The Perfect DAP

[Luke]

...does not exist.

And that amazes me. How can that be? With all the technological advances, nobody wants to make the perfect player.

Besides the usual amenities, show me one player:

that will play lossless files

that has infra-red remote capability

Answer: None

I could make a long list of things I'd like, but it's amazing to me that I can list just two things that no player in the world has in one package.

[Peyotero]

Becouse there's a little "contradiction" in that subject.. You want the perfect DAP from an audiophile POV( or do you?), when most companies focus on the average consumer. The one who cares about baterry life and video playback more then SQ.

So how come there's no High-End DAP like there is in the CD/vinyl world? umm pfff dunno.. I think it's a metter of time till there will be another atempt, like Rio's..

All in all i think there's a simpler answer. Money. Maybe they companies don't think it worth to invest in an audiophile/complex product when you got so many rich ppl who don't care about this stuff. When you can attract the with worthless bells and whistles.
I belive it's a metter of time. The question is how long. It's still a fairly new ground.

[TheMarsVolta]

Originally Posted by Luke

...does not exist.

And that amazes me. How can that be? With all the technological advances, nobody wants to make the perfect player.

Besides the usual amenities, show me one player:

that will play lossless files

that has infra-red remote capability

Answer: None

I could make a long list of things I'd like, but it's amazing to me that I can list just two things that no player in the world has in one package.

The capabilities I'd like:

- good quality line out
- simple drag and drop USB interface
- FLAC / MP3 / Ogg / Wav / Wma
- gapless playback


Does this exist? Can the X5(L) do all this?

[Lil_JV]

Rockboxed G5?

[boodi]

Rockboxed Imodded Ipod 4g ?

bit of a tweak but propably worth

not cheap

[Mercuttio]

That seems to be YOUR perfect DAP, not mine.

And there's the problem.

[boodi]

Originally Posted by Mercuttio

That seems to be YOUR perfect DAP, not mine.

And there's the problem.

that is ?

[Mercuttio]

Originally Posted by boodi

that is ?

The problem being that no DAP is perfect for everyone, no matter what. I was actually referring to the first post, not yours.

I think the only way to get a perfect DAP is to build one yourself to your specifications.

[bangraman]

Originally Posted by Luke

...does not exist.

And that amazes me. How can that be? With all the technological advances, nobody wants to make the perfect player.

Besides the usual amenities, show me one player:

that will play lossless files

that has infra-red remote capability

Answer: None

I could make a long list of things I'd like, but it's amazing to me that I can list just two things that no player in the world has in one package.

iPod + universal dock.
You want wireless? That's available too.

[boodi]

bah ..

a "perfect" dap .. soundquality quite on par with regular cdp , customizable and relyable equalizator , possibly a very good headphone amp ( 1/8 jack ) instead of a good line out for an amp to add on later , good size ( 60gb ) on little measures and weight ( just lil bit less then g5 ) is fine ) , gapeless play and very fast / easy navigation , wireless possibility ( ala SqueezBox ) , optical out ..

can't imagine much on top of this ..
we're not that far ..

[Purgatos]

There's also no perfect CD player, no perfect turntable, no perfect headphones, no perfect speakers, no perfect amp and no perfect chair to sit in. How is it a surprise that there's no perfect DAP either?

[boodi]

Originally Posted by Purgatos

There's also no perfect CD player, no perfect turntable, no perfect headphones, no perfect speakers, no perfect amp and no perfect chair to sit in. How is it a surprise that there's no perfect DAP either?

lol , thare's some truth in this

[Peyotero]

pfft even if you ppl spend all the money there is in the universe on the best possible gear, you still gonna find "flaws" in it.

I think he just pharsed the question wrong. I think he was asking "why there is no audiophile quality dap yet?" Otherwise it's just silly
"why didn't i find the perfect woman yet?"

[xantus]

Originally Posted by boodi

bah ..

a "perfect" dap .. soundquality quite on par with regular cdp , customizable and relyable equalizator , possibly a very good headphone amp ( 1/8 jack ) instead of a good line out for an amp to add on later , good size ( 60gb ) on little measures and weight ( just lil bit less then g5 ) is fine ) , gapeless play and very fast / easy navigation , wireless possibility ( ala SqueezBox ) , optical out ..

can't imagine much on top of this ..
we're not that far ..

uh, its been around for a long time.
its called the iriver ihp-140 rockbox'd.

optical out? check
gapless? with every format that supports it. check
EQ? fully parametric. check
drag and drop? check
easy navigation? check
size? the 140 supports up to a 60 gig drive (comes 40g stock)

the hitch?? 140s are almost impossible to find.
the 120's are plentiful though and the only difference is drive size. (and 20g is already plenty for me)

[Tungsten]

True, by Far the ihp-140 delivers the goods. But it has a Hard Drive. And they won't / can't last a long time. I want the ihp-140 but with a solid state flash memory, of 2 or 3 Gigs, which must be removable and replaceable by the way. I've got PCDP's that are going on 17 years old, and they work perfectly. That longevity has become my standard now, I demand all players be reliable for a good 20 years (how's that for crazy unrealistic dogmatic stupidity?! haha)


Now for my dream DAP...

• My dream DAP would be very expensive indeed. Let me get that out of the way first of all ok?

• My dream DAP would be machined out of a single billet of high quality aluminum on a CNC machine. Stainless steel chassis milled from a solid single piece might be an option too, like it is for high end expensive White LED flashlights that cost $200 +. You know, those lights that will still work fine in 70 years plus...

• My dream DAP would run on 2 AA batteries. The AA standard size will continue to be available and in use for many decades to come.

• The Battery compartment will be a sealed space, so even if water or dust got in with the batteries, it couldn't reach the internals. And the batteries themselves will be sealed from the outside elements by a thread on O-ring gasket equipped cap, like the high end flashlights. The AA batteries will slide in, down a tube, end to end like on a AA flashlight.

• The miniature circuit board inside will be of exceptional quality - perhaps custom made in the USA to high standards - and then encapsulated in clear protective epoxy.

• Memory will be solid state embedded and a minimum of 3GB. As time passes and memory chips have higher capacity, my dream DAP would come in versions with progressively higher and higher capacities.

• The display will be a small rugged solid state LED display, perhaps an O led technology. Either way, it must be able to withstand extreme hot and cold, direct sunlight for months etc,. so that rules out LCD of any kind.

• 3.5mm headphone out jack will be custom machined stainless steel, sealed by nature of design, and waterproof.

• Line out will be a separate 3.5mm jack of identical design as headphone out.

• It will have dual separate Optical Digital in/out. The 3.5mm Optical mini's will be similar all steel, with a protective hard optical glass coated shield over the LED light source internally, deep inside the 3.5mm jack.

• Buttons on my dream DAC would be minimal and provide full functionality. Stop, Play, Pause, Forward, Back, Repeat, Mode, Enter, Folder, and several others as required and deemed necessary during design. The buttons themselves would be of obscenely rugged solid Steel engineering and be low profile and unbreakable.

• No switches will exist on my dream DAC

Quite simple really.



Before you all guffaw and laugh at me, remember that such expensive, obscenely rugged flashlights as this now exist too. And they continue to find a niche market amongst rich geeks who understand how cool long lasting and virtually indestructible stuff is! That in itself become the bragging rights see? Rarity due to price and narrow market. Rare for the rare.