[EmileM]

Hi everybody, I'm looking to buy a new device to keep all my most loved music tracks on.

i want the best sounding portable player that I can afford, that has either a lot of storage or memory expansion capabilities (hard drive swap out is fine).

hoping for recommendations. I'm thinking probably a dedicated unit would be great, but not opposed to phones.

it needs to be cheap, so i am thinking it will probably be an older device. I don't think I am the sort to carry around a DAC with me, just thought I'd mention that.

 

[HipHopScribe]

Do you have a budget in mind? Using headphones or IEMs?

 

[EmileM]

Thanks for your response, budget is a funny subject as I'm here in New Zealand, and the only things available tend to be popular items. But that said, the more obscure items do come up second hand, and when they do, they tend to go cheap, due to lack of competition. Ultimately, I'm looking to spend basically nothing, but for the ideal solution, I would spend up to $500.

do you by chance, have recommendations for cheap and expensive gear I could get second hand?

want to play through iems (shure535), hd25s, car stereo, home hifi, basically everywhere

 

[HipHopScribe]

One of LGs phone with the quad DAC might be a good option. Expandable storage, good sound quality, good touchscreen interface. I'd suggest the V10 or V20 since you can easily get expandable batteries for them and they should be pretty cheap.

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

With that budget...I'll get an Ibasso DX160 review here and here. And a 1TB microsdxc card.

 

[EmileM]

Thanks very much guys. I’ll check them out. If anybody has a recommendation for more Dedicated options (non cell phone) that would be great.

 

[Joaquin Dinero]

Fiio M6. You can usually get one for around $100 USD. Its got enough power for modern mobile friendly headphones, you can install some of the common streaming apps manually, and if you get upgrade-itis later you also can run it through any of those USB stick DAC/amps.

I'll second Mickey above with the iBasso DX160 if you're willing to spend the extra, it's well worth it. And still a good value relative to some of the ridiculous DAPs out there.

 

[EmileM]

Thanks for that!

 

[silent-circuit]

I agree that the above would be good options, but in my limited experience an LG phone (I have a G8X, but there's not a huge lot of difference in sounds quality between the various "quad DAC" models) is very close to a mid range DAP in quality, assuming fairly easy to drive headphones or IEMs. Could probably come in at half of budget (phone and micro-SD) assuming used phone prices aren't crazy there.