Bassy/powerful, small, recent portables?

[Marcos]

Yeah, thats whats on my mind , buying that first kenwood MD i bought some 5+ years ago just because the sound feels like home.

But the convenience of having my whole music collection with me is great, just wish someone would do something right in the HD MP3 player world.

[Tifosi]

I've been a Sony MD user from the beginning I swapped to Ipod this summer. I use the Sony EX-70LP's and also the Apple In Ear Buds.

The Ipod can produce reasonable bass which sounds a lot better with the Apple in ear buds than the Sonys however the bass is somewhat cloudy and more boomy (try setting the EQ to acoustic or jazz I find are the best settings). The quality of the amps in the Sony units are amazing and I think they are hard units to beat especially since they are so crisp and punchy whilst lacking the boom found with other units. I was disappointed not to find a proper equalizer on my 3G Ipod it does the job.

I would never rave about Ipod I think it is probably one of the best of a very mediocre selection of MP3 players. I wouldn't buy it again given the choice but then the alternatives are few.

[Marcos]

What Sony MD unit are you comparing it to? How many have you had?

My experiences with Sony MD players have been.....not great. Especially after a Kenwood and Aiwa, and even a Sharp. There seems to be a split in the MD crowd, and as much as i love Sony and their design, I didnt like the sound from their mid-late units (1999 onwards).

I guess its preference.

[Marcos]

Oh dear, I just happened to find 2 auctions ending in the next few hours for my original MD unit:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...sPageName=WDVW

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...sPageName=WDVW

My original sits broken in the loft, only reason it broke was due to everyday school use. It must have taken quite a beating. So i think if i buy it again now it should last years as i dont run around anymore etc.

Think i'll go for it

[ozzyo99]

The only thing Sony are good at is distorting sounds with overly bassy, some what muddy interpretations of what the music should actually sound like, thats all well and good when listening to D&B or Dance, but when your wanting to listen to a classical piece, or some ambient electro Sony is far from good!

The worst offenders are the awful Sony Fontopia/EX-71's. Do yourselves a favour, save yourself £10 and get some Sennheiser MX500, best headphones under £50 bar none.

[Marcos]

I have EX-70s, been listening to them for 5 years now. Yes they are strange, and a pioneer of their concept but they solved something for me. Portables rarely have enough power for bass, expecially not as of late from what i've seen/heard/tried. The EX series makes up for that i think. Some people call it an unbalanced, but when the portable cant put out the balanced sound in the first place i see it as re-balancing.

I could go on and on but in the end its just personal, I dont listen to music that needs to be accurate to its real life performance. Most of it is electronic, and i need my bass, I really would not be listening to music at all if i couldnt have bass, its probably the top single reason i have a collection.

So i dont think the MX500s could keep up with a canalphone for my bass needs

[Tifosi]

I've had the

MZ-R30
MZ-R35
MZ-R900
MZ-N1

[Marcos]

I've had the

MZ-R30
MZ-R35
MZ-R900
MZ-N1

And has the sound gone downhill? MD fans have been raving about the R50 for years, seems to be Sony's peak in sound before they started hacking at the power of the amp in order to get more battery life