Do MP3 players affect sound quality?
 

Hi all! Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but here goes:

I'm currently using an ancient MP3 player (the Zen X-FI). However, after doing some research online, i've noticed that audiophiles tend to agree that using better mp3 players (such as the iPod Touch 5G) would increase the quality of music i'm listening to.

Is this necessarily true? Or does audio quality depend only on the quality of the music files and the earphones used?

Thanks in advance!

I'm not a rabid audiophile so it doesn't bother me. I use a Zen X-Fi also and an ipod, and find the sound of the music mostly better from the Zen. Even so, it's fairly minimal in difference and I think the main thing is that you'll never get an MP3 file to sound the same as a CD or vinyl album, it's just too compressed. But as I say I don't mind: as long as I can hear my music I'm happy.

I've used various players down the years, right back to minidiscs and Walkmen even, and have to say I've never noticed a huge difference in any of the playback. Mind you, by now I'm probably half deaf! I do prefer the Zen for transferring music onto though: so much easier than the hoops you have to jump through with itunes and the ipod! :rolleyes:

Neil Young seems to thinks so. He's in the midst of developing his own high quality music player called Pono.

Neil Young to 'save music' with high-fidelity player Pono | News | TechRadar

Pono Music - high-quality music initiative from Neil Young

The difference won't really be that noticeable with standard run-of-the-mill headphones, with more high-end headphones you might notice some difference. I have an iPod, a cheap old mp3 player and a Samsung Galaxy and the difference in sound quality between them isn't that great. In my view it mostly depends on the headphones you're using ahead of the mp3 player and the bitrate of the files.

Heh, I read an article about this a year ago and it seems too far fetched to take off. The size of the files is far too big especially when storage space on mp3 players and smartphones is a premium. It could compete with FLAC but even FLAC takes up far less space with a minimal noticeable difference in sound quality. So much for 'saving music', I'd rather save my disc space so I can store more music.

I think headphones are more important than brand of MP3 player as far as quality of sound goes. The standard issue iPod headphones are very poor quality and the sound is greatly improved if you listen with a pair of high-def headphones.

Amazing how many people don't already know that. Good speaker systems with the Highs-Mids-and Lows work in the same way at bringing out the best with any sound system.

Headphones are addicting in my case, a good set of headphones always naturally sound even better than the be$t of speaker systems.

Good observation, Necromancer. I do have to admit, however my Sonos sound system is as exquisite as the headphone experience. I still mostly listen to music with my Sennheiser 555 studio headphones to avoid noise complaints from my neighbors.

Agreed. I call them "crapple earbuds". Ipods are fine, but Apple should really offer better quality headphones or earbuds considering the price of the product.

The average music listener doesn't really care what quality earbuds comes with Apple products, they just see the big shiny iPod/iPhone/iWhatever and take the earbuds for granted. But of course the buyer expects earbuds to come with the product so Apple take the opportunity to bundle cheaply-made ones to save costs.

The first thing I did when I got my iPod as a present was get a good pair of Sennheiser earbuds.

I agree. When I randomly got some slightly more expensive headphones, my mind was blown and I was still using the same cheap mp3 player I've always used.

There may be a difference in comparison to CDs but most people (myself included) won't really notice it. A CD won't sound better than a good-quality mp3 if people don't have good headphones or speakers to go with it.