Ogg is my lossy format of choice. -q 7 is fully transparent for me. Please recommend a portable player and answer one specific question: Is there a firmware hack for the Creative Nomad player which allows it to play oggs?

Thanks in advance.

As far as I know, there are only two with ogg support: iriver and iAudio

I'd like to get the iriver H340 unless they have a newer or cheaper large model when I actually get around to getting one.

Personally i would go for the iRiver H320.

I would go for the Rio Karma, it supports Ogg and it is the only player to support gapless playback as well .

You wouldn't be disapointed with a Rio Karma. I've got one and wouldn't change it for anything other than another one with higher capacity!

I recommend iAudio X5.

those are your best 3 choices. personally, i like (and own) an iriver h120. although i'd pick any of these 3 over an ipod

thanks y'all. I didn't know gapless playback was an issue with players other than the Rio... I thought it was standard. It is important to me because I mostly have continuous DJ mixes. Rio Karma it is!

With the iRiver and iAudio players (maybe the creative ones too), the gap is only 1/32 of a second, while very small, it is still noticeable. With an iPod, it is slightly more than a second. The Karma is the only player with absolutely no gap, but most other players handle it pretty well. If complete gapless is a must, Karma is the only way to go.

My, I can't tell a Q 4 from the original... (And man have I tried...)

Edit: Whatever it is they do (the Ogg magicians), it sure works for my ears anyway!

I did an ABX comparrison, q8 is the magic spot for me. Don't forget that it is incredibly dependant on your source and headphones as well. Using my Logitech z-640's, q5 is no different from the original, using my Sennheisser PX-100's, I can hear the difference up until q8, and I am sure that if I spent even more money on headphones, I could go even higher. An ABX comparrison takes two files (the compressed and the original), it has one button which plays the original, and two buttons which alternate between the compressed and the original, you then jump back and forth and you try to see which one sounds more like the original. I stopped when I reached about 50/50 on each side.

i second this