Need new player with premium sound and battery life

[The Smokester]

I have old players...An iRiver h120 and a Creative Zen Touch 20GB..and it's time for an update. I listen using Ety ER-4P's and also with Senn HD650's through an SR-71 amp. I am upgrading the Ety's to Shure E500's and am planning to use at least MP3's at 320kbps so I need to get a new player with more room. Currently using 192kbps. I put a real premium on battery life though so am looking for a player with battery life comparable to the Zen Touch which can last over 24 hours.

I use these systems mainly for commuting or traveling. Although I don't think that super hi fidelity is too useful sitting on a noisy airplane or train I am fussy about the sound quality when I get to the hotel room.

Possible choices that I know about are a Zen Touch 40 GB, an iPoo G5 60GB, or one of the big Archos like the AV4100 or AV-500 for 100GB.

I need your advice. Please let me know what you would recommend.

 

[fierce_freak]

I've got a similar decision to make. I have a redwine modded ipod, which I love, btw. A faulty firewire dock cable I have (had, threw that thing away) ended up frying the logic board in my ipod. I sent it back to Vinnie at Red Wine to have him check it out. He's been a big help so far.

Well, I purchased a logic board on ebay and had it sent to Vinnie. Unfortunatley, the board has something wrong with it

That's $55 down the drain. I can purchase a new logic board for $125 + shipping and have it sent to Vinnie. Being the good guy he is, he's offered to do the imod for free if I send him a new logic board or another ipod.

Here is where my decision comes in...what happened to my ipod is certainly not the fault of Vinnie or his mods. It was just a case of bad luck and a crappy cable. Regardless, I'm considering just forgetting about the imod and going with a player that's out on the market today. My imod broke the day before I received my E500 a couple weeks ago, so since I've had those 'phones I've not had the pleasure of ever actually enjoying them on the go.

I'm frustrated, of course. I don't know where to go from here.

 

[The Smokester]

The fully modded iPod seems to get high recommendations for sound. I am mainly worried about the proprietary software, DRM and the battery life.

Also, it feels a little like going over to the dark side.

 

[russdog]

I'm sure it's not as simple as black-and-white, but if you really want max battery life, then maybe you want a flash-based player that's not draining its battery making a hard drive spin. If you want the capacity of a hard drive, then you're gonna take somewhat of a hit in battery life.

From everything I've read, if you want a hard drive based player, a good combination of sound and battery life comes from the Cowon X5. There is a Rockbox for it too. And an AudioLineOut dock as well. A lot of people absolutely swear by them, and a few people swear at them. Personally, I'm happy with my iPod 5G 60gb, but it was a hard choice for me between it and the Cowon X5. (I think I will get a Cowon unit, but not until they come out with a 4GB flash version.)

 

[wolfen68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Smokester I have old players...An iRiver h120 and a Creative Zen Touch 20GB..and it's time for an update.

Get a new Toshiba 30 or 40 gig hard drive and a 2200 mah battery for your iRiver. Add Rockbox and you're updated.

Enjoy your "new" larger player with 25+ hours of battery life with 320 kbps mp3's.

The X5L is another great option...but be prepared to use the headphone out to your SR71 in case you think the lineout sounds as weak as I thought it did.

 

[The Smokester]

wolfen68,
Do you have a link for these mods to my h120? Both for the battery and the drive mod?

Also, what is the max size of drive that can be put into the h120?

 

[wolfen68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Smokester wolfen68, Do you have a link for these mods to my h120? Both for the battery and the drive mod? Also, what is the max size of drive that can be put into the h120?

The answers to all of your questions:

http://www.misticriver.net/wiki/inde...mize_Your_H1xx

 

[chrisstares]

Totally agree with Wolfen68. I have upgraded my H120 with a Tosh MK3006GAL 30GB hard drive. These drives are readily available and are relatively good value for money. Furthermore, Toshiba is on the verge of releasing (if they haven't already been released) a new 40GB single-platter drive (MK4007GAL) that will fit in the case of an H120 (and H320 for iriver H300-series owners), without having to remove any padding, etc. and risk squishing the internals of the player (as I believe someone did when they tried to put the fatter 40GB dual-platter drive in their H120).

I've also Rockboxed all my irivers (I actually have 2 H120s and an H340 - I love 'em!

) Rockbox is now pretty mature on the H120 to the extent that, with normal use, it's possible to get towards 20 hours of playback with the stock 1300 mAH battery (although files encoded @ 320kbps will cause the drive to spin up more often to fill the buffer, so would have an adverse impact on battery life). If you upgrade to a 2200 mAH battery, people have been reporting in excess of 30 hours battery life with Rockbox. It's a relatively straightforward process (as is changing the hard drive), as long as you have a Torx T5 screwdriver...

Add to that all of the other "extras" that Rockbox provides over and above the stock iriver firmware (e.g. gapless music playback, on-the-fly playlists, customisable while playing screens, multiple codec support (including lossless codecs such as FLAC), etc.), then it really exploits the capabilities of the iriver DAPs to the max, and there is no doubt more to come.

I haven't had a lot of experience with other DAPs, but my H120 coupled with a Pocket Amp 2 Version 2 and Sony MDR-V7506 headphones provides me with an awesome listening experience. Certainly not the best that money can buy, but IMHO, most definitely a great "bang-for-buck" setup.

MisticRiver.net is a great resource for irivers of all types (and there's a healthy Rockbox forum on there for both the H100 and H300 series players as well). For the definitive info on Rockbox, checkout the main Rockbox website. Any other questions, just post or PM me.

 

[slag]

The X5L IS a good player. Also, it supports FLAC out-of-the-box, so you don't need Rockbox if you don't want it.

And if you get the "L" (for Longplay) model, the battery life is VERY good (although using FLAC all the time dimishes the effect to maybe 20-30hours.)

 

[gloco]

I would seriously consider upgrading the battery on your H140. Battery life will jump to 25hrs. With rockbox, it supports shn and flac as well. Great all around player and recorder. The latest rockbox versions support bit-perfect optical in.

 

[The Smokester]

Guys,
Thanks for the great responses. I found the MisticRiver site and it is great. I would definitely like to go for the 40GB upgrade to my H120. Is it certain that this will work?...Are there limitations on formatting above 32GB with the H120?

Also, do you guys know if the larger batteries fit in the H120? I kind of get the impression that they don't quite.

I have been looking on eBay...Maybe I can get an H340 and then mod it.

I will also look more closely at the iAudio X5L which seems to come in 60GB sizes and have long battery life. Anybody know how the sound compares to the iRivers? What about hiss?

(Edit: I don't think the X5L comes in a 60GB size. Can't seem to find it if it does...Just 20 and 30GB. Can it be modded?)

 

[wolfen68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Smokester Guys, Thanks for the great responses. I found the MisticRiver site and it is great. I would definitely like to go for the 40GB upgrade to my H120. Is it certain that this will work?...Are there limitations on formatting above 32GB with the H120?

It will work, just read the link provided. You will have to wait until you can get a hold of a 40 gig that will fit (like chrisstares mentioned). Windows XP can't do a 40 gig format in FAT32. The unit's firmware may not either. However, swissknife (free) or partition magic (not free) will do it through USB no problem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Smokester Guys, Also, do you guys know if the larger batteries fit in the H120? I kind of get the impression that they don't quite.

1800 - 2200 mah batteries are widely available and will fit (made for 1st and 2nd gen ipod).

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Smokester Guys, Anybody know how the sound compares to the iRivers? What about hiss?

IMO, the X5 headphone out is slightly better (has no hiss that I recall). They are both very close in sound quality overall however,


Quote:

Originally Posted by The Smokester Guys, (Edit: I don't think the X5L comes in a 60GB size. Can't seem to find it if it does...Just 20 and 30GB. Can it be modded?)

There is no X5L in 60 gig. You get the extra battery life, or the larger hard drive. They can't fit both in the X5L's shell at once. If you were a crazy modder with no respect for warranties, you could get an X5L 20 or 30 gig, and replace the drive with the afore mentioned Toshiba 40 gig. Then you would have a X5L 40 gig.

 

[The Smokester]

Okay guys. Thanks for the really good info.

I am thinking that to get exactly what I want I will need to wait for the Toshiba 40GB drive to appear and then do a mod. That's okay. I can wait a couple of months.

 

[fierce_freak]

Are there any rumblings of any new competing players coming out by the end of the year (aside from the zune)? I picked up a shuffle, which is nice in its own right, but I'd certainly like to have my entire library with me at times.

 

[The Smokester]

I think iRiver is coming out with a "the smallest" digital player to compete with (and blow away, lol) the iPod nano.