which is best mp3 player SANSA CLIP+ or SONY A-844 or COWON J3?

[vix41085]

plz someone suggest which is the best mp3 player SANSA CLIP+ or SONY A-844 or COWON J3?
or tell which headphone is the best for those. my budget is 10-12k.
plz sugggest me which headphone to pair them for best sound quality i like over the ear headphone.

 

[abhi_jollyguy]

If u like eq'ing ur sound signature, BBE effects so J3 is the way to go. If u like neutral sound signature so CLIP+ is the way to go and SONY A-844 is also gud but don't know how does it stand against clip+ without EQ'ed.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Cowon ... These days it only comes off the shelf a couple of times a year for flights and train trips, but I still find my A2 very acceptable, so, unfortunately, I have no excuse for buying something newer, sleeker and slicker, but the J3 looks like a very desirable gadget ...at a price.

 

[som1]

I wud the major game changer is the availability of FLAC format in Sansa Clip ... MP3-FLAC ... FLAC wins hands down

 

[iaudio]

som1, the J3 plays flac too alongwith the clip plus.

If all you want is a basic no nonsense awesome sounding music player, the Clip Plus is the way to go.

If you want good video playback capabilities, a good display, longer battery life etc and have the moolah to spend go for the J3.

Sonically, neither is inferior. Only difference is the J3 has a lot of equiliser settings and a bit more drive to power your hps louder.

* I used to own Cowon d2 and now use a Sansa Clip Plus. Quite happy. I for one would get a clip plus and spend the rest of the money( difference with J3) on getting some good iems or hps.

 

[avmaxfan]

All three are fantastic. But Cowon J3 edges out both due to superior outright Sound Quality and also that it offers more features than the A845 .

 

[walkmanforever]

Considering the SQ of the J3 and A845, i would say they're similar at a flat EQ without any BBE or DSEE enhacements. I myself own the A845, pairing it with the ATH M50 and it drives it pretty good w/o any portable amp. If you want loads of customizable EQs i'd say go with the J3. The A845 however cannot drive multi armature IEM's properly. Both are pretty even when you are driving dynamic hps.

 

[iaudio]

All three are fantastic. But Cowon J3 edges out both due to superior outright Sound Quality and also that it offers more features than the A845 .

avmaxfan, with what hps/iems did you listen to both J3 and the Sony? Could you please elaborate on the difference in sound quality?

 

[esanthosh]

I've only used S9 and Clip+.

With stock firmware, Cowon J3 edges out Clip+ on parameters like Battery life, better output power, EQ etc., But with Rockbox installed, I prefer Clip+'s EQ which is not exactly limited in bands like the J3. Though I'd require a 10-band parametric EQ for complete control over the Frequency response of the IEMs, for a portable device, RB's 5-band EQ comes close apart from the fact that you can store unlimited settings unlike J3's 4 Custom EQs. iPod Touch's eQu was even better when it comes to freedom, but I had a hard time setting it to my exact wishes - fat fingers, I guess.

J3 is feature rich as well as costly. It offers better screen, UCIs for customization, BBE, output power and most of all, that long battery life. The only one that came close in terms of battery life is my Sony E353, though to be fair, Cowon S9 did 36 hrs with last bar remaining with 320kbps and FLAC files mostly and E353 went through 38 hrs barely losing 50% battery with VBR files (due to it's limited 4GB capacity) - both on Shuffle and repeat.

Clip+ scores on ultra-portability, surviving casual drops (5-6 times and still working, once from 5 ft height), but loses out on output power (which is never an issue for me with any IEM, even the 150 ohm RE-262) and battery life (expect 10-12 hrs). I still retained the Clip+ and sold my S9 when reducing my inventory. There's nothing that could fit in my earphone case (never tried nano or shuffle though) and have good SQ as well. It measures well too. It's low output impedance makes it work from the finicky impedance IEMs like JVC HA-FXT90 (read first post) to the BAs whose response curve varies if matched with a device which has a high output impedance (Samsung Galaxy, iPod Video).

Coming to the subjective SQ, Clip+ has a flat frequency response, Cowon S9/J3 have a bass roll-off. Though in practice, I've not heard / read many complain about the bass roll-off of J3. If it was, someone who writes Multi-IEM Review - 202 IEMs compared (Fischer Audio Consonance & Ultimate Ears 350 added 10/25/11) would know better than to keep it as his only DAP .

I personally preferred Clip+'s SQ a little bit more than S9. I prefer QA350 -> DO -> UHA-6S with OPA209 far better, but that latter setup is a bloody brick with not much score on the usability and practical side of things.

 

[matbhuvi]

To this elite list, i would like to add HM-601. It is ugly, bulky, not user friendly...but has wonderful sound. It is slightly colored. But, in a beautiful way. Using one for almost a year.

Review

 

[esanthosh]

The availability of Rockbox, even if it's a Beta version has rekindled my interest in HM-60X series. It is definitely colored from what I read. It might hiss with sensitive IEMs and synergy could be a toss-up too. But many keep saying it's still good.

Must resist - got other things to spend on

 

[matbhuvi]

Rockbox beta version HM-601? :yahoo: How did i miss that news. Thanks hyeah:

On the hiss part..it is noticeable only in very quiet envt like home (without wife). As i switch to headphone at home, i don't have problem. I use my SE530 with it only in office/travel.