[Prognathous]

One of the most annoying things about my players (Cowon X7 and Sansa Clip Zip) is that every time I connect them to my PC to copy an album they index the entire disk, which takes way too long. My library is already properly structured using Artist\Album folder hierarchy, so I couldn't care less about the tags or the index. Is there any players that does away with this nonsense?

 

[Music Alchemist]

You can install the Rockbox custom firmware that lets you organize everything your way and transfer via drag and drop. However, I found that (at least on my old iPod classic) Rockbox applies its own EQ, even on the default setting, so it's not neutral like stock firmwares. Worse, this "default EQ" adds distortion. It sounded exciting at first, but after a few months, the degradation in sound quality became very noticeable. You could go into its EQ options and turn it back to neutral, but only if you know what you're doing.

 

[Prognathous]

Thanks, but I forgot to mention that I already tried Rockbox. I loved the features, but seriously disliked the user interface.
 
My Cowon X7 is dead, so in any case I'm in the market for a new player. I was curious if any of the players that seem to be popular here (iBasso, FiiO) offer an option to disable the database and access the file system directly.