If you had to recommend an MP3 player that wasn't an Ipod?...

[MadMan007]

Strange...using the same encoder, and I tried a few from command lines called through EAC to stand-alone ones, q5 always came up as 192kbps. Perhaps the player was reading them wrong, I didn't check file sizes though. Anyhow q4 is the best compromise for portable size vs sound to me anyway, it's hard to A-B it versus CD in a perfect listening situation let alone portable.

 

[Enablingwolf]

Maybe it is rounding to what it compares to in mp3? Other than the wild guess, I have no clue. Unless your passing something and do not know it. Here is the standard bitrates for each step/ what codec are you using for the ogg? I assume vorbis.
-q0 is 64
-q1 is 80
-q2 is 96
-q3 is 112
-q4 is 128
-q5 is 160
-q6 is 192
-q7 is 224
-q8 is 256
-q9 is 329
-q10 is 500

 

[emericanchaos]

It is very on topic. Since the OP Roofles might want to know the what and why of things. It helps understand why the audio nuts mentions things. When he makes his purchase, he will know why he bought it.

When it comes to ogg. Anything past 128 is ok for medium sized players. Once you start moving past 128 you eat up space. So if you do not care about the top most your ears get. With a trade off of a smidge larger files. Do not worry about it. 191.7bit files will show as 192... I have ogg that are 190 and sound just fine.. Some players will round and show odd results. Go by your ear and file size. The 190 show as 192 in one of my players and Windows. Linux shows the true bitrate.

When I am at home with no cars, busses and folks talking loud. I want FLAC. On the go. The SQ is not all that and it matters more for how many I can skip past or select.

what you're seeing is the decoding rate. it's not the file it's how your machine is reading the file.

in your second paragraph i think i a good summary is that FLAC would be the best for overall sound quality but large file sizes make it impractical for portability.

personally i rock an 80GB classic. i encode everything in FLAC and transcode down to 320 V0 inside foobar for the ipod. this works well for me as most of my portable listening is done in the car where my setup is far less than my home setup and with 80GB large files aren't an issue.

my $.02

 

[Roofles]

It is very on topic. Since the OP Roofles might want to know the what and why of things. It helps understand why the audio nuts mentions things. When he makes his purchase, he will know why he bought it.

When it comes to ogg. Anything past 128 is ok for medium sized players. Once you start moving past 128 you eat up space. So if you do not care about the top most your ears get. With a trade off of a smidge larger files. Do not worry about it. 191.7bit files will show as 192... I have ogg that are 190 and sound just fine.. Some players will round and show odd results. Go by your ear and file size. The 190 show as 192 in one of my players and Windows. Linux shows the true bitrate.

When I am at home with no cars, busses and folks talking loud. I want FLAC. On the go. The SQ is not all that and it matters more for how many I can skip past or select.

We're pretty much on the same page, for portable use I do 192 mp3's because I only have some super.fi 3's. If I had a really nice set of cans or even some higher end IEM's I'd consider using an amp in addition to the PMP plus I'd rip the songs at a higher quality.

At home I have a modded X-Fi platinum and some decent enough cans so I rip CD's to flac because space is not an issue. (plus I don't have many CD's).

 

[Enablingwolf]

Have you narrowed down your picks yet? If you have, maybe there can be a dialog of what each offers. Then help you narrow it down even more. Or have you made your mind up?

 

[Roofles]

I'm thinking of picking up the Sandisk Sansa Clip 4gb version when it comes out. AT $80 bucks with a decent screen it seems like a steal. Plus it will allow the portability to use at the gym easily.

I'll stick with the old iPod for now as it seems I have about 3 weeks to wait, which I suppose is fine.

 

[RedSkull]

i have a 4gb iaudio u3 and i love it, its tiny, plays every format i have (i have all my cds archived as flac) and one of the few mp3 players to drive my shure headphones with enough power to sound clear