ec wrote:


Alpine 98 series. I have the 9815. It was $350 ( $499 MSRP ). It can play
48KHz 320Kbps MP3's max which is near CD quality. ( if someone tells you
128K is, smack them ). FM tuner works great.

Btw - rough comparison:

128K - AM stereo quality.
192K - FM quality.(both with no hiss or artifacts, though)
240K - Tape or Vinyl.
320K - Good tape - Metal or Hi-fi VCR or R-R.

The quality jump from 128K to 192K alone is shocking. 320K
is half CD raw data in size, though with VBR compression and
a good encoder, you can get about 3/4 CD quality for about 1/3
the size - a nice compromise, IMO.

I'd consider 192K to be a bare minimum for a noisy environment.