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hi all

first, top forum

need some advice please!

i want to buy an mp3 plus dock/speaker budget £280 for music (don't care about wifi apps etc!)

seen ipod touch 32 gb with free speaker at john lewis for 230 and sony 32 gb x series for similar with free speaker.

questions are

do all ipods have the same audio quality? ie nano , classic and touch?

how about other manufacturers ie sony, creative archos etc? but need a good dock?

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

cheers

gary

Hi Gary. The latest generation classic is considered a step down in sound quality from the previous generation classic and the nanao is considered to be more lively than the classic. But, my experience is that the differences are very small, far smaller than the difference achieved by changing the EQ setting on an ipod.

My only other MP3 player has been a Creative Zen and the ipod won on sound and by a mile on ease of use, design, robustness etc etc. I like the ipod so much I cant see by it.

As for a dock here is the What Hifi review section

 http://whathifi.com/Reviews/Hi-Fi-Reviews/Dock-systems-Reviews/Price_Desc/

and you will see that docks are very much the poor man of hifi in terms of sound. I have a Logitech mm50 and a Bose Sounddock and for what they are, both produce an excellent sound.

Do you want a touch, or would a classic do? How big is your music collection? Will you import CDs or download, or both? Is this for your main music setup?

thanks for the reply idc

my intention is to rip cd's and download.

not too bothered about touch just want the best music player. 32gig touch would be big enough but for the similar money is the 160 classic a better player.

have you any opinions on the sony x series?

i would consider other brands but not many seem to have dedicated speaker docks. only found sony and ipod.

thanks again

gary