[TheDreamthinker]

   
If you're not a part of the Apple ecosystem why get into it just for larger capacity? And through that expensive method, instead of for example an iPod Touch with a 500gb Seagate wireless drive?* The Fiio X5 can take two microSD cards, and AFAIK, it can do two 128gb cards, but there's a certain limit on the number of tracks - which I doubt would be an issue if you loaded it with lossless anyway. If you're using 320kbps, but still need that much storage, then just get used to swapping out microSD cards - back in my day (you know you're getting old when you start making a point with that) I had five MiniDiscs in my schoolbag, plus one in the player, and each of them has only one album.

Note that even some iPods slow down on a full drive with lots of smaller files, especially if it's much bigger than what that version came out with. 
 
 
*During the 4g and 5g iPod era, some people just bought a second or even a third iPod if they were using ALAC, then fill one up with one general genre - like jazz in one, classical in another, rock in the third

 
As I am currently already using an iPod (and therefore iTunes), the ecosystem won't be a big problem...
 
I have experienced SD cards to be unreliable on several occasions...and 128GB cards have not yet reached a price point where buying 4 is really an option.
 
I have already looked into the Seagate Wireless Drive, quite compelling yet slightly unpractical and expensive. I also already killed 3 HDs by carrying them around to much - life of a frequent traveler. 

 
Thanks for the input...

 

[Claritas]

I could probably live with the ZX1. I just feel that $750-800 is a lot for 128GB, low-res screen, and no guarantee of an Android update.

There's that Geek Wave thing, if you're willing to wait till next Christmas, but it has the usual drawbacks too.

I'm thinking either alv's SSD iMod suggestion or compromising on something (memory or price) is the best bet.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I remember the MiniDisc days... that was shortlived for me before I jumped on a Creative Zen MP3 player.

But what about.... a PCDP + backpack weighed down by CDs. lol (I was too anal/meticulous about my CDs that I had to carry the cases with me.) Those were the days.

 
I used a gym bag as a school bag back in high school for books and notes (and a second, bigger gym bag for phys ed stuff like our athletic uniforms and shoes, plus my foil with the grip sticking out), and before I got the MiniDisc I'd have about three CDs in there with a Sony DIscman and headphone. By 2000 (junior year) I had the MiniDisc, and so did a few others, and we were all like, "ooooh look we're not scratching  up our CDs anymore." One of my classmates even had the MD player that came with a full-size CD+MD deck, and it sat right below his Dad's Meridian CDP, flanked by Muse Model 100's for their Dynaudio speakers. SWEET.
 

  An Astell&Kern is pretty much ridiculously priced.
An I have a lot of (personal) experience with production methods in the PRC. And I already had problems with 'smaller' Chinese companies. Sorry, Fiio, Hidizs.....
 
...so it seemed Apple is the most reliable option...

 

I'd suppose you already have a powerbank for a smartphone anyway, so get an iPod Touch (assuming you don't have an iPhone) and a wireless drive. Seagate has one with 500gb capacity, and you can use that on the go as it has its own battery. There is no other way to beat that kind of storage. If that HDD is too bulky because you don't perennially walk around with a bag (like for a laptop or tablet, camera, etc), Kingston has solid state wireless USB drives with 64gb memory, then you can set-up an NAS at home.
 

 
I have already looked into the Seagate Wireless Drive, quite compelling yet slightly unpractical and expensive. I also already killed 3 HDs by carrying them around to much - life of a frequent traveler. 

 
That's kind of weird - technically, you're carrying around an HDD too much inside the iPod 

 

[TheDreamthinker]

 
I'd suppose you already have a powerbank for a smartphone anyway, so get an iPod Touch (assuming you don't have an iPhone) and a wireless drive. Seagate has one with 500gb capacity, and you can use that on the go as it has its own battery. There is no other way to beat that kind of storage. If that HDD is too bulky because you don't perennially walk around with a bag (like for a laptop or tablet, camera, etc), Kingston has solid state wireless USB drives with 64gb memory, then you can set-up an NAS at home.
---
That's kind of weird - technically, you're carrying around an HDD too much inside the iPod 

 
I currently own a powerbank, as i carry a spare-battery around when needed (or a charger).
 
By NAS, do you mean setting up a home server for world wide access?
----
Really weird...can't really explain it....Iomega, Seagate...and now working with a Western Digital (2TB)..
 
P.S: Just before going back off topic, has anybody tried the MappleSyrup iPod?

 

[Claritas]

Does the Seagate option mean that one would have to carry around a second device? If so, I'd go for the SSD mod if I could figure out how . . .

 

[ProtegeManiac]

 
By NAS, do you mean setting up a home server for world wide access?
----
Really weird...can't really explain it....Iomega, Seagate...and now working with a Western Digital (2TB)..

 
Not necessarily off-site access, that's more like a Cloud server. NAS more specifically refers to having a single storage device that any computer (generally speaking) can access within your home, although of course if you set it up and leave it plus your modem and router running 24/7, you can then use it as a Cloud server that you can access from anywhere in the world. It's hot over here and I can come close to cooking an egg on my modem if it's left 24/7, so I don't do it. Well, it's partly because our ISP provides really cheap modems, but for my own use a 64gb microSD card on the go is enough. I don't even use an NAS at home (although I've set up one for my brother) because I'm fine with taking the battery out of my phone, I might as well move music in and out of the microSD card while I'm at it.
 
Are you using something like this? http://www.amazon.com/Synology-DiskStation-Diskless-Attached-DS213j/dp/B00CRB9CK4/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1404267349&sr=1-1&keywords=synology
Then you put in one or two of these in it? http://www.amazon.com/WD-Red-NAS-Hard-Drive/dp/B008JJLW4M
 
If you get the wireless Seagate drive no need to set it up in your home network. You just need to install the Seagate app on each device and you're good to go. I think it can even link to more than one device at a time, just like an NAS.
 
http://www.seagate.com/external-hard-drives/portable-hard-drives/wireless/wireless-plus/
 
 

 
P.S: Just before going back off topic, has anybody tried the MappleSyrup iPod?

 
Well technically if it came out of discussing pros and cons and as an alternative to the original question it shouldn't be considered off-topic, although of course when we get down to the nitty gritty of it, there are existing threads/guides on how to set these things up.
 

Does the Seagate option mean that one would have to carry around a second device? If so, I'd go for the SSD mod if I could figure out how . . .

 
Yep, but there's no way to get 500gb out of that save for the 2.5in 512GB Intel SSD, and that's gonna cost a lot of cash (not sure if there are any 1.8in SSD's with even half the capacity of that). The thing is though that hard drive isn't really all that big, but they can't make them smaller because they were thinking people might want to load video (movies, shows, etc) on them and those with tablets can use them for that. Kingston has the smaller wireless thumb drives though.
 
http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Wi-Drive-Pocket-sized-Portable-WID/dp/B00822GIH2/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1404267888&sr=1-2&keywords=kingston+wireless+drive

   
I currently own a powerbank, as i carry a spare-battery around when needed (or a charger).
 
By NAS, do you mean setting up a home server for world wide access?
----
Really weird...can't really explain it....Iomega, Seagate...and now working with a Western Digital (2TB)..
 
P.S: Just before going back off topic, has anybody tried the MappleSyrup iPod?

 

[TheDreamthinker]

   
Not necessarily off-site access, that's more like a Cloud server. NAS more specifically refers to having a single storage device that any computer (generally speaking) can access within your home, although of course if you set it up and leave it plus your modem and router running 24/7, you can then use it as a Cloud server that you can access from anywhere in the world. It's hot over here and I can come close to cooking an egg on my modem if it's left 24/7, so I don't do it. Well, it's partly because our ISP provides really cheap modems, but for my own use a 64gb microSD card on the go is enough. I don't even use an NAS at home (although I've set up one for my brother) because I'm fine with taking the battery out of my phone, I might as well move music in and out of the microSD card while I'm at it.
 
Are you using something like this? http://www.amazon.com/Synology-DiskStation-Diskless-Attached-DS213j/dp/B00CRB9CK4/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1404267349&sr=1-1&keywords=synology
Then you put in one or two of these in it? http://www.amazon.com/WD-Red-NAS-Hard-Drive/dp/B008JJLW4M
 
If you get the wireless Seagate drive no need to set it up in your home network. You just need to install the Seagate app on each device and you're good to go. I think it can even link to more than one device at a time, just like an NAS.
 
http://www.seagate.com/external-hard-drives/portable-hard-drives/wireless/wireless-plus/
----
Well technically if it came out of discussing pros and cons and as an alternative to the original question it shouldn't be considered off-topic, although of course when we get down to the nitty gritty of it, there are existing threads/guides on how to set these things up.

 
The Seagate Drive for $200 is quite compelling, taking into account the price for a regular iPod Classic 7G.
But with a iTouch, that does stack up...those old iTouch from a few years ago should have dropped in price by now...
 
Thanks.
 
The Kingston 64GB is quite expensive when compared to the Seagate.
 
They should release a iPod Classic with Wireless

 

[ProtegeManiac]

 
The Kingston 64GB is quite expensive when compared to the Seagate.

 
The whole idea I think was that it can fit in your pocket easily, probably in the same pocket where your iPhone or iTouch is (you just need to put it in properly so it only scratches the case, not the screen). But of course unless you have an 8gb Touch, if you're not out long enough to have a powerbank with you (for which you might have a bag anyway where the Seagate will be also), you can make do with the 32gb Touch and leave the Seagate at home.
 

 
They should release a iPod Classic with Wireless
 

 
It won't make sense since the iPod Touch has that feature, and Seagate, Patriot, etc support it now with portable wireless drives on top of NAS and streaming.

 

[TheDreamthinker]

 
The whole idea I think was that it can fit in your pocket easily, probably in the same pocket where your iPhone or iTouch is (you just need to put it in properly so it only scratches the case, not the screen). But of course unless you have an 8gb Touch, if you're not out long enough to have a powerbank with you (for which you might have a bag anyway where the Seagate will be also), you can make do with the 32gb Touch and leave the Seagate at home.
 
----
 
It won't make sense since the iPod Touch has that feature, and Seagate, Patriot, etc support it now with portable wireless drives on top of NAS and streaming.

 
Absolutely...just as a matter of interest, which option do you personally use?
 
Sorry I phrased that incorrectly...i meant to say that the it would be interesting to see.
But the reality is that i hardly see any Classics out there and even the number of iTouches is diminishing...

 

[ProtegeManiac]

 
Absolutely...just as a matter of interest, which option do you personally use?

 
Not using them myself but I've set up an NAS at my brother's apartment, and then I also recommended that Seagate to my cousins, no complaint thus far. At home I have a 64gb microSD card on my phone  and using that as a music server on a dock with a USB audio adapter, and since I take out the batteries to charge, if I need to switch music I'll do it then. My iPad is used mainly on the go nowadays because of that, for example when I'm in the library all day, because the S3's amp just sucks.
 
If I were to set up the iPad though and it would be either of these instead of an Airport Express, I'm partial to the wireless portable drive. You just need to download the Seagate media app and as far as I've seen it's more straightforward that way. An NAS can be trickier to set up at first, and while you can also get a lot out of it if you set it up right (like making documents accessible to every computer and printer in the house), the thing is it usually will cost a lot more. AFAIK you can't get just any 3.5in back-up drive - you either use an NAS server then buy HDDs to put in them or you get a back up drive that has its own LAN connection. However if you already have one at home and most of your listening will be there too, why not try setting that up for this first before spending on the Seagate wireless drive?
 

 
But the reality is that i hardly see any Classics out there and even the number of iTouches is diminishing...

 
That's because you can get a subsidized iPhone anyway (well, depends on which area and carrier), bringing it down near the price of a Touch with the same capacity, and then there's UPnP/DLNA and Spotify. For those who keep their music in local storage, there's microSDHC/SDXC.

 

[TheDreamthinker]

Just as a question.
 
I don't believe so, but does streaming reduce SQ?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

  Just as a question.
 
I don't believe so, but does streaming reduce SQ?

 
If the streaming protocol does not compress/downsample the data, no it won't.