Mindful Musings

A reader posted this comment

I own iPod 3rd gen (20 GB), Zen Touch (20 GB) and Philips HDD120 (20 GB). The MP3 file that I used for benchmark is 320 kbps. They all have their pro and cons. iPod is definetely the best in term of user interface, it is dead easy to operate with very intuitive menu. Soundwise, it is the weakest among them. The iPod sound give me sense of light (too much treble) and lack of “deep” tone. Zen touch is nice, sound better than iPod BUT fiddly to operate. The vertical touch pad is quite a challenge to operate, far below iPod touch pad. It is also a bit bulky compare to iPod. Philips HDD120 looks better than Zen Touch, while soundwise is slightly better than Zen Touch. The tone is “deep” without leaning toward “boomy” type of sound. Operating wise, it is not as easy as iPod. Original software from Philips is a CRAB one, you have to set your windows to assign this Philips DMM to one CPU only (if you have hyperthreading CPU). However, you can replace this DMM software with Sveta Por!

table ! Jukebox from dbPowerAmp. I review all these gadgets using three different headphones, Etymotic ER-4P, Shure E2C and Sennheiser PCX 100. After all, you can’t go wrong with those three, they are all good for casual (like me) and audiophile ear.

Anyone concur or counter? My iRiver iHP120 sounds quote nice with the SRS boost and my Philips Noise reducing headphones are also a Godsend! I should review the Philips headphone soon.