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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: frequency response

Frequency measures a player's ability to reproduce all frequencies between 20Hz and 20kHz equally well. The lower the number, the better; generally speaking, a number of less than 3dB is considered flat. Unlike in the first two tests, the Cowon iAudio U3 did extremely well, nearing 0dB, while the Sony PSP, the Archos Gmini 402 Camcorder, and the iPod Shuffle and Nano came in at less than 3dB.

Frequency response (shorter bars are better)

Measured in dB

Cowon iAudio U3

0.1

Sony PSP

2.1

Archos Gmini 402 Camcorder

2.2

iPod Shuffle

2.6

Apple iPod Nano

2.8

Samsung YP-Z5

3.2

Creative Zen Micro Photo

3.2

Apple iPod (5G)

3.3

SanDisk Sansa c150

3.3

iRiver T10

3.4

Creative ZVM

3.6

Cowon iAudio X5

3.6

iRiver U10

3.7

Back to introduction

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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