[Joe Bloggs]

Oh... I'm sorry to ask, but do you think I've made a wrong decision? Of course, I won't be using this player like a phone, I'll just be listening to music, with the WiFi turned off, of course.

It is not a short-lifed unit in the portable DAP scene by any means, I'm just being honest about it not being as long-lifed as the spec makes it out to be. With WiFi turned off and occasional interactions to change tracks etc. it should last well over 10 hours, I think.

Other DAPs with more power-hungry headphone outs do not even have a theoretical use case that stretches over 20 hours like the M300 does.

As long as you've already bought it you can of course test it out to see if the battery life is sufficient for your use case.

 

[DavidLai]

It is not a short-lifed unit in the portable DAP scene by any means, I'm just being honest about it not being as long-lifed as the spec makes it out to be. With WiFi turned off and occasional interactions to change tracks etc. it should last well over 10 hours, I think.

Other DAPs with more power-hungry headphone outs do not even have a theoretical use case that stretches over 20 hours like the M300 does.

As long as you've already bought it you can of course test it out to see if the battery life is sufficient for your use case.

OK great, thank you! I'm just thankful that TalkBack can work with the M300. Also, I'm glad it runs Android 13, which is not the latest Android, but not far either. It'll be my first Android device, so learning curve ahead.

 

[DavidLai]

Well, I just got the player, and I accidentally turned off TalkBack by mistake!!! And because I have yet to set up the accessibility shortcut, now the player is silent... I'll need to wait till when I can have someone sighted to take a look at the device to decide what I need to do. But for now, the player can no longer talk to me... And I was trying to set it all up... Major bummer there...

 

[InvisibleInk]

Well, I just got the player, and I accidentally turned off TalkBack by mistake!!! And because I have yet to set up the accessibility shortcut, now the player is silent... I'll need to wait till when I can have someone sighted to take a look at the device to decide what I need to do. But for now, the player can no longer talk to me... And I was trying to set it all up... Major bummer there...

Ooops

 

[DavidLai]

After asking someone to restore Talkback and customizing all accessibility settings, I disabled WiFi, plugged in my SD card and had a go at using the player. The over all operation was smooth. However, the double tapping speed when using TalkBack is slower than doing the same gesture on my mom's Android phone, or my iPhone. That said, I like the fact I can just lock the screen and control the player using the buttons, playing music on headphones. So far, so good. The only thing is, I've disabled the lock screen so that when I press the power button, the screen will fully wake, just like my old MP3 player, and then I can start choosing folders to listen to.

The default music app has a good interface for Talkback, and I'm liking the experience. Of course, if this was a faster chip and a more simple system, I'm sure battery life can be better improved.

 

[DavidLai]

Hi everyone.

I think since we've been having this conversation for a while on this thread, I'll just write my thoughts here.

I finally was able to take the player out for a spin today. So far, my feelings about it is mixed:

1. The buttons on the side, as well as the whole Android experience, is very responsive. Also, the default music app supports gapless playback, and this is great for my FLAC music library.

2. When I have folders as the main navigation option, I can press the "next" button and it progresses automatically to the files in the next folder when finishing the current folder, but when I tap the "previous" button, it can't cycle back to the files in the previous folder. It's a very strange situation, and I wonder if a firmware update would add this feature. That way, I don't have to unlock the device to select folders to play.

3. The sound is a bit below my expectations. Testing against my Babyface Pro FS and the Walkman player I still have, I find the soundstage on the M300 is limited when playing works for large orchestra. I tested using the soundtrack to "Hook" by John Williams. That's the main thing I'm concerned about. Otherwise, the sound is characterful, having good lows and good highs. The less a player colors the sound, the better for me. I tested using the wired connection with my Momentum 4s.

4. Battery: from 8:30 AM till now, I've played music for half the time, and let the player be idle for the rest of the time. Wifi is turned off, screen brightness is low, and I hid the screen with TalkBack's "hide screen" feature. I'm blind, so no need for the screen! I began my day with a full charge, and now battery's still 94%. Now that's not a bad start, in my opinion!

Wrap up: though I still prefer the technological situation of at least a decade ago, I think I've found a player to carry on the Sony when it does fail. How will the battery continue to carry on remains to be seen.

Question: when I've finished using the player for the day, usually I'd power it off. However, I understand on modern phone systems like Android, it's better to keep the device on standby. Is this correct? If there are any other tips of extending the battery life, please let me know. Thank you!

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Question: when I've finished using the player for the day, usually I'd power it off. However, I understand on modern phone systems like Android, it's better to keep the device on standby. Is this correct? If there are any other tips of extending the battery life, please let me know. Thank you!

It's only a consideration if the battery charge % may be limited by the OS, something that cannot happen while the device is off. However the M300 does not have this facility in the OS either.

The battery lasts best when not charged fully and not discharged fully. For the latter, simply turn off the device manually before charge reaches 0. For the former, you may consider getting something like AccuBattery to remind you when it may be best to disconnect the charger and turn the device off.

 

[DavidLai]

Hi all. So I've been testing the player now and, despite the fact it has limited detailed sound stage compared with my Sony, I like the neutral sound the player has, and I think I can continue using it. Probably in the process of time, I can get used to it more?

Meanwhile, I need help shopping for micro SD cards. The player calims to support up to 2 TB of expanded storage, but is it compatible? Should I just go with a 256-GB card and manage my library all in the card? Any thoughts are appreciated. Thank you!

 

[InvisibleInk]

Hi all. So I've been testing the player now and, despite the fact it has limited detailed sound stage compared with my Sony, I like the neutral sound the player has, and I think I can continue using it. Probably in the process of time, I can get used to it more?

Meanwhile, I need help shopping for micro SD cards. The player calims to support up to 2 TB of expanded storage, but is it compatible? Should I just go with a 256-GB card and manage my library all in the card? Any thoughts are appreciated. Thank you!

Depends on the size of your library and how you project it to grow over time. All my music fits comfortably in a 512 gigabyte card with room to spare. I do make sure that the speed rating is at least U3. I think that a good deal is the Silicon Power that I bought on Amazon, which now resides in my Sony NW-ZX300A Walkman.

 

[DavidLai]

Depends on the size of your library and how you project it to grow over time. All my music fits comfortably in a 512 gigabyte card with room to spare. I do make sure that the speed rating is at least U3. I think that a good deal is the Silicon Power that I bought on Amazon, which now resides in my Sony NW-ZX300A Walkman.

So what I'll do is, I copy my FLAC files from my external hard drive into the device / card. So there's bound to be give and take. But that said, I know if I buy a bigger card, the less likely I'd need to change out a bunch of files, and I also can manage my in-device library through major sectional folders like classical, jazz, spoken word, ETC. That said, do you suggest go big with 1 TB or go safe with 256 GB (which some reviews I read they've tested with 256 GB cards)?

 

[InvisibleInk]

So what I'll do is, I copy my FLAC files from my external hard drive into the device / card. So there's bound to be give and take. But that said, I know if I buy a bigger card, the less likely I'd need to change out a bunch of files, and I also can manage my in-device library through major sectional folders like classical, jazz, spoken word, ETC. That said, do you suggest go big with 1 TB or go safe with 256 GB (which some reviews I read they've tested with 256 GB cards)?

I really don't know about 1 terabyte at this stage of my journey. Maybe visit the M300 thread here and ask the guys there if any are using cards that big?

 

[DavidLai]

I really don't know about 1 terabyte at this stage of my journey. Maybe visit the M300 thread here and ask the guys there if any are using cards that big?

OK, thank you! Yeah, streaming is not for me at this stage. Rips from my CDs are mainly what I have, in addition to some rare hi-res downloads. I'll ask the people there about cards. Thanks!

 

[XTF1]

I actually have a 1.5TB Sandisk mSD on my M300, and can confirm it works fine—and no, I am not even close to have 1/3 filled with my library, but I got it for $99 !!!

I also have a TeamGroup 1TB mSD ($49), and I think it is comparable to the Silicon Power’s: I got one write error when copying my entire library directly on my PC—so I had to copy it in two passes—but it works absolutely fine on my Tempotec V6, and I haven’t had any problem adding files. Playing music tracks is not very demanding compared to playing videos, so even a slow mSD is fine…

There are many super-cheap mSD around. Some don’t have the advertised capacity, others are prone to multiple r/w errors (or both). Those I would avoid… and stick to entry-level offers from known brands: SanDisk, Samsung, PNY, Lexar, Silicon Power, TeamGroup, Amazon Basics… and watch for sales!

 

[DavidLai]

I actually have a 1.5TB Sandisk mSD on my M300, and can confirm it works fine—and no, I am not even close to have 1/3 filled with my library, but I got it for $99 !!!

I also have a TeamGroup 1TB mSD ($49), and I think it is comparable to the Silicon Power’s: I got one write error when copying my entire library directly on my PC—so I had to copy it in two passes—but it works absolutely fine on my Tempotec V6, and I haven’t had any problem adding files. Playing music tracks is not very demanding compared to playing videos, so even a slow mSD is fine…

There are many super-cheap mSD around. Some don’t have the advertised capacity, others are prone to multiple r/w errors (or both). Those I would avoid… and stick to entry-level offers from known brands: SanDisk, Samsung, PNY, Lexar, Silicon Power, TeamGroup, Amazon Basics… and watch for sales!

Wonderful! Then in that case, I'll buy a 1.5TB card. I'll search for a well-known brand so I won't get major read and write errors. Thank you for testing!

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Wonderful! Then in that case, I'll buy a 1.5TB card. I'll search for a well-known brand so I won't get major read and write errors. Thank you for testing!

You can use an app like this to check a card for authenticity upon first receiving it: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=alan.sdcardsize.free