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Wired: Sound quality is to a certain extent a subjective matter. One listener’s awesome, thundering bass is another listener’s muddy, low-end nightmare. CNET lab guy Eric Franklin put a number of portable music players through a battery of audio tests using an Audio Precision ATS-2 Audio Analyzer to determine which players sound best, based on frequency response deviation, total harmonic distortion and noise (THD+N), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), maximum power output, and crosstalk.

I’m not surprised that the Creative Zen came out on top, “with a frequency response deviation average under 1.47 dB, a -82.2 dB THD+N average, and a -83.6 dB SNR average.”

Out of all the companies that make MP3 players, Creative is the only one to have been focusing primarily on turning numbers into sound since the early days of the personal computer, with its Soundblaster line of sound cards. The latest version of the Zen is the first flash-based MP3 player to be available in a 32GB version, giving audiophiles another reason to get excited about it.

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Electronista: Creative may finally be launching into touchscreen media players with its rumored ZEN Share player, say tips from alleged insiders. While the name is no longer certain, the device is claimed to be the first to rely on touch navigation. The new player would also break ground as the first Creative player to sport the company’s X-Fi sound processing hardware, which helps restore missing detail from the compressed music files most likely to be used on a portable device.

The Wi-Fi sharing feature said to be at the heart of the new ZEN may also be different than expected, according to the claim. Rather than simply following the practice set by Microsoft’s Zune, which limits sharing to local users and limited tracks, the feature is said to be “revolutionary” and unlike anything seen so far. No word has been received as to whether sharing or any additional features will rely on Internet access.

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