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For those of us looking for a DAP that does gapless playback and has high fidelity in mind, read this article about Sigmatel and their new reference line. Basically Sigmatel bought Rio Audio (maker of the Rio Karma) from DNNA and implemented its technology into their new chipset line, the STMP3600 chipset. Read the article for further details. I think this is great as there hasn't been a player with the functionality of the Rio Karma for 3 years since it was introduced. These new reference designs look to be promising for those who seek gapless playback in a DAP. I do know about Rockbox for those who will advertise it in reply.
Interesting you should mention the Rockbox firmware. I read a transcript with some of the Rockbox developers and Joe Born CEO of Neuros. Appearently Neuros is considering using the Rockbox firmware with Neuros III. They are trying to decide between that and an optimized Linux Kernel they have. The Rockbox guys can't really do much, with the firmware, one of the main drawbacks in their eyes was Neuros is limited in some aspects, because it's a programmable DSP and Texas Instrument is stingent when it comes to Open Philosophy. I mean hardware features and playback are one thing, but I just don't see the need for all of this restricted firmware. Companies due it so they can release a new product every year with those specific features and generate some revenue. I don't see anything wrong with this business model, but they would be more likely to sell out to commerical interest then attempt to keep up with the audio enthusiasts and geeks (I do realize this a small base, but none the less it's still a base).