Adam Fasch

The only HI-MD models with mp3 compatibility are the MZ-RH10, MZ-RH910 , MZ-RH710 and MZ-RH1 (2nd gen really supports MP3 without conversion)> unlike the 1st gen HiMDs (NH600/700/800/900/1) that need SonicStage to convert (MP3->ATRAC 3+) first .

iRiver iHP1x /3xx series & Cowon iAudio X5 players don't have any special DSP chips , but decode music with the microcontroller (CPU) (The iriver series 100 and 300 players use the SCF5249 processor, while the iAudio players use SCF5250.) Codec ( DAC with integrated power amplifier ) have an internal headphone driver supporting capless mode of operation, eliminating the need for external DC decoupling capacitors at the output. Iriver iHP1x0/iHP3x0 use >> UDA1380TT - Philips Stereo audio coder-decoder Cowon iAudio M3/X5 use >> (Texas Instruments) TI TLV320AIC23B Audio Codec with Headphone Amplifier This chip can not decode MP3, ogg, WMA (or any other codec format) - codec decoding is performed on the ColdFire CPU. The "codec chip" contains stereo digital->analog & analog->digital converters.

CPU: Motorola Freescale Coldfire SCF5250 (Iriver 1x0 / 3x0 & Cowon iAudio M3/M5, X5 uses the same CPU Coldfire family) DSP : Sony SONY CXR710180 DAC : Burr Brown ( Texas Instruments ) PCM1772 AMP: Panasonic AN17020A-VB