Better sound quality than the I-pod?

Yes, Larry, iPod is a no-brainer. I'm can't vouch that iPod is absolutely the best in terms of sound, but I cannot see how you would regret purchasing an iPod. Frankly, I think Apple did a very impressive job in voicing the iPod. I agree with Brooks-- I don't associate bass-deficient and shrill with the iPod's sound in any way.

The Shure (ec3?) retailing for around $ 179.00 produce fantastic sound with the foam earplugs. I am an audiophile and am blown away by the sound quality. If you roll up the foam plugs and put it in the ear canal and allow it to expand in your ear; you have complete noise elimination and a very full bodied sound with the best bass response I've ever heard from headphones. Amazing.

I'm a true blue Mac lover...own a few at home, and my buddies have many iPods...

That being said, when it came time to buy a MP3 player - the iRiver iHP-120 won hands down for me (for all the reasons bluetrump mentioned above) plus one more..

The iRiver is the only MP3 player (that I know of) that can be used on either a mac or pc system. iPods need to be configured for one or the other, but can not load files or be managed from both - the iHP-120 can.

Optical output is the bomb as well....

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

If you're just using a player for listening when you're comuting or in the car, etc, then having an optical out serves little purpose. The iPod is superior in every way to the iRiver. I've listened to both extensively (my girlfriend owns the 120) and my iPod is still much better. It's easier to use, can store and display digital photos (a useful feature, actually) and while you do have to configure it to use with either a pc or a mac, it works better with both than the iRiver, because the software it comes with, iTunes, is MUCH better than the alternatives (plus, do you really need to manage the device from two different machines, let alone two machiens with different OS's). I think the sound is only as good on any of these units as the cans you pair them with. If you're looking for plugs, then shures are great, otherwise it's grado all the way. Trust me, you're going to be sorry if buy something else.