Looking for the Best Portable Music Experience for Long Stays in Hospital

[Enfant-Terrible]

Dear Reader,

I am a new member to the forum a know nothing about HI-FI or audio equipment. My dream is to one day have a decent home HI-FI system but for now I must ask your advice on another matter.

I am "disabled" I suffer from several conditions but they are not really important. However I was recently diagonsed with MS (Multiple Sclerosis) and was told and part of my treatment in future I would need intravenous steroids.

To cut a long story short on my last visit to the hospital I asked the lady in the next cubical to me who was having the treatment. How long she had been there and she had been there for five hours. I'll also be in overnight for up to a week from time to time for different reasons.

The nurse was kind enough to suggest I bring along a "walkman" or something to read and that's why I'm here.

I love my music always have done but have always put money asdie for a rainy day. I feel now is a rainy day an I might as well be comfertable during treatment.

I'd like to buy a new portable mp3 player - don't care much about video on the go - as I have a first gen iPod mini and it's dying. I'm not sure if I should stick with Apple or go with another brand. Although I'm a Mac user sncying with iTunes would be nice but not essential.

I know I'm not going to get symphonic levels of brilliance from any mp3 player but sound qaulity is paramount. I do have some very "high resolution" downloads etc I am fond of and the rest of my music is lossless CD rips.

So what would you suggest?

If I could also ask you to suggest a nice pair of earbuds and maybe even a "headphone amp"? I know I should create separate threads but why take up the space?

Oh and if it matters I love classical music everything from Bach to Boulez, Puccini to Penderecki not sure if it's realevent but there you go.

Budget £1 - £1000 for everything? But could go higher.

Thank you for reading such a long post and thank you in advance for any advice you can give me. :cheers:

 

[CnoEvil]

Hi there, and sorry to hear about your illness.

For sound quality, I would stick with Apple.....maybe iPad mini / iPod touch.

If you don't mind "over ear" headphones, I was impressed with the Bose QC15. If you want neat "in ear", I will let others advise, as I haven't personally used any decent ones.

Good luck with your treatment, and i hope you get some useful info on here.

Cno

 

[John Duncan]

Hello and welcome to the forum, Enfant-Terrible. Sorry to hear about the circumsanctes that bring you here.

Hard to see past an iPhone or other smartphone tbh, with a pair of good headphones. If I were in the next bed to you I would thank you for buying a pair of over-ear, closed-back ones -)) so would be looking at something like the Sennheiser Momentums, which I enjoyed, or the old staple HD25s. This will leave you plenty of your budget left to get a subscription to a music service like Spotify or Qobuz - the latter of which has more focus on classical, as I understand it, and also does full fat 16/44 streaming if that matters to you. It is twice the price though.

Good luck.

 

[Enfant-Terrible]

Thank you both very much for taking the time to comment. I read some reviews saying that iPods had terrible sound but perhaps this was pretentious Apple bashing? I don't know. I will look into some more and I think I'll go with the Nano.

As for headphones I started my own thread on them I really like the look of the Grado GS1000i :rofl: but I'm waiting for advice on that one due to the cost of them. Thank you both once again for commenting.

 

[caesar44]

Hello there.

Have you considered any of the high end daps from iBasso or fiio? if you care about sound quality they will suit you perfectly.

Take care.

 

[Superaintit]

I find the iphone (or ipod touch) and the klipsch image X10 in ears a match in heaven.

Apple products have a good sound quality imo and it makes sense to stick with an ipod or iphone as they are very user friendly.

Choose a 32 gb so you can have plenty of space for your music. Spotify premium is also a very good app to have.

The benefit of an iphone or ipod touch is that you can also download apps as and when you like.

Now I come to think of it I would probably choose the ipad mini over an ipod touch just in case I would want to go on the web and post on forums such as these.

(The iphone/ipoid touch's screen is a little bit too small for doing that with ease)

An outsoide contender could be the Sony hi res player: http://www.whathifi.com/review/nwz-zx1

EDIT: the Grado GS1000 I heard some time ago. They give fabulous sound quality but are demanding of source and headamp. Also because they are open backed, they leak sound and thus can be quite obtrusive if you're not alone in a room.

 

[CnoEvil]

I find the iphone (or ipod touch) and the klipsch image X10 in ears a match in heaven.

Apple products have a good sound quality imo and it makes sense to stick with an ipod or iphone as they are very user friendly.

Choose a 32 gb so you can have plenty of space for your music. Spotify premium is also a very good app to have.

The benefit of an iphone or ipod touch is that you can also download apps as and when you like.

Now I come to think of it I would probably choose the ipad mini over an ipod touch just in case I would want to go on the web and post on forums such as these.

(The iphone/ipoid touch's screen is a little bit too small for doing that with ease)

I have certainly been led to believe that the DAC in Apple iThingies is surprisingly good (compared to what one might expect)...which has been born out any time I have heard it on decent headphones (QC15) and through a hi-fi system using a 3.5mm -> RCA cable.

 

[iMark]

Very sorry to hear about your illness. Great that you enjoy music to take your mind to better places.

I have been using iPod Nano's for years and I can confirm that the sound is surprisingly good if you get a pair of decent earphones.

The current Nano (7th generation) comes with 16GB of memory, which is perfectly OK if you change your tunes regulary. It also comes with FM radio, so you could even listen to BBC Radio 3.

I also listen to a lot of podcasts and subscribing to them and managing works great in iTunes. BBC Radio have quite a few very good podcasts.

You could also opt for an iPod Classic. This has 160GB of memory but is quite big and heavy compared to the Nano.

 

[tino]

It's no fun having to stay for long periods in hospital so hopefully we can suggest something that might help you keep your mind off things whilst you are there. Are you sure it's just a music player you want? Have you thought of a tablet device so that you can also watch watch films, read books etc. etc.

[edit] ... sorry read your post again about not being that bothered about 'video on the go' ... but still a new lightweight tablet might be just the ticket.

 

[Andrew17321]

Hi ET

Cno is right about the noise cancelling earphones. They shut out almost all of the noise around you, and you can listen in your own private world.

As well as the Bose QC15 over ear headphones, there is a newer in-ear QC20i, headphones which are even better at cancelling out extraneous noises. Both give excellent sound quality and don't leak noise, so using them will not disturb nearby patients. (I have the QC15 and my wife has the QC20i. We use them on planes and buses, and they are great.)

At about £250 - £260 they are dear, but a great investment if you are going to spend a lot of time in hospital.

If you like Apple, stick with it. I use iPod or iPad. Quality is very good if the music is saved loss-lessly or at a high bit rate. An iPad gives you the option of playing games, reading e-books, …. .

Andrew

 

[bigboss]

I agree with the suggestion of a tablet, like iPad mini. Apart from listening to music, you can read books, play games and watch movies.

 

[manicm]

Dear Enfant-Terrible (funny that - I teased my ex with that nickname while holidaying in Paris long ago ), since you have a largish budget, I would seriously consider the FiiO X3 player - it's not too pricey, by all accounts sounds great, and unlike iPods/iPhones/iPads, is fully hi-res compatible, so would play all your hi-res files natively. Only drawback is the 10 hour playback time.

 

[BillDay66]

Hi ET, sorry to hear you're in for a few hospital stays - never much fun.

As stated by others if your'e an apple user its hard to see past an ipad mini (32gb will store plenty of lossless files - especially if your'e not worried about video). I'd go for this over a nano because of the versatility - you may get bored of music intermittently and want to check your email, read a book or surf the web etc - I use Sennhesier Momentum on ears with mine and whilst not being an expert they sound great to me and are really comfy for hours on end, obviously this is personal but don't overlook comfort in search of a great sound.

Having just been in hospital for 3 weeks myself, if you decide to use Spotify or any other streaming service, remember to budget for an unlimited broadband contract - i didn't A 32gb ipad should be big enough to store enough music locally anyhow.

good luck with your treatments, hope all goes to plan

Bill

 

[toyota man]

Hi Enfant - Terrible I use 3 ipod classics mainly in my motors My Jag has a realy good stereo and most of the time I use my ipod which is lossless so an ipod + some good headphone gets my vote

 

[JoelSim]

Hi Enfant - Terrible I use 3 ipod classics mainly in my motors My Jag has a realy good stereo and most of the time I use my ipod which is lossless so an ipod + some good headphone gets my vote

I agree that comfort will be of paramount importance for long stretches of time and would therefore also head towards over-ear rather than in or on-ear. Comfy cushions and a natural sound that won't be too bassy or too shrill which can be tiring after a while. Grado, Klipsch, Beyerdynamic and Audio-Technica as well as Sennheiser that has been mentioned are good places to start looking.

In my view you should also not need a headphone amp unless you like extremely high volumes.

Good luck with everything too.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100001781937750]

I'd also take a look at the new Fiio X1. Only £99 and it plays most formats including hi res. That said, I play spotify through an iPad with a Fiio E07 amp/dac with Philips Fidelio L2 headphones and that's good enough for me.

Good luck and here's hoping you have a comfy stay in hospital.