Cowon Plenue D (approx £200) is still a viable option despite being superseded by the D2 (circa £259). It has a huge battery life (100hrs MP3, 51hrs Hi Res. My Plenue D charges itself when I add Music to it, I honestly can't remember the last time I gave it a dedicated charge).
It has good bass structure, a great EQ, form factor and is nothing more than a dedicated Music player, it has none of the bangs and whistles like Tidal, Android etc. It's a perfect Commuters DAP which is primarily what I bought it for.
It can be laggy in use but I don't find it a big deal compared to others (just make sure album art is 500 x 500 and you leave a buffer of say 50MB on player and SD Card for optimum) and it's limited to a 128GB Card (plus 32MB onboard storage). Problems with sensitive IEM's have also been reported in the D thread so consider that also.
I'm looking to replace mine but only because of the storage limitations, I honestly love everything else about it.
If you could extend to the circa £250 - £260 Mark (yes, I hate it when people do this too
) you could have the likes of the Ibasso DX120 or the Cowon Plenue D2 etc. Both the DX120 and the Plenue D2 have teething problems because they are new but will probably be rectified by new firmware updates. Both are 'no frills' dedicated to Audio DAPS.
You could also get the Activo CT10 (A & K) for around £224 (after discount from AMP3) which offers a lot for the money if you can put up with all the Plastic and the relatively poor battery life (circa 9-10 hours).
The three players above are the ones I'm considering to replace my Plenue D and there's good reports on the Shanling M0 that maira posted which could prove cost effective.
I only have hands on experience with the original Plenue D so take anything I say with a pinch of Salt.
