[sunnyboi]

Hi fellas, I need a good portable FLAC Player. I have listed a few options and my opnions on the same:

1. Sansa Clip+ : Had the 4GB player + 16GB card. Good player, but very short on battery life. Was using a Hifiman RE0 and lasted hardly 6 hours before the player died with full volume.

2. Amp3 Pro2 : Looks like this player has issues playing FLACs? Plus the 8GB card limit as I read on the site will be a downer

3. Cowon D2 : SQ is good? Plus expansion is easy.

I will be using the player to play ONLY flacs, no MP3s. Do not need Video capability. Occasional radio use would be as well, so having FM capabilities would be a plus.

I have a Hifiman RE0 right now and plan to get an amp alongwith the player. Hence please suggest me Player + amp combo. My Budget would be ~ 400USD for both player+amp.

If it helps, I have a EL84 tube amp and ATH-W5000 to listen to music at office. Hear mainly Carpenters, Corrs, Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd.

Thanks in advance,
Sunny.

 

[prone2phone]

get cowon and don't bother with amp, it has great eq

 

[wowers]

I have a cowon i9 that I use only for flac and I love it. I am sure the D2 will be good quality as well.

 

[BassoonHead]

One of the combinations I use is D2+ and REO. There's plenty of power in the D2+ to drive the high impedance IEMs w/o amp. The Clip+ has trouble even with an ibasso T3 but will do.

 

[bcpk]

Fuze has better battery life.

 

[saintalfonzo]

I just spent quite a bit of time going over and over this myself, and decided on the cowon 2+. I like the idea of having the 5 band eq and expandable storage in a player that seamlessly combines on-board and external libraries. From most of what I've read you can get the best sq out of the d2+ if you take advantage of the eq, and you could always rockbox it if you want to. Unfortunately my d2+ is sitting at UPS in my town and I won't see it until monday, since they aren't delivering ground today or anything tomorrow.

 

[sunnyboi]

Thanks for the suggestion guys

I guess I'll have a listen to the D2+.

But still I keep thinking of the Teclast T51. UI isnt an issue but battery life is

 

[BassThor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bcpk /img/forum/go_quote.gif Fuze has better battery life.

Fuze has 26 against Cowon D2's 45+. Cowon has better batterylife.

I would however go to a shop and try out the different players, when I finally had something to compare with I found out I really didn't like the sound signature of the D2 (after 2 years...).

 

[axismundi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sunnyboi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for the suggestion guys I guess I'll have a listen to the D2+. But still I keep thinking of the Teclast T51. UI isnt an issue but battery life is

My two cents:
- D2 has terrible bass roll-off. Using higher impedance headphones would diminish this major flaw, but not totally. However, if you plan to use an external amp you should not be worried about this.
- I found the EQ on D2 to be poor. I does seem appealing (5 bands, BBE etc.) but in practice I did not like it at all. The frequencies are poorly chosen in my opinion (bass is too high - around 80 Hz if I remember correctly, highs not high enough), the BBE makes the sound utterly artificial, the Mach3Bass could be interesting at the beginning untill you realise it does not go deep enough (it is centred at 80 Hz again...).
- Rockbox the D2 and you get an outstanding EQ, fully customizable. On top of that you have premium file format support (not that the original D2 firmware would be poor in this respect).

I had a D2 and sold it (the bass roll-off killed me) as I was not prepared to carry with me a portable headphone amplifier. If you are prepared to go that route, D2 should be a good option. A very important advantage over the Sansa's - the battery life of D2 is much better.

 

[bcpk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BassThor /img/forum/go_quote.gif Fuze has 26 against Cowon D2's 45+. Cowon has better batterylife.

Compared to the Clip+, I meant.

 

[RASeymour]

Both the Clip+ and Fuze get about five hours playing exclusively, or mainly, FLAC files. About a quarter or third compared to only MP3 files.

While I have compared against the Cowon line, the Sansas handle FLAC files just fine.

 

[fallingreason]

Samsung Q2 or P3

 

[headfever]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sunnyboi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi fellas, I need a good portable FLAC Player. I have listed a few options and my opnions on the same: 1. Sansa Clip+ : Had the 4GB player + 16GB card. Good player, but very short on battery life. Was using a Hifiman RE0 and lasted hardly 6 hours before the player died with full volume. 2. Amp3 Pro2 : Looks like this player has issues playing FLACs? Plus the 8GB card limit as I read on the site will be a downer 3. Cowon D2 : SQ is good? Plus expansion is easy. I will be using the player to play ONLY flacs, no MP3s. Do not need Video capability. Occasional radio use would be as well, so having FM capabilities would be a plus. I have a Hifiman RE0 right now and plan to get an amp alongwith the player. Hence please suggest me Player + amp combo. My Budget would be ~ 400USD for both player+amp. If it helps, I have a EL84 tube amp and ATH-W5000 to listen to music at office. Hear mainly Carpenters, Corrs, Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd. Thanks in advance, Sunny.

To be honest, AMP3 has no hiccup on playing the low bitrate Flac files. ( below class 5).

The total memory capacity of AMP3 is 20GB( internal +external). it will be enough for daily usage i suppose.

The extra plus for you of AMP3 Is it can work as a hifi sound source and preamp for your EL 84 tube amp and ATH-W5000. it is wellknown that the built in class A amp of AMP3 can provide balanced signature to your down stream rigs.

Also, for REO phones pairing, AMP3 can abstract the potential sound of it to let you hear lot of music you have never heard.

As for Sansa, it is the begining grade player, it seem your requirement is higher.

Cowon is a good option, it depends on your preference on functions or sound quality.