Want a new mp3 player

[steve ridgway]

Time has moved on since I last posted in this thread and so have DAPs. I now have the Astell & Kern Jr and it does everything that I need it to and it also has blue tooth output if I want to use BT headphones. It supports the following formats (WAV, FLAC, WMA, MP3, OGG, APE(Normal, High, Fast), AAC, ALAC, AIFF, DFF, DSF) but I'm happy to stick with 320 kbps MP3.

Compared to many of today's models it's quite basic but the important thing is that it sounds really good. I use it mainly for travel and as I'm going into hospital in three weeks for a double knee replacement I'll take it there. What I really like about it is that as I've digitised all my CDs into audio files and put them into folders I can simply drag and drop folders into the player.

I just looked and found I bought my AK Jr in April 2017. I'm still happy with it, purged it of non-classical music recently and am loading it up again as I listen so I can curate my personal canon, and will replace the 64 Mb micro SD card with a 256 Gb when it's full (as they'll be cheaper then). Minor niggles are just that it thinks Z comes before A and doesn't display foreign characters. I am now tagging my files "Album" = Work, conductor (or principal performer or ensemble) and date of recording e.g. "Concerto For Orchestra (Boulez, 1972)", "Artist" = Composer, "Genre" = Date composed.

[Holden]

I've been thinking of following @Holden and @steve ridgway in getting an AK Jr to replace my ageing and fading Sony, however from reading reviews I get the impression that it doesn't support Wifi connectivity e.g. for streaming music from my NAS library.  Is this right?  It's a feature I'd want at that kind of price - at present I can use an old Android phone for the purpose, and I note that the device Karl's just bought claims to have this functionality (though it also seems to draw some of the same kind of negative user feedback that pretty much all cheaper players attract.)  Any advice would be appreciated.

You are right, it doesn't have WiFi. The version I've got is actually called the Super Junior and is named after a Korean Kpop band. It was half the price of the straight Jr but is essentially exactly the same player. I bought a cover for it so I don't see the bands signature all over the case. It's an absolute bargain for the price if you don't need WiFi as it sounds superb and drives most of my cans well.

https://www.amazon.com.au/Astell-Kern-Super-Junior-AK/dp/B07176GS7Y

[Marbarum]

what kind of player did you end up buying?

[steve ridgway]

I recently replaced my broken AK Jr with an Astell & Kern SR35. I just copied files to a 256 Gb micro SD card on a MacBook and the player scanned it and catalogued them with no problems.

[Gurn Blanston]

I've been looking around for something to play my flax on, I haven't even been able to discover yet if such a thing even exists.

I need a portable music player, I have 2 or 3 separate work areas and I don't want to set up equipment for all of them, I want one player I can move with me when I go.

I don't care for headphones, Bluetooth speakers are fine although even hard wired speakers are ok since we are talking fairly small spaces anyway.

Here's the hard part: I want this device to play either USB thumb drives, or my 4TB SSD, or micro SD cards. No cd player, no radio, no casettes, none of that crap. And it needs a display to read tags.

I want it to function just like a boom box from 1988!

So simple, why can't I find one? Anyone seen anything like that? 

 

[DavidW]

I've been looking around for something to play my flax on, I haven't even been able to discover yet if such a thing even exists.

I need a portable music player, I have 2 or 3 separate work areas and I don't want to set up equipment for all of them, I want one player I can move with me when I go.

I don't care for headphones, Bluetooth speakers are fine although even hard wired speakers are ok since we are talking fairly small spaces anyway.

Here's the hard part: I want this device to play either USB thumb drives, or my 4TB SSD, or micro SD cards. No cd player, no radio, no casettes, none of that crap. And it needs a display to read tags.

I want it to function just like a boom box from 1988!

So simple, why can't I find one? Anyone seen anything like that? 

 

I love my FiiO but they don't make affordable daps anymore.  It is the high end at the same level as the A&Ks people are talking about.

The world has moved on.  I bought a FiiO bluetooth receiver to use with my phone and travel and it is surprisingly VERY GOOD.  I could listen on even my demanding headphones and the sound quality was excellent. 

You could just use it with your pc, and connect your favorite headphones to them and put it in your pocket and walk around the house.  I recommend that solution because it sounds better than bluetooth headphones, and you don't have to spend a lot of money on new headphones if you already have one that you like.

The one I have is no longer made, but here are two that I found from FiiO:

$70 https://www.amazon.com/FiiO-BTR3K-Bluetooth-Headphone-Unbalanced/dp/B085XT3V3X
$110 https://www.amazon.com/FiiO-BTR15-Headphone-Resolution-Smartphones/dp/B0CM3NVGYL

[drogulus]

     Even though I couldn't install the control panel for my Fiio KA3 dongle DAC/amp I managed to get it to work with Foobar2000 and the sound is excellent for DSD and flac. I wish it wasn't so hard to work with the Fiio software for this device. If I decide to buy something it will probably be the aforementioned A&K. With a 500GB card I can get all of my music on it.

[drogulus]

I've been looking around for something to play my flax on, I haven't even been able to discover yet if such a thing even exists.

I need a portable music player, I have 2 or 3 separate work areas and I don't want to set up equipment for all of them, I want one player I can move with me when I go.

I don't care for headphones, Bluetooth speakers are fine although even hard wired speakers are ok since we are talking fairly small spaces anyway.

Here's the hard part: I want this device to play either USB thumb drives, or my 4TB SSD, or micro SD cards. No cd player, no radio, no casettes, none of that crap. And it needs a display to read tags.

I want it to function just like a boom box from 1988!

So simple, why can't I find one? Anyone seen anything like that? 

 

     The article covers a number of options which from your description should work for you. You want Bluetooth and analog outs to connect to different devices easily. It doesn't sound like you want an external USB DAC.

     
Portable Player (DAP) Recommendations - Headfonia Reviews

[Holden]

I recently replaced my broken AK Jr with an Astell & Kern SR35. I just copied files to a 256 Gb micro SD card on a MacBook and the player scanned it and catalogued them with no problems.

I've still got my A&K Jr. It's an amazing piece of kit for the price I paid and sounds extremely good.

[steve ridgway]

I've still got my A&K Jr. It's an amazing piece of kit for the price I paid and sounds extremely good.

I'd have bought the same again if they'd still been available.

[Gurn Blanston]

The article covers a number of options which from your description should work for you. You want Bluetooth and analog outs to connect to different devices easily. It doesn't sound like you want an external USB DAC.

     
Portable Player (DAP) Recommendations - Headfonia Reviews

That's pretty accurate. I can't go with the description DavidW provided because my desktop computer is shared, I rarely use it now but my wife does. Retirement brought a different lifestyle with it. But also, my remote workshops are not in the house, they're in outbuildings. So I'm pretty well needing portable.

I have a FiiO the X5 3rd Gen, and it works great for SQ, but I hate the Android controls and such. At this point I'm just hoping that someone has run across something that I haven't found yet. Maybe I'll end up with a Brennan B3, at least it would stand alone as a player. 

 

[DavidW]

That's pretty accurate. I can't go with the description DavidW provided because my desktop computer is shared, I rarely use it now but my wife does. Retirement brought a different lifestyle with it. But also, my remote workshops are not in the house, they're in outbuildings. So I'm pretty well needing portable.

I have a FiiO the X5 3rd Gen, and it works great for SQ, but I hate the Android controls and such. At this point I'm just hoping that someone has run across something that I haven't found yet. Maybe I'll end up with a Brennan B3, at least it would stand alone as a player. 

 

Ha!  You should have bought the FiiO X3 when you had the chance.  I have it, no Android.  Just scrollwheel, Ipod Classic kind of design.  Easy, peasy.  Sometimes cheaper is better.

[DavidW]

Okay here you go, entry level Sony walkman has expandable storage and a simple interface:

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-KKBsRxVOiCh/p_158NWA306B/Sony-NW-A306-Walkman.html

[drogulus]

Okay here you go, entry level Sony walkman has expandable storage and a simple interface:

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-KKBsRxVOiCh/p_158NWA306B/Sony-NW-A306-Walkman.html

    Dang! That looks all right.



    It goes up to DSD256, which is like outer space and pointless but at least you can play the files.

[Gurn Blanston]

Shanling MO Pro

I was actually looking at this one I found in Ernie's link. I had a Sansa Clip and loved it. This promises to be that and more. That SONY does look interesting though.

 

[drogulus]

     I'm liking the Hiby RS2. It's a pure ass file player with no WiFi and no Bluetooth.

[DavidW]

Shanling MO Pro

I was actually looking at this one I found in Ernie's link. I had a Sansa Clip and loved it. This promises to be that and more. That SONY does look interesting though.

 

I'm surprised how powerful that amp is.  I think it should be able to drive all but the most power hungry headphones.

So I dug up the ASR review, it is pretty good even with Sennheiser 650s.  And the poll results seem to echo a favorable view.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/shanling-m0-pro-dap-review.49351/

[Gurn Blanston]

I'm surprised how powerful that amp is.  I think it should be able to drive all but the most power hungry headphones.

So I dug up the ASR review, it is pretty good even with Sennheiser 650s.  And the poll results seem to echo a favorable view.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/shanling-m0-pro-dap-review.49351/

And to top it off, if you can beat that price...!!