The DragonFly sounded better to my ears. I sold my X3 and kept the DragonFly 1.2. The X3 can play files up to 24bit 192kHz. The DragonFly 'only' up to 96kHz. Since the color of the display is green on your DragonFly, you use it for 16bit files. If it doesn't drain your battery to quickly and you...

  The Sony NWZ-F886 has even less internal memory but I don't think that is necessary for Spotify on the go. I have one, like it very much as DAP and portable phone free alrounder but didn't use Spotify on it yet. The only case I use a streaming service is to check out and compare...

  According to the CalyxMmanual_098.pdf, p. 6: As for the disc:     Edit: There is a CalyxM Unboxing Video on YouTube.

Your M has most probably been used already. Mine came with no files on its internal memory. The demo files were on a DVD that contains an album named Audiophile Jazz Prologue III. The hi-res AIFF files on this disc were not on the unit.

If you don't plan to use the recording features, I'd rather check out the Sansa Clip+ and downconvert hi-res files to 16/44.1 or the new Sony A10 series, which, according to the specs, is excellent. Both can read MicroSD cards and have good sound quality. ... and no iTunes on both cases.

I was referring to the sound quality compared to a similiar priced player like the FiiO X3. Noise is not a problem. The Roland R-05 is a PCM recorder for musicians. I would consider that one and the Sony PCM-M10 which I don't own but considered several times as 2nd portable recorder. A recorder...

The Tera's price seems to have ups and downs every once a while. At the current price, I'm not interrested, even tough it's assembled by hand in Germany. My current DAP is the Calyx M and I'm very happy with its sound quality. For outside, I can live with the sound quality of the NWZ-F886, so...

I sometimes use a Roland R-05 as portable player. The headphone out probably isn't very good and there is a lack of functionality for a playback device. The R-05 doesn't remember the last track played and there is only folder browsing. To change the folder, I have to stop the music. On the...

As I said, I used a Grado SR225 for testing and I use this headphone for listening at home. The M has three impedance matching settings: 7-16 ohms, 16-24 ohms, and 24- ohms. The P1 has two different settings: earphone and headphone. I didn't notice anything headphone settings on the AK100II.  ...

... perhaps I was unfair to not use the P1's JetEffect. You could probably make this player sound the way you want for each and every track but I don't want to fiddle with EQ.

I tried to volume match the P1, the AK100II and the Calyx M while listening, to compare them on similar volume. Then I changed the volume on each player in both directions. The Calyx M had to my ears the fullest sound at all volumes. It doesn't only get louder when you turn the volume up, it...

The UI is smooth enough for me. I can live with the fact that in Library view, the cover thumbnails are not all cached in memory and that some albums show the default Calyx logo while scrolling and loading. The Jukebox view is certainly nice to make your own playlists but I don't use that...

I tested these three because of their similar price and bought the Calyx M for it's sound. The P1 has more features like EQ and AB-repeat and the AK100II has WiFi. The headphone I used for testing/listening is a Grado SR-225i.

No one here with a player that shows a newer production date on the back than May, 2014?

What files are you listening to? I'm only listening to flac files and never had such issue with firmware 3.0.

I still own a F886. The UI is really good and the internal memory very fast. It's a pleasure to transfer files. 128gb would be enough for me but I tend to delete files and not to keep every album.

For the gym, try to find an X1 for a good price ;)

The ZX1 would have Wifi but has no MicroSD slot.

You will lose at least the AK240's streaming capabilities and the volume wheel. If I'd buy the P1 in your place, I'd sell the AK240 and the X5. Why keep the X5 if you don't like it's UI and want the sound of the HUGO?

... and if you don't want to spend that much for a DAP, check out the Sony NWZ-A10.

I have an X3 an bought a F886 later and was shocked how good the demo Mp3 320 on the F886 sounded. For some time I converted my flac files to mp3 (v0) to save storage place and battery life on the Sony. I never heard the a10 but would not to quickly favor for the X3 with the exeption of it's...

You could check out the Cowon Plenue P1. It comes with 128gb built-in memory, is expandable, has Cowons famous equalizer if you want a specific sound for your music, and plays all kinds of formats from mp3s to DSD. The battery life for all these player is in the +- 10 hours range tough. My...

Judging from the sound quality of my Sony NWZ-FF886, the new small Sony with MicroSD slot should already occupy this place (if it accepts a 128gb card which I don't know).