Audiophile MP3 players

Donald Bell, Senior Editor June 19, 2008

Before I dive into what is sure to be a controversial product roundup, let me qualify what I mean by "audiophile MP3 players" (my apologies in advance to Steve Guttenberg). The following MP3 players are not necessarily the best sounding MP3 players when judged by subjective listening tests. Instead, this list contains players that have performed remarkably during CNET Labs bench tests, where they are evaluated on the accuracy of their sound reproduction.

So, in recognition of those few golden-eared purists who are willing sink low enough to use an MP3 player but refuse to accept anything but the truest sounding device available, here are the six MP3 players with the highest marks from CNET Labs' Eric Franklin. Using an Audio Precision ATS-2 Audio Analyzer, Eric has measured each of these MP3 players for frequency response deviation, total harmonic distortion and noise (THD+N), signal to noise ratio (SNR), maximum power output, and crosstalk.

The player with the best overall score is the Creative Zen, which scored a frequency response deviation average under 1.47 dB, a -82.2 dB THD+N average, and a -83.6 dBr SNR average. The rest of the players are listed here in descending order of their overall score. Perhaps the biggest surprise on this list is the Insignia Pilot, which took the best score for signal to noise, yet faired only average in total harmonic distortion.

For a more in-depth look at the test scores of each of these MP3 players, head over to the MP3 Insider blog.

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