Topic: Need recomendations on a good portable music player

[OldNeumanntapr]

Hey all,

I drive a delivery route for a wholesale auto parts company. Two years ago I was issued a 2019 Ford Transit van with both bluetooth AND a USB port. It would play flac with text and even artwork! After years of not having a way to listen to my music in my van this was amazing! I could put flac on a flash drive and take a week's worth of music to work. (I drive about 1,300 miles a week on the route.)

Sadly, the transmission in the van went out and instead of repairing it they got gid of it and bought a new van. This one is a 2017 Ford Transit van and it lacks both bluetooth and a USB port. All it has is an am/fm radio with an 1/8th" AUX jack.

I am really bummed out now because I have lost the ability to listen to flac at work. I thought about buying a portable music player and running it through the AUX jack, but most of them have terrible reviews. I used to have a Fiio X3 player that I really liked but it died after not quite two years and I never replaced it. I have a couple of mini SD cards left over from the Fiio that I could reuse.

Someone at work suggested playing music on my phone but I don't see how that would work, as I have an iPhone 8+ with no headphone output.

All I need is something to play gapless flac with tags. Most of these players that I have looked at on line have a lot of bells and whistles I don't want or need.

I would like something that would work with my iMac, and not be over $250 -$300, Any ideas?

Thanks,

ONT-

[rocksuitcase]

https://helpguide.sony.net/dmp/nwa50/v1/en/contents/TP0002342857.html

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-NW-A55-Walkman-Hi-Res-Grayish/dp/B08286VLNB

I just this week put into play one of these. I don't need library shuffles etc, JUST flac file playback like you. Seems great so far, a bit weird with .jpgs, but I think it is how I tag things, not the player which WILL display cover art. So far I am testing it out as far as folder structure, display items etc and only have 6 shows loaded on it. All 24/48 flacs

[OldNeumanntapr]

Cool. Is it able to play gapless flac?

I'm in the van six + hours a day on the road and would hate not to be able to listen to my music.

[rocksuitcase]

Cool. Is it able to play gapless flac?

I'm in the van six + hours a day on the road and would hate not to be able to listen to my music.

yes

[OldNeumanntapr]

Good. Does it play shows in folders? Drop and drag to load it up?

[rocksuitcase]

Good. Does it play shows in folders? Drop and drag to load it up?

Sorry was feeling low last night.
Yes, it does the basic folder organization in MAc or WIndows. I use Windows so do not know 100% about MAC. Check teh help guide I sent. It shows how to do transfers etc. for the money I think it is a sweet player. all those $1000 and up players have phones and streaming ability which I do not desire

[unidentified]

I really like the small and inexpensive ($200) Pioneer XDP-30R-S.

[kindms]

Hey all,

I drive a delivery route for a wholesale auto parts company. Two years ago I was issued a 2019 Ford Transit van with both bluetooth AND a USB port. It would play flac with text and even artwork! After years of not having a way to listen to my music in my van this was amazing! I could put flac on a flash drive and take a week's worth of music to work. (I drive about 1,300 miles a week on the route.)

Sadly, the transmission in the van went out and instead of repairing it they got gid of it and bought a new van. This one is a 2017 Ford Transit van and it lacks both bluetooth and a USB port. All it has is an am/fm radio with an 1/8th" AUX jack.

I am really bummed out now because I have lost the ability to listen to flac at work. I thought about buying a portable music player and running it through the AUX jack, but most of them have terrible reviews. I used to have a Fiio X3 player that I really liked but it died after not quite two years and I never replaced it. I have a couple of mini SD cards left over from the Fiio that I could reuse.

Someone at work suggested playing music on my phone but I don't see how that would work, as I have an iPhone 8+ with no headphone output.

All I need is something to play gapless flac with tags. Most of these players that I have looked at on line have a lot of bells and whistles I don't want or need.

I would like something that would work with my iMac, and not be over $250 -$300, Any ideas?

Thanks,

ONT-

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMX62AM/A/lightning-to-35-mm-headphone-jack-adapter

i run my iphone 7 this way 1/8 stereo to car port. cheap and simple solution.

flac on an iphone via VOX (app is free) if you need flac


Edited to add.
You could build yourself a player for pretty cheap with a raspberry pi and that would give you plenty of dac and gapless playback options
They are powered by 5v the draw depends on which version

you could build one with a touch screen and case etc for under $200 i bet

[nulldogmas]

I've often used an iRiver (cheap used, plays FLACs, uses regular directory folders, has a 1/8" output, long battery life) as a portable music player.

[unidentified]

I've often used an iRiver (cheap used, plays FLACs, uses regular directory folders, has a 1/8" output, long battery life) as a portable music player.

I love my Rockboxed IRivers - built like little tanks, very steampunk. 

[firemt66]

I dropped shows on my Samsung phone and play them  all day long at work no gaps plays the whole show from beginning to end

[goodcooker]

I dropped shows on my Samsung phone and play them  all day long at work no gaps plays the whole show from beginning to end

I use an old Samsung phone for this. plays 24 bit FLACs in VLC player and I get a pretty long road trip out of a single charge. Bluetooth doesn't last as long as headphone out.

[OldNeumanntapr]

I'm buying the Sony. Thanks for the advice!

ONT-

[Scooter123]

Used iPod or iPhone.  $100

[Colin Liston]

You might want to consider a cheap android phone (without cell service) with a micro sd card slot. The phone will have bluetooth and wifi for uses in other cars or at home and a lot of the new phones can take 256, 512 or 1TB cards.
Xiaomi makes great phones with good specs for cheap.

For example
https://www.amazon.com/Xiaomi-Redmi-9A-Display-Unlocked/dp/B08CH6X6M5/ref=sr_1_17?crid=9CDZ7QG4G3QV&keywords=xaomi%CC%87&qid=1641847284&refinements=p_n_feature_twenty-one_browse-bin%3A21596696011%2Cp_89%3AXiaomi&rnid=2528832011&s=wireless&sprefix=xao%2Caps%2C1005&sr=1-17

[OldNeumanntapr]

I bought the Sony Walkman from Crutchfield and it's working out pretty well so far. I have to have the date of a show at the start of the album box tag, otherwise it alphabetizes the venues. My iPod didn't do that and would read the date tags from xACT. The Sony lists the xACT date tags as 'year released' under aditional info, and only lists the year, not the complete date.
 
Sound quality is on a par with the iPod Classic and not as good as the Fiio X3 but hoipefully the Sony has better longevity. My Fiio died not quite two years after I bought it.

Thanks to everyone for their input.

ONT-

[rocksuitcase]

I also find the folder/file structure on the Walkman to be a bit lacking. I have figured out how to get photos on it for each "album. I use foobar tagging which gets picked up relatively well, but "Album" gets filled in as:< yyyy-mm-dd Venue Name City Name State >

I think the sound quality is much better than my Subaru mp3 only stereo  so no other player to compare with.

Downside is the proprietary Sony connector to USB cable

[Dan33185]

You might want to consider a cheap android phone (without cell service) with a micro sd card slot. The phone will have bluetooth and wifi for uses in other cars or at home and a lot of the new phones can take 256, 512 or 1TB cards.
Xiaomi makes great phones with good specs for cheap.

For example
https://www.amazon.com/Xiaomi-Redmi-9A-Display-Unlocked/dp/B08CH6X6M5/ref=sr_1_17?crid=9CDZ7QG4G3QV&keywords=xaomi%CC%87&qid=1641847284&refinements=p_n_feature_twenty-one_browse-bin%3A21596696011%2Cp_89%3AXiaomi&rnid=2528832011&s=wireless&sprefix=xao%2Caps%2C1005&sr=1-17

That's what I do, I just buy one of those Boost Mobile type phones and never activate it, and add a 128 GB Micro SD card. All total, I paid like 55 bucks (40 bucks for the phone, 15 for the card).

[robeti]

Exactly.

I installed Foobar2000 on my samsung a71 phone.
Plays FLAC 24/48 files gapless playback.

Works perfect

[jlykos]

Shanling M0. Does it all in a tiny player for $100. Great audio quality!

[robeti]

I've bought a fiio m17.
Not cheap, but very beautiful gear!

[jbell]

Does it have a digital out?? 

I've bought a fiio m17.
Not cheap, but very beautiful gear!

[robeti]

yes.
SPDIF digital output

Does it have a digital out?? 

I've bought a fiio m17.
Not cheap, but very beautiful gear!

[Chilly Brioschi]

If you can find one, the Japan Onkyo DP-X1 is a bargain.
It's well made & sounds great:

https://www.intl.onkyo.com/products/portable_audios/digital_audio_players/dp-x1a/index.html