Rockbox General > Rockbox General Discussion
Ordered list of Rockbox-supported devices' sound quality?
Fernando Negro:
Hello everyone.
I'm in the middle of a process of selling, refurbishing and buying some smartphones and MP3 players. And, so that I could possibly better decide what devices to sell and what to buy, I was wondering if someone here could tell me something about which Rockbox-supported devices have the better sound quality...
Does anyone here know of some sort of list, that sorts Rockbox-supported devices according to sound quality?
I'm asking this because, from my experience, there are clearly - some, at least - devices in which the difference in sound quality is very noticeable - and is not subjective... For example, having I tested 3 different devices which are capable of running Rockbox, I could clearly notice that: my Sansa Clip Zip has a better sound quality than my Creative Zen, which in turn has a better sound quality than my iPod Classic 6G. (And so, at least for these 3 devices, tested by me, I can clearly already make a sort of small list related to sound quality.)
Also, one other thing that I'm very curious about, is if there are any MP3 players that have a better (or equivalent) sound quality than a smartphone with a Wolfson DAC, like my Nexus S. With the reason for me asking this being, to know if it's worth - for someone who's interested in a very good sound quality - to buy some Rockbox-supported device, or to just buy a smartphone with a Wolfson/"hi-fi" or equivalent DAC, and use the latter just as a music player...
saratoga:
--- Quote from: Fernando Negro on September 02, 2016, 10:31:41 PM ---I'm asking this because, from my experience, there are clearly - some, at least - devices in which the difference in sound quality is very noticeable - and is not subjective... For example, having I tested 3 different devices which are capable of running Rockbox, I could clearly notice that: my Sansa Clip Zip has a better sound quality than my Creative Zen, which in turn has a better sound quality than my iPod Classic 6G. (And so, at least for these 3 devices, tested by me, I can clearly already make a sort of small list related to sound quality.)
--- End quote ---
I'd say your listing is pretty subjective since its really hard to evaluate mp3 players by ear. Most are good enough that the differences are small compared to just variations in volume level, etc. If you just rank them by how accurate the output is, the iPod 6G is probably the best device, followed closely by the Clip+/Zip/v1/Fuze/Fuzev2. Many of the older devices (older iPods, Sansas, etc) would be a step down from there. I'm not sure that anyone has ever looked at some of the more obscure devices like the Zen. Some of the unofficial ports like the Xudoo X3 and iBasso also likely have outstanding output as they're basically made for that.
--- Quote from: Fernando Negro on September 02, 2016, 10:31:41 PM ---Also, one other thing that I'm very curious about, is if there are any MP3 players that have a better (or equivalent) sound quality than a smartphone with a Wolfson DAC, like my Nexus S. With the reason for me asking this being, to know if it's worth - for someone who's interested in a very good sound quality - to buy some Rockbox-supported device, or to just buy a smartphone with a Wolfson/"hi-fi" or equivalent DAC, and use the latter just as a music player...
--- End quote ---
"Wolfson DAC" covers literally hundreds of different products, some of which are very good, some of which are quite bad. Regarding the Nexus S, looking out the results here:
http://www.gsmarena.com/google_nexus_s-review-565p5.php
http://en.goldenears.net/9391
It looks like a very average device for that era. Probably any modern smartphone would at least match that.
Fernando Negro:
--- Quote from: saratoga on September 02, 2016, 10:51:14 PM ---I'd say your listing is pretty subjective since its really hard to evaluate mp3 players by ear. Most are good enough that the differences are small compared to just variations in volume level, etc. If you just rank them by how accurate the output is, the iPod 6G is probably the best device, followed closely by the Clip+/Zip/v1/Fuze/Fuzev2.
--- End quote ---
Well, I would say that the difference in sound quality is pretty clear. And, to be more specific - from what I remember, when making my tests - when I talk about sound quality, I'm talking about (pardon my ignorant terms) sound "clarity" - that is, the richness in detail in sounds, for the same music.
Using the same headphones, I found the sound quality of my iPod 6G pretty bad, when compared with the Sansa devices, for example. So, it's either a clear difference, or the sound quality can be altered (for better or worse) depending on the headphones used, and I can possibly get different results(?) with other headphones(?)...
--- Quote from: saratoga on September 02, 2016, 10:51:14 PM ---I'm not sure that anyone has ever looked at some of the more obscure devices like the Zen.
--- End quote ---
The Creative Zen player is still being tested with Rockbox ("unusable ports"). And so, I made my tests without Rockbox installed in it - since that, I assume that Rockbox will not make the sound quality worse.
saratoga:
--- Quote from: Fernando Negro on September 03, 2016, 12:48:19 AM ---
--- Quote from: saratoga on September 02, 2016, 10:51:14 PM ---I'd say your listing is pretty subjective since its really hard to evaluate mp3 players by ear. Most are good enough that the differences are small compared to just variations in volume level, etc. If you just rank them by how accurate the output is, the iPod 6G is probably the best device, followed closely by the Clip+/Zip/v1/Fuze/Fuzev2.
--- End quote ---
Well, I would say that the difference in sound quality is pretty clear. And, to be more specific - from what I remember, when making my tests - when I talk about sound quality, I'm talking about (pardon my ignorant terms) sound "clarity" - that is, the richness in detail in sounds, for the same music.
--- End quote ---
You probably don't want to hear this, but usually that is just because you didn't match the volume very well.
Fernando Negro:
--- Quote from: saratoga on September 03, 2016, 12:55:01 AM ---You probably don't want to hear this, but usually that is just because you didn't match the volume very well.
--- End quote ---
I don't think so - since that, whenever I make tests, I usually do them in an intelligent way... But, I can try doing it again - once I have the time to - and to pay particular attention to that component, and I'll leave here some feedback, in case I get different results. But anyway, thanks for the possible tip.
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