Recommended "MP3" player for prog use?

goose wrote: I don't know if I think that article's actually very useful. It contains things that I don't agree with (mainly the implication that all those disagreeing with Science are gullible, and all those agreeing are not ),

I know what you mean ... but the article is not meant to prove anything it says. It's just a summary of what they've been publishing in their magazine (where there's more detailed information and evidence.

BTW: I agree with the article on that those disagreeing with science are wrong. You can't ignore facts!

goose wrote: claims that aren't sufficiently explored (analogue to digital conversion makes no audible difference because of the Nyquist theorem, yet making no reference to bit depth; burn ins are irrelevant despite the possibility of changing temperatures affecting the electrical performance of components (I'm not saying this does make a difference, but there's nothing to say it doesn't!)),

It's not a scientific paper.

goose wrote: as well as a downright untruth ("digital data pits' background silence", as if CD had an infinite noise floor ,

Not infinite, surely. But if there is "0" on the disc, there is absolutely no noise at all. Any noise will be added by the amplifier, not the source.

goose wrote: "your audio circuts... don't know what's on the ac side of the power transformer" - if we assume no capacitance whatsoever along anything touching the circuit, that is).

I think that what he meant was that nothing that's on the ac side could possible affect your listening experience. Of course there can be power surges or dropouts, and depending on the quality of your power transformer they might affect your circuitry, but this is really no issue for modern "middle-class" hifi components. You don't need any other equipment than that, that's the basic message.

goose wrote: Well that's a turnup for the books eh? I'm agreeing with oliver for the... third time? (although only in places of course )

Don't give him your little finger! (a proverb in Germany ... if you give someone your little finger he might take the whole hand).

^ I know what you mean re the TV and microwave oven. But I never heard any of those effects on my hifi system, which is cheap and mediocre by purist standards (Harman-Kardon).

I'm really sure that why there's room for small improvements in that area, they're barely audible and really don't justify the unreal cost factor of these "devices".

ulver982 wrote: How bout encoding the mp3s to a 320 bit rate?  Isn't that considered CD quality?

Not exactly. Theoretically anything >=128kbps has been labeled "CD-quality". The only true CD-quality formats are WMA Lossless, Apple Lossless and FLAC, as far as I know. The average bitrate of these formats is 1000kbps.

Having said that: I think that anything >=192kbps is close enough to the CD for the use in mobile players.

oliverstoned wrote: To sum up: -Separate electric lines give a strong upgrade on dynamic, image (at least 30% more!!!) -Power filtering removes A LOT OF harshness (it's very useful on CD and you can double and even triple filter, each time it's softer )and you upgrade also on dynamic, detail, transparency. These are huge upgrade on a musical system (not necessary expensive). A good system CAN'T works without that. A big system without power optimization is a joke. And, yes when i plug the washing machines or the computer while i listen, it degrades sound wheras i've got separated lines...strange isn't it? it's actually because the different electric lines/devices disturb itselves at the level of the home counter. Top power filter by Transparent audio:

I've not done A/B tests on power filtration and the like so I can't comment one way or the other, but there is a heck of a lot of debate out there refering to double blind tests and the fact that rarely if ever can people tell when such devices are used. These sceptics point to the fact that people only "hear" these differences when they are aware visually what equipment is being used.