Anyone who bought a Zen over an iPod in London
I have a variety of decent headphones we can use to compare and before the actual meetup we can exchange MP3 files.
[463 byte] By [thedodgyguy] at [2007-11-9 13:01:26] 
Do you feel like getting together to collate results for a true comparison with identical MP3's? If the Zen has much higher quality I'd like to switch. I'm sure that many of us would like to also put the issue of volume limitation to rest and get a definite answer, whether the UK iPod is significantly quieter than the UK Zen.
I have a variety of decent headphones we can use to compare and before the actual meetup we can exchange MP3 files.
# 1 Re: Anyone who bought a Zen over an iPod in London
I can tell you for a fact that the zen has no volume limitation, it goes very loud, however there is a patch you can download from creative's website that limits the volume (why you would want to do that is beyond me) - why didn't apple do this! The sound limitation was one of the reasons i bought a zen instead
rickster2k at 2007-11-15 14:15:50 >
# 2 Re: Anyone who bought a Zen over an iPod in London
Further question over volume... Did you try the same phone on both with the same material? If so what was the difference (any approximate measure will do :D )And the difference in quality assuming the above? Once again subjective I know but if you could enumerate any approximates. And not just loudness or the ability to EQ (which is largely irrelevant to me) but audio quality on 'flat'.
thedodgyguy at 2007-11-15 14:16:51 >
# 3 Re: Anyone who bought a Zen over an iPod in London
I returned my 30 gig ipod. I ordered a 60 gig zen. My bro has the old 20gig zen firewire usb.The battery life is fantastic. There is a really new cool firmware that only seams to ship with the 60 gig zen, it allows you to skin the menu and now playing! Now the menu is really cool looking. Also on the 60 gig zen and newer 20 gig zens' creative are using a newer brighter display. its actually quite noticible when you compare the old and new zen against each other. My back light is much brighter (at the same contrast) and a much lighter neon blue. its really cool. I checked against a zen in a shop (old version) as well and again the screen is different.
Were i you i would get the zen without a second though. the sound quality is the best ive ever heard from ANY portable device. One thing about the zen is that its the only player that delivers such high audio specifications... 98snr... being a logarithmic scale thats huge. And a noticable difference against 90db snr players that are out there. Also it has 100mW output from the headphone jack @ 32 ohms. Thats overkill for even high end phones.. so the zen will drive practically anything with real powerful sound. Particularily when you use good headphones (the ones that come with the zen are theworst ever). Also a good sign of high audio equip i noticed with the zen.
Bad music and crap recorded music (like the way my bro records using music match 128 cbr mp3.. little dig at my bro who reads here) sounds terrible on the zen. it seams to emphasise it. Good recorded music coming from a well mastered cd sounds AWESOME. incredible.
its pure quality.
I haven't looked back. Having said this maybe (until i hear an american ipod) this only applies to european pods.
i_wolf at 2007-11-15 14:17:49 >
# 4 Re: Anyone who bought a Zen over an iPod in London
I've got a 20gig Zen and a 30gig iPod...there is no huge difference in the Sound Quality. The Zen will indeed go a bit louder (though I've never had issues with my iPod's volume) but from a quality standpoint they are both very good.Spoonman at 2007-11-15 14:18:44 >
# 5 Re: Anyone who bought a Zen over an iPod in London
Still not convinced. Specs are quoted but no conclusive opinions. Thanks Spoonman for the input. I need to compare with a European model of both. So noone? Am I going to have to buy one myself?thedodgyguy at 2007-11-15 14:19:54 >
# 6 Re: Anyone who bought a Zen over an iPod in London
just so ya know, eu volume limit is no longer a problem..takes 2 minutes to fix and now goes v loud..see newsjrandyc at 2007-11-15 14:20:51 >
# 7 Re: Anyone who bought a Zen over an iPod in London
Amen!bsodmike at 2007-11-15 14:21:55 >
# 8 Re: Anyone who bought a Zen over an iPod in London
I might try it but my iPod definitely outputs enough volume for me. I don't know why people are screaming for more. I do spend quite a lot of time on South West Trains (and the Jubilee line) as well and I don't have a volume issue at all. My question really does boil down to sound quality. Not how much you can fidget with it, how loud it is but how good it is. Noone willing to compare?
thedodgyguy at 2007-11-15 14:22:58 >
# 9 Re: Anyone who bought a Zen over an iPod in London
if you cant hear the difference then the file you are listening to is the limiting factor. get a highly encoded file and you will hear what i am talking about. Also use decent headphones.I am delighted that they got the volume capping problem gone. i see creative have introduced a voluntary capping in eu countries.. ie. you have the option of flashing down the volume :(
Its sad days when 1 country dictates what all the other member states of the eu do.
i_wolf at 2007-11-15 14:23:55 >
# 10 Re: Anyone who bought a Zen over an iPod in London
So what headphones did you use?thedodgyguy at 2007-11-15 14:24:57 >
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