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Danneq, you have many players, which do you use most often? Which is your favorite?
If I would rank the 5 that I use daily now (my iRiver H120 excluded since it is still back in Sweden), it would be in this order:
Kenwood HD20GA7
Sansa View (with a Fiio E5 for some extra bass)
Creative Zen Touch
Cowon S9
Creative Zen Vision:M (with a Fiio E5 for some extra bass)
It depends on which headphones I pair them with, but overall this is how I rank how I like the sound. The View is paired with a Fiio E5 and they go very well together. The Cowon S9 has got an amazing screen and a very good sound, but the BBE+ EQ does something with the overall sound that I am not too crazy about. It puts a slightly artificial veil over the music, or at least to my ears. I have tweaked the EQ so that it is acceptable.
As you can see, most of the DAP:s are old, but I like the charm of old bricks. They were just made for playing music and newer players are not always better at that.
I have a lot of music so I have arranged it by genres on the different DAP:s. The Kenwood and View has got progressive metal, the ZVM and Zen Touch has got other metal and the S9 has got progressive rock and other non metal music. I have tested the DAP:s with my different headphones and then picked the pairings which sound the best (written down neatly in a small notebook). When I go out, I pick DAP based on what sort of music I feel like listening to. It does sound a bit OCD, but I think that many people with special interests like this one might at least partly fit the OCD description...
I would want to collect more DAP:s, but I do not want players that just sit and collect dust. So I will probably only buy one more.
I've got my eyes set on the Victor XA HD 500 which is an old Japanese DAP released in 2005. I like the fact that it comes with a charging cradle with a line out and also a wireless remote.