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CNET'S QUICK GUIDE: MP3 player audio quality

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Introduction

Signal-to-noise ratio

Distortion

Frequency response

The best-sounding MP3 players: signal-to-noise ratio

Not surprisingly, the Creative Zen Vision:M came out on top of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) heap. Basically, the higher the SNR, the less background hiss you'll perceive. The Creative Zen Vision:M has a rated SNR as high as 98dB, one of the most impressive figures we've seen or heard. Samsung's YP-Z5 and Cowon's iAudio X5 performed admirably, though humans will hardly notice the difference between the top nine players. We thought the more intriguing results were the relatively low SNRs of the Cowon iAudio U3 and the iRiver U10, both considered good-sounding players. Notice that the Apple iPod family has a relatively high SNR--interesting because Apple doesn't publish iPod SNRs and because many users dog the iPod for its poor audio quality.

Signal-to-noise ratio (longer bars are better)

Measured in dB

Creative Zen Vision:M

83.8

Samsung YP-Z5

83.5

Cowon iAudio X5

83.2

Archos Gmini 402 Camcorder

83.1

Apple iPod (5G)

Sony PSP

Apple iPod Shuffle

82.6

Apple iPod Nano

82.6

SanDisk Sansa c150

82.1

Creative Zen Micro Photo

75.8

iRiver T10

71.6

Cowon iAudio U3

69.5

iRiver U10

68.5

Distortion

More resources from CNET

CNET Music Center

Best-sounding MP3 players (human edition)

The best headphones

MP3 player and PVP reviews

Editors' top MP3 players

TalkBack
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Article discussion: MP3 player sound-quality chart

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Latest post:

"iTunes is a big mess."

by Rod Roddy (See profile) - May 7, 2007 10:46 PM PDT

My Daughter has an iPod, I a Zune. Zune software (in my opinion) is heads and tails better than iTunes. I should know, they're both installed on my computer, and I deal with them b... (Read more).

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iTunes is a big mess.

My Daughter has an iPod, I a Zune. Zune software (in my opinion) is heads and ta... (Read more)

by Rod Roddy (See profile) - May 7, 2007 10:45 PM PDT

I CREATED THIS ACCOUNT TO WARN PEOPLE ABOUT IPOD

I went throught the trouble of creating this account specifically to warn people... (Read more)

by humbll (See profile) - February 6, 2007 7:31 PM PST

16 out of 16 users found this comment helpful | 4 comments

U10 last,but not least!

I have the U10,and love the sound.
Regardless of this test,I know the sound i... (Read more)

by cutienoua (See profile) - June 4, 2006 9:43 AM PDT

CNET hates success of Ipod

Cnet seems to hate the success of Ipod and rate "underdogs" highly even
thou... (Read more)

by jmhwood (See profile) - June 3, 2006 9:20 AM PDT

5 out of 10 users found this comment helpful | 4 comments

Sound quality and numbers

Great that you guys found equipment that can judge a 0.1dB difference. What is n... (Read more)

by peter.mortensen (See profile) - May 31, 2006 12:33 AM PDT

Has it occurred to the designers that....

Has it occurred to the designers of the audio test that the sounds of the variou... (Read more)

by Sirocco (See profile) - May 30, 2006 4:51 PM PDT

0 out of 5 users found this comment helpful

Ears vs. Analyzer

Forgive me for being a curmudgeon. If my ears cannot detect the difference
... (Read more)

by macmook (See profile) - May 30, 2006 4:24 AM PDT

0 out of 5 users found this comment helpful | 2 comments

Correction: Samsung YP-Z5 uses a SigmaTel STMP3600

Correction: The Samsung YP-Z5 uses a SigmaTel chip called the STMP3600 (not a sa... (Read more)

by (See profile) - May 12, 2006 9:53 AM PDT

5 out of 5 users found this comment helpful

About the U3

One thing I've noticed with the U3 is that distortion and noise can change drast... (Read more)

by scatteredshadows (See profile) - April 27, 2006 6:34 PM PDT

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