Alternatives to the iPod: I'm looking for a new MP3 Player

[Langsuan Man]

Since the OP mentions that he uses his iPod for audio books I am afraid that he will be disappointed with anything other than the iPod, iPhone, or Android phone

All the stand alone MP3 players that I have tried ( and Sony has two different models, as does Sandisk ) but they all suck big time for Audio Books since they will not remember where you left off, a deal breaker IMHO

So if I was the OP I would look to getting an iPhone or an Android phone just for the ability to use it for Audio Books and look at making phone calls and having your music library as gravy

[vanillalatte]

Listen to peoples voice!So many recommended you Sandisk player;I 2nd them.It will cost you only 50 $!You will get audiophile

sound quality,if you have good earphones.What you save on player - you can invest in good earphones with exellent result.

If you do not believe us - go to portal "AnythingButIpod" and see what they have to say and show about this device.

If you do not like it - then go for Samsung smartphone - S3 or S4 or even better - Note2 or Note3 all of them have very good sound.50$ is not big deal - you can try,buy from Amazon - you should take latest model called Zip.The device is tiny - saves space in your wallet and in your pocket.

If you play music and audio on your mobile - you are in perpetual conflict with incoming calls/short battery life.

Nokia simple models have very good sound , 3.5 headphone socket,long battery life,try them.

[up-country_sinclair]

Since the OP mentions that he uses his iPod for audio books I am afraid that he will be disappointed with anything other than the iPod, iPhone, or Android phone

All the stand alone MP3 players that I have tried ( and Sony has two different models, as does Sandisk ) but they all suck big time for Audio Books since they will not remember where you left off, a deal breaker IMHO

The SansaClip remembers where you left off.

[up-country_sinclair]

By the way, I wish Invade IT or other Thai based web sites would carry the SansaClip. I really can't understand why they don't.

[kkerry]

Another vote for the Sansa Clip. I bought the cheapest one and slotted in a 16GB micro SD card as 20GB is plenty for me. No problem with audio books either.

[xen]

Listen to peoples voice!So many recommended you Sandisk player;I 2nd them.It will cost you only 50 $!You will get audiophile

sound quality,if you have good earphones.What you save on player - you can invest in good earphones with exellent result.

If you do not believe us - go to portal "AnythingButIpod" and see what they have to say and show about this device.

If you do not like it - then go for Samsung smartphone - S3 or S4 or even better - Note2 or Note3 all of them have very good sound.50$ is not big deal - you can try,buy from Amazon - you should take latest model called Zip.The device is tiny - saves space in your wallet and in your pocket.

If you play music and audio on your mobile - you are in perpetual conflict with incoming calls/short battery life.

Nokia simple models have very good sound , 3.5 headphone socket,long battery life,try them.

To say that mp3 is audophile quality is stretching the meaning of the word audiophile a bit. Whilst mp3 is adequate for most of us and it is true that investing in better headphones will often improve the quality , it is not until you can listen to FLAC or lossless that quality equal to CD quality is achieved. That is why i am so interested in Dave Boo's post about the FiiO X3 , altho i would say with FLAC or Lossless file , not being compressed files , you you need the 64 GB card to hold a sufficient number of musical tracks.

I am not attacking the scan disk or even ipod or mobile phones but they still a distance from audiophile status and if they meet your expectations then that is great .

[pinkpanther99]

Late to the party, but the FiiO X3 is quite nice. Accepts a 64GB card, has the Wolfson 8740 DAC and plays every format I've thrown at it (FLAC/M4A/MP3 from 320kb/s up to the 96/24 files). Yes, there are some quirks to it, but if you are interested in fantastic sound from a well made player that costs 6400 THB at jetliveaudio.com it is well worth it.

Drives all my (admittedly low impedance) phones really well. Shure SE535, Audio Technica ES88, ESW9, M50, and AD900X.

Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out. before you posted this I had all but settled for buying a 64GB SD card for phone and using that instead, but I'll certainly do a bit of research into the FiiO X3

[pinkpanther99]

Well thanks for all who have provided feedback. It's been a while since I checked this thread but there is plenty of info to go at now, cheers!

[meand]

I prefer not to go apple on almost everything imaginable. Ipods are the one exception. I have had my classic for almost 10 years and it is probably right up there as being one of my fav pieces of electronics I have ever owned.

[dave_boo]

Well that was a nice tip, I wanted something nice for the saucepan's Xmas present and that fits the bill. Assuming the shippers do their job, it should be here in plenty of time.

Thank you Dave_Boo.

alt=biggrin.png pagespeed_url_hash=14303579 width=20 height=20>

You'll really enjoy it; make sure that you have a large SDXC card to go into it. There are issues with the proper format; but the latest firmware from fiio.net has a formatting utility built in. FWIW, even being a beta tester for the DAC firmware, I never had an empty card to update (I'm a rebel like that).

To say that mp3 is audophile quality is stretching the meaning of the word audiophile a bit. Whilst mp3 is adequate for most of us and it is true that investing in better headphones will often improve the quality , it is not until you can listen to FLAC or lossless that quality equal to CD quality is achieved. That is why i am so interested in Dave Boo's post about the FiiO X3 , altho i would say with FLAC or Lossless file , not being compressed files , you you need the 64 GB card to hold a sufficient number of musical tracks.

I am not attacking the scan disk or even ipod or mobile phones but they still a distance from audiophile status and if they meet your expectations then that is great .

There is also the question of whether a mobile DAC will be utilised in a way that will allow the enjoyment of flac over a good 320 kb/s mp3. The environment, mobile headphones (in-ear or on-ear being the only ones that won't make you look overly dorky), etc. sure creates an understandable situation where most think that what they have now sounds pretty good. What with OTG and a DAC one can have a good sounding sound portable rig with the right cell phone. Alternatively Samsung has some good sounding cells; the Note 3 even supports 192/24 files.

Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out. before you posted this I had all but settled for buying a 64GB SD card for phone and using that instead, but I'll certainly do a bit of research into the FiiO X3

Make sure you check the thread out at headfi.

[Chicog]

Well that was a nice tip, I wanted something nice for the saucepan's Xmas present and that fits the bill. Assuming the shippers do their job, it should be here in plenty of time.

Thank you Dave_Boo.

alt=biggrin.png pagespeed_url_hash=14303579 width=20 height=20>

You'll really enjoy it; make sure that you have a large SDXC card to go into it. There are issues with the proper format; but the latest firmware from fiio.net has a formatting utility built in. FWIW, even being a beta tester for the DAC firmware, I never had an empty card to update (I'm a rebel like that).

I won't enjoy it, but the lad will. On Amazon they had it paired with a 64Gb Class 10, which ought to do.

[astral]

The new Sony High Resolution Walkman

[Chicog]

The new Sony High Resolution Walkman

Ouch!

Sadly, there’s no word on a release date outside the country, where it costs 74,800 yen (about £480).

[vanillalatte]

Listen to peoples voice!So many recommended you Sandisk player;I 2nd them.It will cost you only 50 $!You will get audiophile

sound quality,if you have good earphones.What you save on player - you can invest in good earphones with exellent result.

If you do not believe us - go to portal "AnythingButIpod" and see what they have to say and show about this device.

If you do not like it - then go for Samsung smartphone - S3 or S4 or even better - Note2 or Note3 all of them have very good sound.50$ is not big deal - you can try,buy from Amazon - you should take latest model called Zip.The device is tiny - saves space in your wallet and in your pocket.

If you play music and audio on your mobile - you are in perpetual conflict with incoming calls/short battery life.

Nokia simple models have very good sound , 3.5 headphone socket,long battery life,try them.

To say that mp3 is audophile quality is stretching the meaning of the word audiophile a bit. Whilst mp3 is adequate for most of us and it is true that investing in better headphones will often improve the quality , it is not until you can listen to FLAC or lossless that quality equal to CD quality is achieved. That is why i am so interested in Dave Boo's post about the FiiO X3 , altho i would say with FLAC or Lossless file , not being compressed files , you you need the 64 GB card to hold a sufficient number of musical tracks.

I am not attacking the scan disk or even ipod or mobile phones but they still a distance from audiophile status and if they meet your expectations then that is great .

You are one those,who claim "golden ears"?Most of us - are with silver ears,just because of age.Waste of money,man!Do not kid yourself.

If you can tell diff between 320kb mp3 and Flac - I will buy you champaigne for coming NewYear.and I will congratulate you - you are one of the few.

anyway - Sansa plays Flac,however Flac is power hungry and battery life drops to 5hrs or less.1 cd in Flac is 300-500M;320kbmp3 - about 100M.

In mobile situation - out of your bedroom,with much of outside noise - playing Flac even through best IEMs is overkill.

In your bedroom or studio - it makes sense;but much better results with much smaller investment you will have using stationary equipment.

Will you walk around on streets with Sens800 around your head?

@upcountrysinclair SanDisk do not sell their players in Asia,they used to sell;to much competition from cheap Shenzen.

[xen]

Listen to peoples voice!So many recommended you Sandisk player;I 2nd them.It will cost you only 50 $!You will get audiophile

sound quality,if you have good earphones.What you save on player - you can invest in good earphones with exellent result.

If you do not believe us - go to portal "AnythingButIpod" and see what they have to say and show about this device.

If you do not like it - then go for Samsung smartphone - S3 or S4 or even better - Note2 or Note3 all of them have very good sound.50$ is not big deal - you can try,buy from Amazon - you should take latest model called Zip.The device is tiny - saves space in your wallet and in your pocket.

If you play music and audio on your mobile - you are in perpetual conflict with incoming calls/short battery life.

Nokia simple models have very good sound , 3.5 headphone socket,long battery life,try them.

To say that mp3 is audophile quality is stretching the meaning of the word audiophile a bit. Whilst mp3 is adequate for most of us and it is true that investing in better headphones will often improve the quality , it is not until you can listen to FLAC or lossless that quality equal to CD quality is achieved. That is why i am so interested in Dave Boo's post about the FiiO X3 , altho i would say with FLAC or Lossless file , not being compressed files , you you need the 64 GB card to hold a sufficient number of musical tracks.

I am not attacking the scan disk or even ipod or mobile phones but they still a distance from audiophile status and if they meet your expectations then that is great .

You are one those,who claim "golden ears"?Most of us - are with silver ears,just because of age.Waste of money,man!Do not kid yourself.

If you can tell diff between 320kb mp3 and Flac - I will buy you champaigne for coming NewYear.and I will congratulate you - you are one of the few.

anyway - Sansa plays Flac,however Flac is power hungry and battery life drops to 5hrs or less.1 cd in Flac is 300-500M;320kbmp3 - about 100M.

In mobile situation - out of your bedroom,with much of outside noise - playing Flac even through best IEMs is overkill.

In your bedroom or studio - it makes sense;but much better results with much smaller investment you will have using stationary equipment.

Will you walk around on streets with Sens800 around your head?

@upcountrysinclair SanDisk do not sell their players in Asia,they used to sell;to much competition from cheap Shenzen.

You are right about the environment you are in . I often listen to my music with headphones (CD and occasionally vinyl ) in isolation but that is not how many people listen to music with fairly basic equipment these days and i use an ipod for most of my everyday listening and in the car or in the office and that is acceptable but at 128 it is very easy to hear the sound bottom out or ceiling out. If you listen out of your computer then the soundcard is a huge limiting factor.

FLAC is indeed resource heavy . But like i said before , if the format meets your expectations then go for it.

[hawker9000]

It IS possible to replace the battery in your old iPod. Kits & illustrated instructions are available on the internet. It's not difficult. You might well end up with better endurance than you had out-of-the-box.

Edited December 14, 2013 by hawker9000

[MrWorldwide]

I try not to refer folk to Head-Fi - it can be the beginning of a long, slow slide to the condition known as audiophilia nervosa

[dave_boo]

I try not to refer folk to Head-Fi - it can be the beginning of a long, slow slide to the condition known as audiophilia nervosa

[MrWorldwide]

6 months at Head-Fi and you'll pass up free drinks on Cowboy for a dinner date with this lady. Lets just say your life will never the same

[xen]

They look like a pair of old Stax headphones ,probably the ultimate headphones that too much money can buy. neither of them are pretty but .....................

[dave_boo]

SRS-2050 MK-II with the Smyth Research Realiser AE sound processor.

[xen]

i stand corrected

[dave_boo]

i stand corrected

No need. The SRS-2050 are Stax. The funky thing on top is related to the surround sound processor from Smyth Research.