Best player and loudspeaker for calling birds (1 Viewer)

To begin with, I don't want to start a discussion about ethics of calling birds. People who don't know when to call birds without doing harm, simply should not do it.

Which player and loudspeaker is best for calling birds?

I am especially concerned about the quality of sound, ease of use and durability.

I used iPod nano for several years, but it was always pain due to weak batteries. RadioShack loudspeakers seem to have slightly inferior sound quality and many birds seem to ignore them. So, any experiences?

I use the Iphone with Radioshack speaker now.

Interesting that you think that birds ignore the Radioshack - I thought it was just me. I think it may be too loud! That said certain birds have a propensity to being attracted others not. Time of year has an effect. I have hooked things up to the car stereo before so I actually think that quality is less important - just need the general gist - I have whistled things out before so again quality can't be that important.

I use xeno canto when I have internet reception and try and find birds recorded in the country or locality. Otherwise I use Roche.

I like the iMainGo 2 speaker. It's cheap, has good sound quality, and is easy to use. However, humidity gets to it and you should bring a backup if you're using it in the tropics. My first one lasted through six weeks in Indonesia and two weeks in Ecuador, but the second failed after only two weeks in Malaysia.

The Monster Clarity HD has very good sound quality, but I've only used it for about a week and cannot attest to its durability in humid conditions. It also has a pretty short battery life and needs to be recharged every few days (so it's not good for places without reliable electricity).

There are a few sounds that the radioshack speaker cannot play (i.e. http://avocet.zoology.msu.edu/recordings/8297).

I'd be interested to hear about alternatives to the ipod nano.

I've got three speakers I've used recently:

1. Sony SRS-T55 - small folding stereo speaker; loud and excellent sound. Takes 4xAA batteries; a bit hungry on batteries. I've used this for years in all conditions with no problems. Probably my favourite overall, but may no longer be available?

2. Marshall MS2 - quite large (14x11x6 cm) but very light for its size. Extremely loud, especially with overdrive, but can be rather distorted at high volume unless recordings are clean. Takes a single 9v battery. I haven't used this much, but no problems so far.

3. Altec Lansing lmt227 - small and light; not overly loud, but certainly adequate for general forest birding. I've used this plenty in all sorts of conditions and had no problems. It also seems to last forever with just 2xAAA batteries.

As for a player, I think the iPod classic is excellent - very long battery life and very easy to use. Way, way better than the Nano. However, I mostly use the Edirol R09-HR because I want to record sounds as well as play them. It's not as slick to use as the iPod, nor does it have the battery life, so if you don't need to record in the field, no real advantage over the iPod.

I have transferred calls to all my recent phones. The advantage is that I always have it with me and it is generally charged or can be (even in the car). A dissadvantage is if it rings mid-play.

I had an 'Imain go' - until I dropped it off a tower in the Ebro last October. It was too quiet for the forest work that I do.

I can also testify that it doesn't bounce...

I used to take an ipod, but they simply do not react when my hands are sweaty.

So I can recommend the following:
Olympus LS-5 or LS-10, as they are wonderful for sound recording, but they are very quick for playing. It will be necessary to put recordings in (more organised) folders for quickly getting to the right sound, but otherwise, they are great. They take 2AA batteries and you can go for some days with a full pair of batteries.

I also use the Imaingo. While they are big and thus not very handy, the sound quality is very good. They are not loud, but you can add gain to your .mp3 by some free software (I guess even ravenlite can do that).

I take the radioshack as a backup these days, but I hardly ever use it. It would be most usefull for playback of very soft recordings.

Hi,
I do not often use bird calls, but in my experience any "good" modern MP3 player will do - when needed I use a Samsung MP3 player: good sound quality (can be equalized with certain calls) but touchscreen can be quite a pain during winter time while wearing gloves.

As for the speakers, I use a pair of those pop-up speakers (sphere-or egg-like shaped), both connected to a single minijack plug (custom-made); they are quite cheap, good sound quality, excellent battery durability and can be charged via usb cable.

Recently I've used another cheap portable speaker (Cobra mod. Ritmo): quite loud, average sound quality but it sports a built-in MP3 player and a slot for microSD cards; the pain is that it has no display, so you should learn your songlist sequence; I don't use it very often, and only with a few selected calls if used as a player... otherwise a good speaker with extended durability.

Cheers,

Max