Portable Digital Player, iPod or ?

pkquat

Apologies. I am sure this has been asked, but a search took me down many fruitless paths.

In short I am looking for a decent quality player that is portable, and has an easy interface with cars or home, and has a lot of storage space. Content will be mostly HQ 320bit MP3, but some FLAC and better may be added depending on space. I have an old iPod touch that is only 32GB and full. I have an Android phone with a cheap 512GB card, but my phone does not easily interface with much. If Apple had an sd slot for 512GB and larger cards, I'd probably get one, but the touch is limited to 256GB. Plus they are expensive..

I like the Apple interface. iTunes has it quirks, but for the most part, I like the setup. I like that it's compatible (interface and menu) with many different devices (older cars, AVRs, TVs, BluRay Players etc.), and there are a number of different connection options that are not too expensive. From what I recall many devices can access the digital stream, so it could act more like a HQ storage device.

My iPod touch is a decent stand alone player. I don't use it for "critical listening. I also like it as a 2nd device for music playing. I can leave it hooked up to whatever, but still carry my phone around.

Much of the time the sound quality is not that important, but it would be nice to connect it to my or someone else's equipment and be able to play a digital flac file without going through the internal DAC and using RCAs.

Any recommendations on a player, or is Apple it for ease of connectivity?

rpf65

Go old school:

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=5NC+xtmN&id=D345FBE82AF716780E55E6C38155D7AFA2C0397E&thid=OIP.5NC-xtmNwJSktm1ARb3GGgHaLH&mediaurl=http://www.argobot.com/projects/bass-station/photos/street2.jpg&exph=500&expw=333&q=Boomboxes+1980s&simid=608003816054525627&selectedindex=42&vt=1&eim=1,2,3,4,6,8&sim=11

erniejade

They have portable dac \ amp you can hook up to the droid.

jdjohn

Check out Shanling DAPs. They take microSD cards and can play every format except M4P...can even play DSD.

gyosa

Iphone coupled with a dragonfly black is what I use ....
Full mqa decoder for Tidal ......

Bk

BlueFox

Use Apple Lossless for iPad music. I used my iPad as a music source for my stereo for a few years.

Easy Runnin

I recommend this:

https://documents.westerndigital.com/content/dam/doc-library/en_us/assets/public/sandisk/product/mp3-players/clip-sport/data-sheet-clip-sport.pdf

vcwatkins

I use this phone as an inexpensive Roon endpoint, but it could be used as a player and wifi streamer. Very good DAC for a phone.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DL11YRX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

vcwatkins

Here's a Darko video on the LG v30. His take is also as a Roon endpoint with display. But since it has a better DAC than most phones and a 3.5mm jack, you can output analog to a home or car stereo, or listen with wired or wireless headphones. MicroSD up to 1tb. Multi-use flexibility and low cost ($138) appeals to the cheapbastahd side (okay, three-quarters) of my brain.

One note re Roon use: when I first tried it, I was getting some noise - pops, bumps, gaps. After updating the Android OS, I had no issues.

https://youtu.be/kboxkbkKgHY

pkquat

lol @rpf65 That is missing a TV though. (in reference to a post a few weeks back with boom boxes that played and tuned in anything).

Thanks for all the ideas. I'll do some more investigating on whats been listed.

I have thought about an iPad. They are pretty reasonable used for 512GB, and have a good screen size, but I think of that more for home use. They don't fit in a pocket or car well.

I have thought about possibly getting a dragonfly, but TBH for portable I am not as concerned about the quality making it to the headphone jack as long as I can easily connect digitally to other devices, and especially older devices (within the last 10-12 years). There are more and better options for new devices, but it appears there isn't much of a standard aside from Apple.

I think that is where I am hung up some on the iPod / iTunes. Their interface is compatible / available with so many devices. I like being able to easily access songs with the native devices menu. I have seen some devices that will work with HD's, android, and Apple via USB. Usually the Apple interface and menu doesn't require any setup, and finds playlists etc. The android and HD access have either been more of a plan file menu access, or require some setup. I have not found much of a standard format for playlists or album displays that works well either.

Maybe, I hope, I am missing something.

StantonZ

I use an external HDD as my "FLAC" player: many systems now accept music via a USB input. I use my iPhone as a "low quality" (MP3) portable player.

skrol

I picked up a FiiO X5 Gen 3 from B&H a few weeks ago on one of their flash sales for $179. So far I love this thing. I have not fully explored its capabilities with Hi Res music files yet but I can say that FLAC, and even MP3 sound better than any digital music player I hear to date. I have tried several different headphones from Grado 80e and 225i, to Sennheiser HD-650, Denon AH-D600 and iems like Denon AH-C700 and cheap JBL. All sound fantastic. I even tried connecting to my Schitt Magni 3+ for a little extra drive. It did provide some improvement in the sound of the bigger hard to drive cans but the X5 by itself does very well on its own. My only issue is the battery run time could be better but it isn't bad and I am often driving more challenging cans. The software is a little quirky but still good.

skrol

Even sounds great with my cheap Koss Porta Pros

Irrenhaus

Hi

I currently have the Onkyo Grandbeat. Excellent digital audio player.

https://www.amazon.com/Smartphone-Function-GRANBEAT-DP-CMX1-Domestic/dp/B01N6ZH6PB
I did had the FiiO X5 and that one was great also. Got stolen.

I am thinking of getting the FiiO M11 but not sure yet.

Cheers

skrol

That sucks that it was stolen. Makes me more protective of mine now.

I was using it to play some HD-Track 24bit/96KHz samples through my main system and it sounds damn good.

pkquat

I've done some more digging in to these and AVR/Digital source compatibility. Many will do ok now when connecting to a phone, depending on how you can set your phone up to appear like an HD. The menu structures still leave something to be desired vs. the iTunes interface in many cases. Aftermarket car audio appears to be better in this market than AVR's. There are phone apps, and other interfaces for Android that work pretty well, however it appears they can become outdated for Android. An old iPod or iPhone still connects without problems, but lacks much of the additional phone an app interface capabilities. Music files and the menu are unchanged and work just fine.

Digital players seem to have difficulty with appearing as an HD so there is a greater chance they will not interface with AVR's and other devices directly, but some have a digital out which is better than nothing, and at least you are using the same interface.

Right now I am leaning towards two devices, a used iPod or iPhone for general music, and using my phone to store hi-res files. Sadly it is the worst of both worlds. Maybe by the time I finally commit to it there will be a breakthrough or an Apple device with a memory card.

bikerboy

I'm using a Fiio m5 with Sony wh 1000 m3 bt headphones. Plays most file types, small and great battery life. $100 for the player. Very happy with the noise reduction with the Sony hp for riding the bus.