Larry,
I have the 40G iPod and think the sound quality is superb - not thin or shrill at all.
(1) I use it at the gym with a set of Shure E2c's and it provides very good sound quality. The key with in-ear phones is to get a good seal to the phones or else the sound quality plummets.
(2) At work, I connect my iPod via the direct output to a Emmeline SR-71 headphone amp and use a set of Shure E5c's. The sound now goes for good in (1) to absolutely superb.
All files on my iPod are in Apple Lossless - no equalization used.
I can't speak for the iRiver since I never did any comparisons - you've got some excellent advise from others above.
Hope this helps with your portable audio nirvana search.
All the best,
Neville
I have the 40G iPod and think the sound quality is superb - not thin or shrill at all.
(1) I use it at the gym with a set of Shure E2c's and it provides very good sound quality. The key with in-ear phones is to get a good seal to the phones or else the sound quality plummets.
(2) At work, I connect my iPod via the direct output to a Emmeline SR-71 headphone amp and use a set of Shure E5c's. The sound now goes for good in (1) to absolutely superb.
All files on my iPod are in Apple Lossless - no equalization used.
I can't speak for the iRiver since I never did any comparisons - you've got some excellent advise from others above.
Hope this helps with your portable audio nirvana search.
All the best,
Neville