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Looking to buy a portable MP3/FLAC player

post #1 of 12
6/19/09 at 3:35pm
Thread Starter 
I'm looking to buy a very good or the best portable music player that supports FLAC and MP3. I was thinking of buying the new Sony Walkman X when it is released but it doesn't support FLAC. Is there anything I can do to make it play FLAC files if I buy it? I've heard about this thing rockbox but i don't really know much about it. Any suggestions?
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post #2 of 12
6/19/09 at 3:45pm
AFAIK you cannot 'Rockbox' the X, or for that matter any Sony player.

I had an X but sold it. Far too buggy. Unresponsive screen etc.

The only lossless format is supports is WAV (PCM). No FLAC.

I too am looking for the same thing, a portable Flac player with a good amount of storage.

Although im not sure what i will be buying, i can tell you what i won't be...Cowon. Poor build quality, poor UI, too much fiddling with the EQ to get a decent sound from them.

Im looking forward to the Zune HD, Samsung P3. The Samsung supports FLAC. The HD im sure will support WMA Lossless.
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post #3 of 12
6/19/09 at 5:39pm
Cowon/iRiver players they have FLAC support, ive used the Cowon D2+, after a while the SQ on that player overshadows the deficiencies in the UI, and it is a pretty small player, except its very bulky but fun to use after a while :P

check rockbox website, i dont think they support Sony players.
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post #4 of 12
6/19/09 at 7:04pm
Thread Starter 
I really wanted that Sony Walkman X but since there's been bad things said about it then I might not get it after all. I think I'm going to wait until the Zune HD or the new iPod Touch 3G come out since they're suppose to be released this year. I might lean more towards the Zune HD but might get both depending on the devices.
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post #5 of 12
6/19/09 at 7:12pm
Rockbox is open source firmware. It's usually a little buggy on players the port has just been released, but over time it becomes better and better. I've installed Rockbox onto my H140 and it's brill.

Notable features I like are (over stock firmware) flac, replaygain, gapless, self build database, better use of the screen, smaller fonts. Stock isn't bad because it supports ogg and drag and drop.
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post #6 of 12
6/19/09 at 8:24pm
I was also obsessive about the need to have FLAC support for any player I would consider buying, until I started ripping tracks to mp3 (320K vbr) and FLAC and playing them side by side : I absolutely couldnt tell the difference on any of my 'phones. FLAC is great for archiving, but LAME MP3s are fine for most portable applications. Its great being able to fit more tunes on a player without wondering whether it would have sounded better using FLAC.

(I listen to a lot of hard rock - classical fans may well be able to tell the difference - please experiment for yourself).

Variable bitrate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

LAME - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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post #7 of 12
6/19/09 at 10:36pm
No, I can't. I thought I could until a blind test
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post #8 of 12
6/19/09 at 11:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilney View Post
No, I can't. I thought I could until a blind test
Thanks ilney -I expect that some golden-eared types *can* tell the difference, but its quite small for most normal mortals.
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post #9 of 12
6/19/09 at 11:26pm
I find the quality of a recording is much more important than what format it is. Thus, the raw SQ of a DAP is the most important factor. Making FLAC support a must narrows down my options too much. Not worth it.

Gapless, on the contrary....
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post #10 of 12
6/19/09 at 11:34pm
Samsung P3 and Cowon
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post #11 of 12
6/21/09 at 9:28pm
meizu m6
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post #12 of 12
12/25/10 at 6:47pm

 

A great site to compare the latest portable flac players.  Anything from 8GB to 500 GB.  http://www.squidoo.com/portable-flac-player-comparisons

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