I've tried the Sony models, and only briefly listened to the Cowon. I have the iMod (4th or 5th gen. iPod modified by Red Wine Audio.) Nothing beats it, and as a matter of fact, I hook this up to my main system sometimes, and it's surprisingly good. Only minus is that you do have to get a portable amp to take advantage, so if you're keen about keeping the size small, it's a no go. But SQ-wise, I've heard nothing better.

DBZ. I think that you are misunderstanding. Self is referring to a portable, battery powered headphone amp that's approximately the size of a pack of cigarettes.

Quote:
Many over at Head-Fi feel that the Sansa Clip or Sansa Fuze are at the top for SQ.

The Fuze is an awesome little device. It will play back FLAC files and not lose much battery life with decompression. The sound quality is really good considering it is a portable player, IMHO much better sounding than any ipod...and way cheaper too (maybe my thriftyness is blinding my ears). The only thing that is a little annoying is the proprietary USB cable.

Love my Sansa Fuze(8g). Sounds great with FLAC. The website "Anything but an Ipod" rated it and the Clip very highly for sound quality. They also said in the past the Sansas weren't known for sound quality. Sansa used some new chip that has many excited.
thanks
barondla

Since your library is in Apple lossless and FLAC is lossless you can use a media converter program. There are many. Try some to make sure the FLAC works with Sansa. There are a high number of FLAC programs that don't work properly (not just with Fuze)! FLAC frontend will read & correct many flaws. Media Monkey is a good program but the FLAC is flawed and will not work well on my Sansa or Western Digital home player.
Have no idea if converting bit perfect Apple to FLAC will sound different or not. The bits will match but who knows about the sound. Try downloading a micro SD card with some files and plug them into a Sansa Fuze at a store. This will give you a feel for the SAnsa sound quality. Take some decent phones. Love this ability of the Sansa (also the FM radio and recording ability). I always use best FLAC quality of #8.
thanks
barondla

Quote:
Thanks. Maybe I'll give the Sansa a try. That raises another question, though. Unfortunately, I've got all my music stored in Apple Lossless format, which can be played on very few players besides Ipods. Is there any easy way to convert from Apple Lossless to FLAC, and can it be done without hurting sound quality? Would I lose the metadata?

Thanks again.

DBZ:

You didn't specify what operating system or type of computer you are using, i.e. Windows or Mac, but if you are using a Windows based computer then I strongly recommend using dbPowerAmp to convert your Apple lossless files to FLAC files. While dbPowerAmp is not free, it is, quite simply, the best program on the market, bar none. The program will transfer all the metadata and offers a batch conversion utility so that you can convert all your files at one time (like overnight). Worth every penny of the asking price. And there is NO loss in sound quality when transcoding from one lossless format to another lossless format.

Check out sansa dot com forums (Fuze section) for more info. They have been very helpful to me. You don't realize how good a portable can sound with lossless FLAC and good phones. My Sam Tillig recommended Sony cd player is killed by the Fuze. Killed.
thanks
barondla

DBZ, sorry for the late reply. I bought my 8GB Cowon D2 for sound quality. It's an awesome little player and plays FLAC files natively. It is expandable with SD memory cards.
As far as converting from Apple lossless to FLAC, the metadata should be fine, as long as the converter is setup properly. I personally use the converter built into Foobar2000. I rip with EAC to FLAC for home use and then convert to whatever format might be needed, with Foobar. I have not experienced any loss of metadata. Good luck.