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Offline deejayen

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Portable player
« on: February 16, 2020, 01:11:31 PM »
I'm thinking about buying some sort of portable player.  I would mainly use it for listening to mixes of my recordings, and also for listening to some albums I would save as WAV files from CDs.  I'd use it with headphones/earphones.

I'm undecided about buying a portable recorder (maybe the Sony PCM-D100) for this task (I'd also obviously have the benefit of using this as a recorder if needed), or if I should buy a dedicated player.  I don't want to use a phone for playing music.

I would also prefer something with knobs and buttons rather than a touchscreen.

I'd like something which sounds really good/accurate, but I don't have the budget for a top-end player such as the expensive Astell & Kerns or Sonys.

I'm in the UK.

Suggestions would be appreciated!
 

Offline Lostbrook

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Re: Portable player
« Reply #1 on: February 16, 2020, 01:22:31 PM »
Bought one of these recently and love it. Mostly touchscreen though:

https://www.fiio.com/m11

Offline unidentified

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Re: Portable player
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2020, 12:30:20 AM »
I have a pair of FiiO X5s (first and second generations).  They can be a tad quirky at times but they (and a good set of headphones) have changed how I listen to music for the better.  Also great in the car. 

Offline jerryfreak

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Re: Portable player
« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2020, 01:30:54 AM »
my PCM-A10 is a recorder first and a player second, but i use it all the time to dump 24-bit flacs on

no frills interface but does the job. smaller than my phone and sounds great.  takes big cards. i think it has a 5000 track limit.
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Offline deejayen

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Re: Portable player
« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2020, 01:13:31 PM »
Thanks for that.

The Sony appeals to me more than the FiiO, mainly because it doesn't have a touchscreen.  However, when I start to consider its recording capabilities I'm immediately compelled to consider other options, such as the aforementioned PCM-D100!

The PCM-A10 might be a good allrounder.  I suppose that anything with better recording quality will be much heavier and bulkier, but wouldn't be as convenient for carrying around as a player. 

I haven't seen them, but I'm wondering if a cheap player such as a SanDisk Clip/Jam might work okay for general listening, and with the savings I could buy a PCM-D100 or Tascam DR-100MkIII etc when I need a recorder.

Offline jefflester

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Re: Portable player
« Reply #5 on: February 17, 2020, 01:47:54 PM »
I haven't seen them, but I'm wondering if a cheap player such as a SanDisk Clip/Jam might work okay for general listening, and with the savings I could buy a PCM-D100 or Tascam DR-100MkIII etc when I need a recorder.
I used a Sansa Clip for 6-7 years until the battery started lasting less than 2 hours. I was very happy with it for the low price point, simplicity, and functionality, though not being able to play higher resolution files became an issue as more of those started circulating. I've replaced it with a Hidizs AP80 which I am happy with, though it does not handle un-tagged files very well.
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Offline unidentified

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Re: Portable player
« Reply #6 on: February 17, 2020, 03:41:28 PM »
My FiiO X5s don't have touch screens per se.  Off-on and volume controls are physical.  To access other functions, you turn a physical wheel inset flat on the front of the player until the function you want is displayed on the screen.  You activate that function by  pressing a physical button. https://www.head-fi.org/threads/fiio-x5-2nd-gen-impressions-and-discussion-thread.765943/  You can get one for less than $200 on EBay (no affiliation with any that you would find there). 

I myself would be cautious about subjecting my recorder to the day to day rigors of being my primary portable playing device.  YMMV. 
« Last Edit: February 17, 2020, 03:47:07 PM by unidentified »

Offline deejayen

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Re: Portable player
« Reply #7 on: February 18, 2020, 07:25:16 AM »
Thanks for that.  I think the current generation of X5s might be touch screen, as is the M11 mentioned by Lostbrook, but from your description the 1st and 2nd generation X5s might not be.  I suppose I could have a look around for an older device, but I'd rather not buy something like this from eBay.

Offline moondust.and.solitude

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Re: Portable player
« Reply #8 on: February 18, 2020, 09:47:31 AM »
The iRULU F20 is a nice, well built, player.  Easy on the pocketbook/wallet.
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Offline Chilly Brioschi

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Re: Portable player
« Reply #9 on: February 22, 2020, 08:45:16 AM »
The SanDisk Clip is very small.
Clip it on clothing, and go exercise or walk.
Sound isn't bad, but fairly low powered, somewhat warm with my Panasonic earbuds.
I don't recall it as doing .wav or .bwff, but I wasn't expecting Hi-Res or Hi-Fi, just background.
It does Audibles, a big plus.
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Offline raymonda

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Re: Portable player
« Reply #10 on: February 22, 2020, 08:48:25 AM »
The Fiio M6 is the new darling. It is priced right at around 140, plays all types of files, has blue tooth for your car and headphones and will playback 2tb cards when they become available. That is right, 2tb! That is a lot. You could also just use your phone and a Dropbox account.

Offline MakersMarc

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Re: Portable player
« Reply #11 on: March 30, 2020, 11:26:43 AM »
Find a Pioneer XP-30. Punches way way above what you can find it for, maybe $150-200. I’ve owned fiio and this sounds much better to me, two 256gb slots, WiFi for streaming, a real champ.

https://www.whathifi.com/us/pioneer/xdp-30r/review

 
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Offline Big Perm

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Re: Portable player
« Reply #12 on: March 31, 2020, 08:17:02 PM »
Find a Pioneer XP-30. Punches way way above what you can find it for, maybe $150-200. I’ve owned fiio and this sounds much better to me, two 256gb slots, WiFi for streaming, a real champ.

https://www.whathifi.com/us/pioneer/xdp-30r/review

so you like the pioneer better?
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Offline OldNeumanntapr

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Re: Portable player
« Reply #13 on: June 20, 2020, 03:18:23 PM »
I had a FiiO X3 second gen that I loved. It sounded amazing, with my FiiO headphone amp and Sennheiser 770 Pro headphones.

But...It died almost a year and a half after I bought it. I don't know if I would trust a FiiO again. They don't have a good track record on reliability.

I want something that will play gapless FLAC, read tags in the metadata, and is easy to use and reliable. I don't like a lot of these high priced players with all the bells and whistles.

I was looking for a home player that would play FLAC but I haven't seen anything, except for the $1,100 Cambridge Audio CXNv2 and I'm not sure it will read FLAC tags. Marantz had a home player with a USB port but apparantely it will only play WAV files. :(

Offline heathen

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Re: Portable player
« Reply #14 on: June 21, 2020, 03:06:29 PM »
I had a FiiO X3 second gen that I loved. It sounded amazing, with my FiiO headphone amp and Sennheiser 770 Pro headphones.

But...It died almost a year and a half after I bought it. I don't know if I would trust a FiiO again. They don't have a good track record on reliability.

I want something that will play gapless FLAC, read tags in the metadata, and is easy to use and reliable. I don't like a lot of these high priced players with all the bells and whistles.

I was looking for a home player that would play FLAC but I haven't seen anything, except for the $1,100 Cambridge Audio CXNv2 and I'm not sure it will read FLAC tags. Marantz had a home player with a USB port but apparantely it will only play WAV files. :(
For a home player you could use a Raspberry Pi. Cheap and effective.
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