Bassy/powerful, small, recent portables?

[Marcos]

Spoiled by Minidisc for 7 years, I'm having a hard time finding a good portable(preferably MP3 now).

One thing that seems to be common now is the lack of power to the headphones. Especially int he bass department. Now I complained in the iPod boards and that was a bad idea , dozens of ipod fans tried to defend their system but its clear it has a lack of bass very apparent with electronic music such as drum and bass.

Now, one of those iPod fans claimed it was a problem with MP3, but if that was the case, then it wouldnt sound bassy when i play the MP3s through my hi-fi, which is not the case, since im more than satisfied with playback via my hi-fi.

Umm...oh yeah, also, some of you may try and pull that 'you cant feel real bass through headphones'. But I've heard close enough with Minidisc, so i know enough can be put out for me to be satisfied.

Question is, anyone think they've tried a portable (MP3 preferable) that can match the (quality) bass power of good MD units from around 6 years ago.


Demanding thread, i dont expect anyone to be able to answer it.

[Jonny M]

I changed from a Minidisc to a Rio Karma + Sony MDR-EX71 and listen to a lot of bassy music. The 5 band equaliser is very useful at getting the bass levels up.

Haven't really got much to compare it to, cept for the fact the iPods really don't have bass.

Can you link me to the thread you made btw

[Jonny M]

The new Sony NW-HD3 players use ATRAC3 etc, same as Minidisc, so that may be your best bet. See if you can get a demo at a Sony centre.

[Marcos]

Originally Posted by Caged

I changed from a Minidisc to a Rio Karma + Sony MDR-EX71 and listen to a lot of bassy music. The 5 band equaliser is very useful at getting the bass levels up.

Haven't really got much to compare it to, cept for the fact the iPods really don't have bass.

Can you link me to the thread you made btw

Search www.ipodlounge.com for user 'Marcos', i havent made many threads so it should be easy to find.

I've owned EX-70s for 5 years now , definitly the choice bass headphones for portables, im looking to get some EX-71s soon too.

I like Rio's Carbon , good looking unit with plenty of good reviews, think it'll put up a good fight in the bass department? Im thinking of maybe buying it at currys (£180 last time i checked), but would it be easy to return it on the terms that im not happy with it?

Karma is a weird shape (i prefer tall & thin), great features though, i may still consider it, maybe with an armband

Also looked at the HD3, easily my favorite ipod alternative and the only higher-capacity player on the market that i believe has a chance against the ipod. Although I need to read more reviews on it.

[Aaron]

Also looked at the HD3, easily my favorite ipod alternative and the only higher-capacity player on the market that i believe has a chance against the ipod. Although I need to read more reviews on it.

All the reviews I've seen have been roughly "nice unit, shame about the stupid software that you're forced to use".

[Jonny M]

I assume he's used to SonicStage though with a Net MD?

[Marcos]

Originally Posted by Caged

I assume he's used to SonicStage though with a Net MD?

I never did the whole Net-MD thing, and i havent tried Hi-MD yet as i'm not a fan of Sony MD units. They are good, but i've found sharp and preferably Kenwood suit me better. So i havent tried that software.

Although....im sure i heard you can use the HD3 as a drive so wouldnt that mean i can bypass the software and just drag and drop MP3s into it?

[Aaron]

Most HD mp3 players use a database to store information (title, album, genre, etc) about the tracks, since it's faster to grab information from a database than scan the entire HD everytime you make a request. This is the main reason why the majority of HD-based players use software to manage the music on them.

Now, Sony has another reason to use special software to control what goes on your player - DRM protection! Don't forget that Sony is also a record label, so it's got the motive to lock down your music as tight as possible. If you could easily use your Sony HD-based player on any computer, Sony reckon that you'd steal all of their music.

I haven't used the NW-HD3 so I can't say for certain but, from my experience with the SonicStage software and the above two points, I'd reckon that drag and drop is very unlikely.

You can probabaly use the NW-HD3 as a regular HD for files though, in the same way as the iPod works.

[Marcos]

Right, so i could use the HD3 to transfer all files but music files? Via drag & drop, plug & play hard drive mode

[Aaron]

Well, you can physically transfer the music files across via drag and drop but the player won't allow you to play them since they aren't in the database.

The way the iPod does it is you use the root directory as a portable HD and then there's a hidden folder with all the proper music in.

[ACiD303]

Could always pick up an Archos Gmini XS200 . . . 20gb for $197 (if bought in the US) and £175 UK RRP.

[Nemeliza]

I have an IPod and it makes more bass than my headfones can handle. Although i suppose it would depend on the headfones u are using. im using the standard apple headfones which work quite well.

[Marcos]

Originally Posted by ACiD303

Could always pick up an Archos Gmini XS200 . . . 20gb for $197 (if bought in the US) and £175 UK RRP.

Any reason at all?

Originally Posted by Nemeliza

I have an IPod and it makes more bass than my headfones can handle. Although i suppose it would depend on the headfones u are using. im using the standard apple headfones which work quite well.

Hmm, appears ive been spoiled by MD + Sony EX series combination. I've heard enough portables now to safely say that if it cant put out bass through EX-series then i dont want to know

Theres a definite point at which the ipod hits a wall, hits the lowest it can go, then just rattles, well some kind of strange noise comes out when it tries to do big bass. Definitely a problem with drum and bass

[ACiD303]

oops, soz, it has an equaliser on it, you can up the bass . . .

[Marcos]

Originally Posted by ACiD303

oops, soz, it has an equaliser on it, you can up the bass . . .

Ok, well, thats always welcome...question is, is the bass any good once its cranked up? I mean, i dont like loud volume, only reason i ever turn the volume up is usually the necessity to do so to get more bass

[bouncin]

i hit the same problem as you when i tried an ipod. so i just went back to my old sony mz-r 30 gr8 little thing. The tank of portable units