[Podster]

That's almost exactly what I did! iPod classic 5th gen + iflash quad as well as a 3000mAh battery. Bit the bullet and tried iTunes one more time, so now I have a 370Gb iPod classic with 90 gigs of ALAC music.

Well on the bright side the big classics make exceptional paper weights Even a nice hurling piece with a Yo-Tank on it Of course I'm just playin' around wit ya

 

[HeyManslowdown97]

That's almost exactly what I did! iPod classic 5th gen + iflash quad as well as a 3000mAh battery. Bit the bullet and tried iTunes one more time, so now I have a 370Gb iPod classic with 90 gigs of ALAC music.

You can run Rockbox instead of iTunes if you wanted to. It's stable on iPod classic and you can switch between firmware by holding the home button for 5-10 secs on every reboot to switch UIs

I have an old iPod classic collecting dust that I might do some modding on. Would be nice to put some op amps on it and update the hardware just for fun!

 

[HeyManslowdown97]

Exactly

It’s got a full Android installation where you can install ANY app, instead of the crippled installs on Android DAPs that only let you install a few apps.

It’s also got wireless charging, 4GB or 6GB ram, and loads of other features.

I’m fairly sure they can all be updated to Android 8.0 as well, although there’s nothing necessarily wrong with Nougat since it would only be used as a DAP.

My only concern which is a personal choice really is that I’d rather have my Dap ”offline” because Google, Apple, etc already use enough of my personal data to mine and sell to third parties

My ”dream” would be to one day have an open sourced dap that runs Linux, Microsoft or Android, iOS programs offline or on a developmental kit because well f’em

 

[Slater]

That's almost exactly what I did! iPod classic 5th gen + iflash quad as well as a 3000mAh battery. Bit the bullet and tried iTunes one more time, so now I have a 370Gb iPod classic with 90 gigs of ALAC music.

iPod Classics support Rockbox too!

 

[Slater]

My only concern which is a personal choice really is that I’d rather have my Dap ”offline” because Google, Apple, etc already use enough of my personal data to mine and sell to third parties

My ”dream” would be to one day have an open sourced dap that runs Linux, Microsoft or Android, iOS programs offline or on a developmental kit because well f’em

That’s easy. Don’t install a SIM, and once it has the apps you want just enable airplane mode. You can also root it and remove anything you want.

On my old HTC Incredible, once I rooted it I literally stripped it down to the bone. Removed all unnecessary apps, and I even disabled individual services (including disabling all phone home reporting). It was truly ‘offline’. Once you root it, you have full control of Linux. At least that was the case with older versions of Android. I don’t use Android anymore, so I don’t know how much have changed since those days.

 

[yurt28]

#3 “Decent Sound” being a “must” made me laugh so hard out loud as opposite to Great Sound because why would anyone want that as a the #1 priority!

(Please take this as a tongue and check comment, it was just my first reaction to the list)

Most of the things are ideal in Dap around 200 bucks but something like having 2 SD seems a bit much. I’d rather have internal storage and one SD slot and I don’t expect much coding expertise from “obscure Chinese daps” which have misspelled English words like “Floder” instead of Folder, etc haha

I recommend an IPod Classic with a mod of tw external SD Cards for that price and priorities. But make sure you get the IPod Video 5th Gen with the Wolfson Dac.

You can probably get an old iPod Classic for 75 bucks or under on eBay and put one of these in it.

Tarkan iFlash-Dual SD Card Adapter For iPod. Replace your iPod's Hard Drive With Two SDHC or SDXC Storage Cards to Modernize Your iPod 5th Gen (aka. iPod Video) or iPod Classic (aka. 6th Gen, 7th Gen) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BY7C13C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_v8x9Cb727WANS[/QUOTE

Great Sound-Curcuit Line
Decent sound-Circuit line
Abosolute Sound-Circuit Line/Modding

If your gonna mod the ipod classic just make sure you put the scuzzy cable in correclty or you will melt the ipod's circuit board like i did. Theirs no going back.

 

[HeyManslowdown97]

That’s easy. Don’t install a SIM, and once it has the apps you want just enable airplane mode. You can also root it and remove anything you want.

On my old HTC Incredible, once I rooted it I literally stripped it down to the bone. Removed all unnecessary apps, and I even disabled individual services (including disabling all phone home reporting). It was truly ‘offline’. Once you root it, you have full control of Linux. At least that was the case with older versions of Android. I don’t use Android anymore, so I don’t know how much have changed since those days.

That sounds awesome. I've heard Linux-based music management are the best but I don’t have first hand account of this!

I’d love to have the ability to use Mac and Windows and especially Linux programs on a portable music player!

 

[yurt28]

The XS03 with DUAL Ak4493 at little over 100 bucks looks like a GREAT deal! I’m curious about that one too. I’m looking forward to your input.

Didn’t know that about the “fixed sound” xs02 but stayed away from the FA1 because of the rumored “fixed” clicking sound that cannot be remedied!

Ima gonna give F.Audio a shot, hoping that they take Customer feedback seriously enough to make huge strides forward. It’s seems that they have and have made same major improvements to former models but time will tell...

I’m hoping that the FA2 (and the even the Xo3) have diyer high ceiling potential to be great sounding with some modifications to make them a special as the Zishan line Dacs! (Fingers cross)

(Sidenote: I know what you mean about the fixed sound even if they allow to op amp roll. I’ve worked on Zishans and they do hit a ceiling as far as you can take them when it comes to improving the fake components problems. My theory is that they are ‘fixed’ by the fine tuning adjustments in how the stock components correspond with the rest of the boards and even the firmware.)

As a hobbyist that’s one of the hopes is the get to point where it’s not just switching parts fro better ones in these cheap Chinese daps but to understand how the grasp daps wholistically with experience in how to measure things like current, voltage, resistance, diodes, etc. and how the relate to the specific dacs

You know like every subtopic has its own ecosystem like caps. But what often happens Is that “theories” in different caps for specific functions don’t always work out for the best or not know which to use can be detrimental to modding. It’s extremely frustrating but gratifying at the same time haha.

About the F1A their is no clicking sound, people must be ordering them with coupons 25% off or what not and so the chinese must be sending them the faulty ones. I can tell you though it's not that great, those Malasia Amps really don't do anything. Really at 8khz! Resistance like holds over it. Good for classical, but slow.

 

[HeyManslowdown97]

About the F1A their is no clicking sound, people must be ordering them with coupons 25% off or what not and so the chinese must be sending them the faulty ones. I can tell you though it's not that great, those Malasia Amps really don't do anything. Really at 8khz! Resistance like holds over it. Good for classical, but slow.

I’m cool with that as long as I put genuine parts in lieu of the fake ones without any headaches like power supply problems etc!

 

[trellus]

Exactly

It’s got a full Android installation where you can install ANY app, instead of the crippled installs on Android DAPs that only let you install a few apps.

It’s also got wireless charging, 4GB or 6GB ram, and loads of other features.

I’m fairly sure they can all be updated to Android 8.0 as well, although there’s nothing necessarily wrong with Nougat since it would only be used as a DAP.

Yeah, I have an LG V20 that I use basically as a glorified DAP for streaming (I prefer my XDuoo X20 for offline music) but I made the mistake of upgrading it to Android Oreo to get LDAC support (which I've yet to use, ironically, lol), and it made my V20 slower and less responsive, unfortunately... But... it's an old device and should have just not been greedy since it already had aptX HD and aptX, eh?

 

[HeyManslowdown97]

Yeah, I have an LG V20 that I use basically as a glorified DAP for streaming (I prefer my XDuoo X20 for offline music) but I made the mistake of upgrading it to Android Oreo to get LDAC support (which I've yet to use, ironically, lol), and it made my V20 slower and less responsive, unfortunately... But... it's an old device and should have just not been greedy since it already had aptX HD and aptX, eh?

The LDAC i am pretty sure only works for Sony Wireless Headphones. It’s copyrighted I believe by Sony. It works great if you like Sony Cans

 

[NotKunvinced]

You can run Rockbox instead of iTunes if you wanted to. It's stable on iPod classic and you can switch between firmware by holding the home button for 5-10 secs on every reboot to switch UIs

I have an old iPod classic collecting dust that I might do some modding on. Would be nice to put some op amps on it and update the hardware just for fun!

I was considering doing that but not up to the hassle quite yet.

 

[HeyManslowdown97]

I was considering doing that but not up to the hassle quite yet.

I know whatcha mean especially when stuff doesn’t go smoothly as they should be!

I know for myself I procrastinate things because of these things.

Rockbox is a great but it’s not am exact fit all the time but on the good side it’s been out a while so the kinks had more to time to be ironed out (if there are people keeping up with them on the Rockbox site)

 

[NotKunvinced]

I know whatcha mean especially when stuff doesn’t go smoothly as they should be!

I know for myself I procrastinate things because of these things.

Rockbox is a great but it’s not am exact fit all the time but on the good side it’s been out a while so the kinks had more to time to be ironed out (if there are people keeping up with them on the Rockbox site)

Yeah I've nothing against rockbox as I already have it installed on a 6th gen iPod. It's just setting aside the time to get it done and get past the inevitable hiccups!

 

[CactusPete23]

The LDAC i am pretty sure only works for Sony Wireless Headphones. It’s copyrighted I believe by Sony. It works great if you like Sony Cans

You may be correct that only Sony has LDAC in their headphones. (AFAIK)
- But The Radsone ES100 Earstudio is a bluetooth receiver that can receive LADC. So can a bunch of newer Small DAPs. Can plug your earphones into either...
- So there is a bunch of non-Sony stuff that can now receive LDAC.