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All I have ever used for portable audio players are iPods. I have an iPod touch(32gb) and an iPod classic(160gb) and I use various IEM's(mainly J3-Buds) and Audio Technica M-50 Studio Headphones with these players. I want to move on to less restricted and higher quality players.
I'm looking for:

1. Highish capacity(At least 30gbs but over 100gbs would be great)
2. Lossless capability(optional)
3. Reasonably affordable(iPod price range)
4. Does not require an amp(at least equivalent to an iPod)
5. Touchscreen/No touchscreen doesn't matter
6. Adequate computer integration software
7. not real bulky but quality is more important than design
8. Supports lossless encodongs(or other high quality formats besides MP3 and AAC)

 
I'm not too picky and I don't use headphones that need to be heavily driven but I want it to have nice quality sound and support high quality audio formats.

 

[RedBlade]

Maybe the Cowon X7?



Great Sound Quality with JetEffects 3.0 & BBE+
Up to 160GB HDD
103hrs Music/10h Video playback time
Support A ton of audio and video files
No Software required, support Drag & Drop

But maybe a little Pricey at this moment (383$ CAD for 120GB on Ebay )

I Have the Cowon S9 and it can Drive easily my Audio Technica ATH-M50s without any amp, i'm pretty sure the X7 can handle it as well...

-> Product Page <-

 

[tds101]

+1 - Cowon X7.

 

[Spyro]

No player will be better than the Ipod "classic" so no reason to side-grade.

 

[shigzeo]

If you don't mind losing gapless support, the Cowon is a good player. It sounds decent and does pretty much what you want. Otherwise, there are very few options that fit the bill. You won't be getting higher quality output, though, unless you use EQ and effects. The iPod classic isn't trumped by anything on the market. The Cowon is quite a nice player though.

 

[rawrster]

Cowon players are gapless no? or at least I don't hear any noticeable gap in between songs..

 

[shigzeo]

With songs that have no gaps, there are noticeable gaps. Not sure what the hold up is. Oh well.

 

[RedBlade]

My S9 is definitely gapless. They added the Support in a Firmware update...

I'm not sure if the X7 is Gapless though, but it is still newer than the S9 and J3, wich both support it, logically it will, i think.

 

[shigzeo]

I guess the S9 I use is on an older firmware. I'll have to check for newest firmware as gapless is HUGE for me. Personally, however, I won't use another device that is massive (like iPod touch) and not capable of running any of my apps. Well, the kindle, I'd use, but that is for a completely different task.

 

[ExpatinJapan]

Which version ipod touch do you have? the apps EQu and equalizer are supported to different degrees
depending on what version pod you have, and they really open up the touch as a player. could be worth trying them first before spending a few hundred $$.
 
My friend prefers his cowon x7 more, cowon j3 is also popular on head-fi.
 

 

[Kerberos]

Cowon J3, S9 and I9 are gapless, so the newer cowons should be gapless too.

 

[Redmetal1897]

Quote:

If you don't mind losing gapless support, the Cowon is a good player. It sounds decent and does pretty much what you want. Otherwise, there are very few options that fit the bill. You won't be getting higher quality output, though, unless you use EQ and effects. The iPod classic isn't trumped by anything on the market. The Cowon is quite a nice player though.

My J3 is most definitely gapless