My Rio Karma is slowly on its way out, the battery life on it is getting pretty dire and the buttons are getting really unresponsive. So I need a replacement DAP but I'm a bit lost with all the current hardware as I've been a happy user of my Rio Karma for years now...

I need something that supports MP3 and FLAC, and also Ogg Vorbis if possible, needs to have a fair bit of storage (at least 20Gb that I have now, but more is definitely preferable).

Also would be nice to have a docking station that has RCA outputs so I can connect it to my amplifier like I do with my Rio Karma.

Obviously another must is good quality output, I listen with Shure E3C's when commuting and Sennheiser HD595's at work, and when at home in my docking station is pumped through my NAD amplifier and out of some nice speakers

I don't give a crap about playing videos on it, nor having fancy colour album displays or anything like that, I want a DAP that is designed to play music and does it very well, like the Rio Karma, not something that's designed to look pretty!

Any suggestions? Price limit approx £200ish ($400 USD)

The Cowan iAudio X5 might fit the bill.

* 20 GB HD
* Built-in FM stereo tuner
* USB 2.0 interface
* 160 x 128 pixel, 256,000 color screen

Plays MP3, Ogg Vorbis, WMA, ASF, FLAC, WAV, JPEG, and MPEG-4 (video)


You can get it on Amazon.COM for about $170.00 USD


Or, if you desire lots more, go with the Cowon A3 for about $370.00 USD

This thing can play pretty much EVERYTHING that is video and audio.

Cowon A3:
========
* 60 GB HD
* USB 2.0
* Built-In FM Stereo Tuner

Audio codecs/formats supported:

MPEG1 Layer 1/2/3, WMA, FLAC, OGG Vorbis, OGG FLAC, APPLE Lossless,
AAC/AAC+, AC3, True Audio, Monkey’s Audio, MusePack, WavPack, G.726, PCM


Video codecs/formats supported:

DivX 3.11/4/5/6, XviD, MPEG-4 SP/ASP, WMV 9/8/7, H.264 MP, M-JPEG, MPEG 1/2



Get the Cowan A3 from Amazon at:

http://www.amazon.com/Cowon-A3-60SL-Portab...9589&sr=8-1

I was in the same boat as you except that it was the hard drive that went out on my Karma. I went w/a Toshiba Gigabeat F40 and am using the Rockbox firmware. I haven't missed my Karma a bit.

Vir

Actually about the Cowon A3, it's just been announced that they're going to have an 80 gig version soon, so maybe wait for that? And also the Cowon D3 (which is about the same as the A3 except it has a touch screen) has also been announced with 80 gigs.

The X5 is nice, and I actually had one for about 3 years, till the headphone jack died. It's a great little player, and the fact that it supports RockBox makes it even better. I highly suggest the X5 if you're looking for a great little audio player. If you need video and such, the A3 is one of the better PMPs out there, from my understandig.

An iPod would work for you, though you would have to use RockBox to play OGG or FLAC. You can get a dock for it. To my ears, the sound quality is good. If you go with an iPod and want to RockBox it, you will have to get an older one (5G or 5.5G) since the new "Classic" ones (6G) don't support RockBox. The Nanos don't support RockBox either.

If gapless is an issue for you, the Cowon players may not fit the bill. I seem to recall reading someplace that it doesn't play FLAC gapless. If you care about that feature, you should check it out. But if they support RockBox, you may be good to go.

Good luck!

The X5s native firmware does not support gapless playback unfortunately. But if you need gapless, there's always rockbox for the X5 which does have gapless.