap upon which your article is based.

Your premise is whether all media players sound the same. And I’ll jump right in there with you and say that of course the do not. Which is why I never made such a statement in my review. The statement I made, and which you partially quoted was that there are so many variables that determine how things sounds are 1) personal and 2) variable. There is an awful lot that happens between your music and your ears. The point I made in my review was that many of these variables have nothing to do with which media player you are using (some do). Many are based upon which headphones you are using, how the music was recorded, the source of the music, and a whole host of other factors. Therefore, I said that “I have refrained from discussing how a particular media player sounds because there are simply far too many variables, many of which are completely unrelated to the player itself.”

That is quite a bit different from your premise, which asked whether all media players sound alike. So, I hope you did not read that premise into my article. If you did, then you were obviously skimming rather than reading the whole thing. Otherwise, you would have seen the conclusion of that paragraph, which I quoted above. All media players are obviously not made the same. But the factors that determine how your music sounds are all too often occurring outside the confines of your media player, so that it just never made sense to go into a lengthy discussion of them all in the confines of a media player review.

Doug

By: strikeone

strikeone — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:53:36 +0000

excellent findings/conclusions.