Better deal than an iPod classic?

personally i think the ipod classic is the best, unless your gunna spend more on a hm-801 :P

LODs are in abundance, same with other accessories. 

Sound quality is emore than adequate for a portable device (especially if using lod as you stated)

+ they are the easiest to use in my opinion :D

I agree, as there's nothing wrong w/the iPod classic. 160gb of space, great battery life, good SQ, decently small form factor, the most numerous assortment of accessories and LOD''s, and the ability to use a high quality lossless codec. Really, all the arguments about what's best are just opinion after opinion. Base your decision on facts and logic - the classic is a great DAP, take full advantage of it.

The iPod Classic is also one of the few portables that does gapless playback out of the box without having to resort to Rockbox. 

 

Only ding against it is no support for FLAC.  I do MP3 anyways to squeeze more music on it so that's no biggie.

Well, the iPod nano and touch do gapless as well, and so does the Cowon S9 and J3, as well as all he Zunes. Only the Zunes have a few accessories, but nowhere near the same amount, and there's no dedicated LOD available for the Zunes - and there may never be.

 

As for FLAC, the OP can use ALAC, which results in no loss of SQ when converted to use on the iPod. Lossless to Lossless = Lossless.

For the size? I can't think of another portable. It's a great player if you need all of the space it gives. 

HiFiMan is less competent than a $30 player (Clip+ anyone), read the 'dfkt' post.

Classic is awesome, get a LOD (cheapest ones go for $4 on the Bay, that is, if you don't believe the cable mythin' hype), a good amp, then start playing with IEMs.

Then there's always the iMod, but instead of buying one from ALO (or sending your Video in) you can do it yourself and save anywhere between a boatload and a sh!tload of cash.

And who doesn't need the space? 

 

I have an 80 GB flavor and I rotate albums on and off it.  When I go on a trip I have to play guess the future and figure out if I'm going to be on an Allman Bros kick, King Crimson kick, jazz kick, classical kick, Grateful Dead kick, Jaco kick, or some other flavor.  I don't always guess right.  Bigger is better for my style.

 

But 160 GB of MP3 would likely be beyond what I would consider convenient to scroll through with the iPod Classic interface.  80 GB is already pushing the limit for scrolling conveniently through that style of interface.  The iPod Touch style interface with 160 GB of MP3 might work better, maybe.

I don't have the HFMan 801, but that is a silly statement. I do own a Clip and Fuze, and owned Clip+, and they are just average players at best, even with Rockbox (which does help). My iPod Touch and Cowon J3 both sound better than the Clips. Do you own 801? Many people love their 801s and some also have Clips as well. But that's not what the OP was after anyway (a $790 player).

Slaters: Read through all seven pages and come back.

If you look around you'll probably find you can get a iPod Video 5.5g 80gb and put a 240gb HDD in it for round about the same price as the newer 160gb iPod Classic.

For me living in Australia it was about $30 AU difference and I was getting a player that I can rockbox, a wolfon DAC chip plus an extra 80gb of space. That to me is pretty hard to top.

I'd certainly recomend you check them out. Also if you ever got rich you always have the option of iModing/DIYmodding.

Been there, done that ... a long time ago.  Doesn't change my post or your silly statement at all. I don't worship at the altar of dfkt. Sorry.

 

Back to topic. I almost pulled the trigger on an iPod Classic today, 160GB. 1daysale.com has a refurb for $179. One hour left.

Edited by slaters70 - 6/25/10 at 7:56pm

 

If I have to resort to typing anything in using the click wheel thingy I've already lost.  I have to admit that I have never actually used the search feature on the iPod Classic.  It's just too inconvenient to "type" on that thing.  That's one area where the classic style interface falls short.  Plus the iPod search looks for song titles.  If I want to search I'm after artist or album.

 

I find what I want to listen to either by scrolling through the artists list or scrolling through cover flow.  Or by going to a saved playlist.  Everything on my iPod is full albums.  Individual songs don't interest me.  I'm weird that way.