[E-PaiN]

Hello guys and girls,

I've just went from some Sony earbuds to the Shure E500's and it wasn't until the E500's had arrived that I realised how horrible my source is.
The electronic "squeeking" from the Creative MuVo I heard on the earbuds had just quadtrippled and bugs me immensely, on top of that the MuVo only has 1GB storage capacity and no FLAC support.


What I'm looking for is a sturdy digital player with preferably no mechanical/moving parts in it.

Things to consider when recommending:
- >4GB storage capacity (preferably without a harddisk, but can be with)
- "flexible" budget, you can get me crazy enough to spend a lot
- FLAC support
- Portable. On the bike, in bed, in the car, on the plane, etc
- Good sounding (E500's) without a portable amp, though usable in combination with an amp such as the Total Bithead (especially background noise caused by the player itself annoys me)


Not sure what else to ask for, my music is all ripped in FLAC using this guide and my headphones are the E500's, now I just need a good DAP to go along with it.

Thanks in advance for your advice, hope I can order in a few days!

 

[scorpian007]

Zen V/Plus 4GB
Sandisk Sansa 4 or 6GB

 

[hulkster]

The new sansa e280 8GB - Flash memory

 

[drizek]

iriver h3xx or cowon X5 with rockbox.

4gb goes really quick when using flac.

 

[russdog]

Your first decision is to determine how serious you are about sturdy with no moving parts. *If* you mean that, then forget about a hard drive model, you want one with flash memory, no question about it.

If so, then you may wish to delay just a couple months. We are on the verge of seeing a flood of higher-capacity flash DAP's, due to recent advances is making 4GB chips for cheap. Right now, it's just Sandisk (because they are mainly a memory company). Soon, it will be everybody. We'll certainly be seeing 8GB models. What remains to be seen is if some company see's a niche for models that have 16GB or more for customers who will be willing to pay more to get high capacity without the moving-parts hard disk.

Personally, I think an 8GB model with a slot for a SD card will be great. Sandisk does it now, but I want one from Cowon. With 4GB (and maybe soon 8GB SD cards), that would solve my problem. (My problem: my iPod is great for airplanes and hotel rooms, but when I'm actually doing stuff, I worry about treating in gently. With a flash player, I don't have to worry so much.)

 

[E-PaiN]

The 8GB Sansa player looks quite good, with a 4GB expansion card (not yet out in MicroSD formats) I could store 17-20 FLAC ripped albums, that's absolutely sufficient.
My current 1GB MP3 player only holds about half the amount of albums at a 320kbps bitrate.


What makes me worried is quotes like these though:

Quote:

The physical build is obviously nicer than that of the m200 or e100 series, but beyond that, the unit's sound quality has improved as well, though picky listeners will notice some system noise.

Quote:

The e200 may not sound as beautiful as a Cowon or a Sony player, but it comes close. The only misgiving we had was a dim but noticeable clicking when adjusting the volume and bits of noise caused by internal electronic interference, definitely noticeable when the dial lights up blue. We hope SanDisk can address this hit to the overall sound quality.

source

That sounds exactly what I'm currently expierencing with my Creative MuVo and, regardless of other features, I can not live with it.

So I'll probably wait until Cowon has an 8GB version available then.

 

[hulkster]

Ya, I'm not sure that sansa has perfected the sound/quality issues with their p[players, but they sure hav a jump on the memory. I would buy the zen V plus to hold me over untill sansa improves their players, or the new nanos come out.