These days of compressed music reign there´s much talk about capacities, interfaces, playlists but all fail to focus on what should come first: AUDIO QUALITY.
I have been for 15 years in hifi and high end audio industry now (in Mexico) and I am very critical of the issue above described, in fact I think in the shorth term these players damaged sound quality users could get, was a step back, as these players in compressed mode were not so resolutive as a CD or LP many electronics manufacturers eased or put to a halt the quest for better quality reproduction, as the main need was to design a nice docking station, put some watts and a remote in it and that´s it, the rest was flexing the marketing muscle.
Make no mistake, I own a Zune and I really like the way WMA sounds, to me it is more musical and less harsh than MP3, is is a very convenient way to bring music with me, but I can say those players are the highes quality playback devices by any means.
So putting aside lossless compression or even WAV or similars, I start this thread to share what you have done (if something) to improve Zunes sound quality.
In my case and almost as with all minicomponent systems and HTiB, the first thing is to get a decent pair of headphones, Zune´s ain´t all that bad but ...
I am currently using a couple of models from Sennheiser which ar in accordance fo Zune´s price, it would be sensless for me to spend more than what Zune costs.
http://www.soundup.x-y.net/headphone/sennheiser/PMX200-01.jpgBut I also would recommend you, if have no problem to bring another small box with you, to consider a headphone amplifier, for a sum you can get more tailored sound and play with it so you can get a more natural or more bassy or trebly sound, in my case I use a very nice unit from Practical Devices and I am quite happy with it.
http://www.practicaldevices.com/xm4/gallery/xm4r2_bd_590x702.gifOn the other side it is a fact on the go we can be with our headphones or get a audio system to plug Zune in, in that situation I want to try Soundmatters´ foxl
http://www.soundmatters.com/foxl/So what do you do when trying to improve Zune´s sound quality ?