X5: poor audio quality (not firmware related)

[drwowe]

These guys did a study of a lot of MP3 players using an audio analyzer.  According to their conclustions, the X5 has far worse distortion and frequency response than most other players.

http://www.mp3.com/news/stories/4445.html

Is this study valid?  And can RockBox get better quality sound than the normal firmware?

[saratoga]

Assuming he was playing PCM audio, and did not use EQ or anything like that, then theres nothing that could be improved.   

Also, the frequency response test is pretty meaningless, so I wouldn't worry about that.  You'd need to see a plot to draw any conclusions, and the distortion isn't really significant enough that I'd care.  You're not going to hear -50dB harmonic distortion in a portable player, even if the test is correct.

If you're interested, someone post RMAA results for the X5 a couple months ago in the Wiki.  Thats a much better test of frequency response.

Edit:  Not to bash that guy.  Doing real tests on MP3 players is commendible.  Most reviews I've read are completely useless.

[infamis]

You're not going to hear -50dB harmonic distortion in a portable player, even if the test is correct.

Couldn't have said it better.

[jawaknight01]

Hm, my brother just got the new toshiba gigabeat, and comparing sound, the gigabeat has a brighter sound, but the x5 has a much richer sound (which sounds much better).  What exactly creates this sound?

[maxwen]

Disable all EQ and other sound enhancements gadgets
(SRS, Wow, ... or whatever they are named)
And compare again.

[XavierGr]

If the test they did was right (and as mentioned on the link), I don't think there is much to do.

It is a hardware issue, some mp3 players just have better quality than others.
Though the page in question may be doubtful.

The iPod shuffle performed better? Come on, I've heard lots of complains about this particular device on quality.

[Febs]

Actually, the iPod Shuffle is supposed to be one of best sounding portable players out there.

[Street_Samurai]

Maybe I'm just hearing things (and certainly I haven't done any ABX testing of this theory) but...

It seems to me that the sound quality of the X5 with Rockbox is better than with the original firmware. The bass sounds crisper, tighter and deeper. Is this possible?

I have done a few tests between the iPod and X5 (with original firmware) and couldn't definitively say which sounded better.

As mentioned, its a portable player unless you are listening to it in a completely sealed environment you'll be getting -way- more noise from external sources than the player will ever generate.

ss.

[XavierGr]

Actually, the iPod Shuffle is supposed to be one of best sounding portable players out there.

Well I am not so sure about the iPod Shuffle, but back in the old days of iPod 2-4g, many reviews claimed that iPod was not so good at the quality aspect...

[Llorean]

The iPod Shuffle is completely different hardware, the whole way down the line.

[sigsegv0x0B]

For pure sound quality I would easily vote the Sony NW-A1000 over any DAP i've heard lately. Tried the X5, it didn't seem any better then any other DAP of this generation.

After listing to the Sony it seems pretty much every other DAP sounds harsh. Sony sounds much smoother but still manages to keep all the detail.  For reference the Sony uses a Burr Brown (now Ti) PCM1772 DAC + Panasonic AN17020A-VB AMP.  I am not sure what the X5 is using but seems to sound like all the other Wolfson based players. I use ER4P headphones.