DAP with ReplayGain, flash memory and stellar sound...

[bemymonkey]

Hi everyone,

My good old MuvoTX is getting a bit long in tooth, and I'm looking for something to replace it. I've been relatively satisfied with it, but some things bothered me:

1. Battery life - OK, 12 hours for a AAA is fine, but I'd like something that can go 30+ hours on a charge...
2. Lots of background noise during track changes
3. No ReplayGain or normalization

So what I'm looking for is a pure audio DAP (it can be a PMP, but I don't really care about video - I've got a netbook for that stuff). It needs to have:

a) ReplayGain/Normalization - something that'll level out the volume and keep me from jumping to the volume control every 5 seconds
b) Flash memory - if I jump off a skyscraper with this thing, I want the music to keep playing till the doc in the morgue switches it off. 4GB and up...
c) Halfway decent sound quality - the MuvoTX was OK, but I'd like something that can be run as a line source on a decent PA if necessary
d) Preferably nice and small
e) Drag&Drop, or at least Winamp PMP support
f) Line in would be really nice
g) Sort by (tagged) artist/album/genre etc.

So, any suggestions? So far I've been looking at a Creative ZEN 16GB and the Cowon iAudio7 16GB, but they're both lacking. The ZEN doesn't play FLAC, and the battery life is a bit on the low side. Also no line iin and probably too big.

The iAudio on the other hand doesn't seem to be able to sort music via tags (is this true? only directories? can't really imagine them forgetting something like this) and I've been hearing that there's a lot of background noise (hiss).

Neither one of these players seems to support ReplayGain. I'd really _love_ this feature... or at least normalization.


So, any suggestions as to other players that would fit my criteria? Or is the iAudio7 the closest fit?

Thanks in advance.

-edit- I'd like to keep the price around or under 120 Euros - which is what the iAudio7 16GB costs - but if I can get _all_ the features I'm looking for, I could go up to 250 or so. So hit me with everything you've got!

 

[Calexico]

Why not normalize the files on your computer before transferring them?

 

[bemymonkey]

Too much work... unless you know a way to make Winamp normalize the files when transferring to the player (without writing to the source file on my server).

Maybe I should just MP3Gain everything - but is it really lossless? Or is there a chance that it'll cause clipping/artifacts etc.? Also, what do I use for my WMA and FLAC files?

I went ahead and bought the iAudio7 (I can get my money back for 14 days anyway), and I'm relatively satisfied, except for the fact that the volume keeps jumping from one file to the next

...

 

[Miklos]

Sony S639 - does all you need perfectly (but no line-in)

 

[humanafterall]

mp3gain does not transcode your files, so there is no loss in sq, it checks the loudness tag contained in the mp3 header, and modifies it, so the only thing you will notice changing is the loudness. It can also be undone. If you have a decent processor, just drag your music folder to it and perform the analysis then set your desired dB level (89-92) and apply it to all your tracks. Leave it overnight if you tons of tunes.

 

[iriverdude]

Iriver H120, Rockboxed with a compact flash mod?

 

[Andrew Jones]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bemymonkey /img/forum/go_quote.gif Maybe I should just MP3Gain everything - but is it really lossless? Or is there a chance that it'll cause clipping/artifacts etc.? Also, what do I use for my WMA and FLAC files?

Ideally you should have multiple copies of the files on separate disks (in case of a head crash), so you could MP3Gain one set, knowing you have an untainted backup. If consistent sound levelling is more important than any perceived SQ, just convert flac and any other formats to high bitrate MP3 so they can be MP3Gain'd. I keep my "archive" and laptop source in flac format (3 copies on separate disks) and have a copy of the music as MP3, just for using on portables