[crappyjones123]

ive always used my computer as a source for my music. had an ipod (dont know which gen) for a week but sold it to fund another purchase. right now im subjecting my ears to a sansa e240r mp3 player but the 2 gb limit is annoying the hell out of me.

need a suggestion for another portable player. following requirements can be met loosely but please dont suggest that is far removed from the following.

1. < $250 (cost of an ipod), inclusive of all/if any mods.

2. will NOT be using an amp. most my clothes barely hold the ipod as is so an amp is just too cumbersome.

3. will be playing mostly flac so native playability would be a plus. i currently have a rockboxed sansa e240r so i dont mind changing the firmware if needed. im guessing this is a stupid question but i will ask anyways just to be certain. does changing the firmware void the warranty? also, does changing the firmware reduce the life of the player itself. ive started noticing a lot of crashes and freezes with my sansa player nowadays. even at college i heard a lot about ipods dying because of linux firmware. is that a myth, as in the natural life of the player is over or is the change in firmware at fault?

4. needs to be ATLEAST 30 gb. flac and wav files take a lot of space. i hate having just 2 cds on my sansa player (2gb) so at least 30gb is a must. or something respectable. i can live with maybe 20gb but nothing less. ideally something ~80gb or around that would be nice.

5. the player shall serve as a source as a portable unit and my main source at home (for the time being). will be using it with either the sennheiser hd 595 or hd 650. later on, the player will be used solely as a portable unit so no need to scoff at the temporary use as a home source.

6. goes without saying sound quality should be good. pardon my ignorance here but ive never used a portable player much before (the sansa was a gift) so i dont know which ones are considered to be the forerunners.

7. the purchase will be made around mid august(unless i find a nice discount before then) so please include any players you guys know will be coming out in the future.

thanks in advance.

 

[HipHopScribe]

The Cowon D2 seems to suit your needs pretty well, capacity is short of your ideal, right now you could get an 8GB D2 and a 16GB SDHC card for 24GB total for under $250. There is a 16GB D2 coming out apparently, unsure of it's pricing, but with the drop in cost of SDHC cards, as long as it's reasonably priced a 16GB + 16GB SDHC card might not be too far off your desired price by August. If I'm remember correctly about the HD 650, they're hard to drive phones right? You won't find an DAP to drive them without an amp if so, the HD 595 won't be a problem though. The D2 supports FLAC and has great sound quality.

 

[crappyjones123]

the 650s are notoriously hard to drive. however, if i do decide to get them, as said in my previous post, the portable player will be the source for the 650s only for a short while. i plan on getting a balanced setup built around the 650s but just need something to listen to music on for now. which is why i said, headphones that will be used should not be an issue.

as far as the 650s go, my sansa powered them to the point where it was the bottom rung of my satisfaction ladder but it played music nonetheless. my room is especially quiet so i could hear the 650s even at the low volume that was the highest the sansa player could push. but again, it will only be a temporary annoyance. nothing permanent.

thanks for your suggestion. anyone elese?

 

[HipHopScribe]

Well, if they worked ok with the Sansa, shouldn't be a problem with the D2 for you, the D2 is one of the more powerful DAPs out there in terms of output.

 

[DKaz]

The Cowon D2 is really the only contender that I can think of that will support Flac. As HipHop stated you can get an SD card to get teh extra space. It also has a pretty large internal amp to drive larger phones. It will NOT sound as good as a dedicated amp, but it will get you through).

Cowon D2 8gb

 

[fuze]

i have Sansa Fuze . the capacity can be increased. Good player, no issues wih it so far.

 

[nsx_23]

32GB CF modded h320? =P

 

[rockbottom]

No one recommended an X5 yet? Correct me if I'm mistaken, but it seems like THE ideal choice for all the things that you're asking for.