Better sound quality than the I-pod?

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.

An iPod playing ANY music = POOP