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Topic: Portable audio player for $300-350 (Read 5310 times) previous topic - next topic
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Portable audio player for $300-350

I'm going to buy portable music player. My budget is about $300-350 (is it too much?).
What I want:
1) The best posible sound quality of PLAYER (I think I will buy good headphones and will not use the included ones).
2) Support of gapless vbr mp3.
3) Support of Ogg Vorbis any bitrate.
4) Support of Russian language tags and filenames.
5) Long playback time.
6) Handy UI.
7) High speed USB2.0 interface.
8) Support of Replay Gain.
Can anyone give me advice which player should I buy?

thanks

Portable audio player for $300-350

Reply #1 –
There is a key element which you have missed out. Do you want a flash based player (solid-state so movement won't affect playback) or hard drive based (more space).

Currently most flash players are 512MB-16GB and HDD players are 30GB+

Portable audio player for $300-350

Reply #2 –
A rockbox'd 80GB iPod classic meats all of your requirements.  It costs $250 US.

The OGG and replaygain are the only features I noticed that aren't natively supported through the Apple firmware and iTunes player.

With rockbox firmware replacement it will meet all of your requirements though.
JXL

Edit: Of course I open my mouth before reading the info on the link I posted.  Just check the link and find an iPod or other player that is compatible with rockbox.

Portable audio player for $300-350

Reply #3 –
Quote from: JunkieXL on
A rockbox'd 80GB iPod classic meats all of your requirements.  It costs $250 US.


The classic can not be rockboxed yet due to the encrypted firmware. It can't support Vorbis and ReplayGain.

Portable audio player for $300-350

Reply #4 –
thank you very much for replies 

I am reading about iPods bad audio quality? What player is the best in terms of audio quality?

Portable audio player for $300-350

Reply #5 –
As I understand, I can't listen to HDD player on a walk? On CD-players there was anti-shock...
I'm not sure what I want: flash based player or hard drive based . The main request is the best posible audio quality. I'm going to listen high quality  lossy files (>99% transparent  ), so I think that 2-5GB(-16GB) player will be OK. Is there a players with changeable flash memory (SD for example)?

Portable audio player for $300-350

Reply #6 –
The Samsung YP-P2 is an excellent-sounding MP3 player that will appeal to those looking for a cool touch-screen interface and stereo Bluetooth capability.

Portable audio player for $300-350

Reply #7 –
Quote from: Fool_on_the_hill on
.... I think that 2-5GB(-16GB) player will be OK. Is there a players with changeable flash memory (SD for example)?

Maybe the Sansa e200 series matches your needs, up to 4 GB IIRC, with changeable flash memory, and supported by Rockbox (but lookup the Rockbox page cause it might depend on the version).
lame3995o -Q1.7 --lowpass 17

Portable audio player for $300-350

Reply #8 –
Quote from: Fool_on_the_hill on
Is there a players with changeable flash memory (SD for example)?


You could consider the Cowon D2. It has a great battery life and a SD-Card slot, though only 4GB build in memory. It also supports Vorbis, but I don't know about ReplayGain.

HDD players are not shock sensitive. They have flash memory built in and cache the audio data. Even whan the cache is empty and they refill it from the HDD, they are not too sensitive. Walking is no issue at all.

BTW: 'iPod = bad sound quality' is not true anymore. The iPod classic has a flat frequancy response and no/almost no static noise (I can't hear any on my IEM's).

Portable audio player for $300-350

Reply #9 –
Yeah, I jog with my iPod, throw it my car while driving and just about anything else.  You don't need to worry about shock affecting your listening experience.  Just get a good case for it and you shouldn't have any problems with it at all.

Sound quality is completely transparent to me as well.  And if you rockbox it you can use almost any lossless format you like.  Although a high quality AAC or MP3 file sounds completely transparent to me with my Shure e4c's and car speakers. 

It's your call which encoder and settings suite you best.  I would test it out and see what sounds best to you on the player before deciding on an encoder.  You may be surprised.
JXL

Portable audio player for $300-350

Reply #10 –
Quote from: me7 on
The classic can not be rockboxed yet due to the encrypted firmware. It can't support Vorbis and ReplayGain.


Nothing has changed since yesterday  . You still can't rockbox a classic.

Portable audio player for $300-350

Reply #11 –
Thanks for replies.
New "what I want" list:
1) Price <=$300-350.
2) Rockbox support now or in the near future (gapless vbr mp3, Ogg Vorbis, Replay Gain).
3) The best possible sound quality of PLAYER (I think I will buy good headphones and will not use the
included ones).
4) Long playback time.
5) >=8GB memory.
6) High speed USB2.0 interface.

Some people says that Creative Zen sounds very good. I know that Creative sound cards has problems with 44100Hz samplerate. Does Creative Zen supports 44100Hz or does it resamples 44100Hz to 48000Hz. Maybe that is why Zen has short battery duration...