andrewberge
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2010
- Posts
- 257
- Likes
- 16
Couldn't find a recommendation subforum or thread, so hopefully this is okay.
After seven years of faithful service, my Cowon J3's headphone jack is worn out, constantly cutting out the left channel. Kind of maddening as otherwise it's 100% functional. Attempts at repair have been fruitless.
I've fallen completely out of the loop these past years. I'm sad that smartphones seem to have decimated the midrange market. Could someone give me some pointers on what's out there?
I know Fiio, Sandisk, Sony are making decent looking stuff these days. Any others have good stuff for $300 or less?
I'd be happy with just a list of solid brands to look at and i can do the research, but if you happen to know a specific model that fits my needs, that'd be great too.
This will be used mostly indoors, actively working and moving around, with a pair of Shure SE215 (16Ω).
Absolute musts, i won't even consider it if it doesn't have these:
10 hours battery life. That's absolute bare minimum, i'll take it but won't be happy, my J3 still gets 20.
Gapless playback.
32GB storage minimum. Internal or expanded.
Physical skip, play/pause and volume buttons, preferably on the sides. I'd like to be able to push them without taking it out of my jeans pocket, but would prefer not having accidental skips if i bump into something.
Budget $0-$300.
A Sansa Clip+ has all these things, but it'd be nice to have something i can consider an upgrade. Which leads me to...
Things that would be wonderful:
SDXC slot (micro or not), FLAC playback and ReplayGain. The three of those would mean i could just copy my whole collection directly to my player. No conversion, no fuss. It'd be pure bliss. But if even one of the three is missing it's all out the window.
Non-proprietary connector. MicroUSB or USB C.
Medium size, somewhere around an iPod shuffle and iPod touch.
That's it. Thanks so much if you've read this far. I appreciate it.
After seven years of faithful service, my Cowon J3's headphone jack is worn out, constantly cutting out the left channel. Kind of maddening as otherwise it's 100% functional. Attempts at repair have been fruitless.
I've fallen completely out of the loop these past years. I'm sad that smartphones seem to have decimated the midrange market. Could someone give me some pointers on what's out there?
I know Fiio, Sandisk, Sony are making decent looking stuff these days. Any others have good stuff for $300 or less?
I'd be happy with just a list of solid brands to look at and i can do the research, but if you happen to know a specific model that fits my needs, that'd be great too.
This will be used mostly indoors, actively working and moving around, with a pair of Shure SE215 (16Ω).
Absolute musts, i won't even consider it if it doesn't have these:
10 hours battery life. That's absolute bare minimum, i'll take it but won't be happy, my J3 still gets 20.
Gapless playback.
32GB storage minimum. Internal or expanded.
Physical skip, play/pause and volume buttons, preferably on the sides. I'd like to be able to push them without taking it out of my jeans pocket, but would prefer not having accidental skips if i bump into something.
Budget $0-$300.
A Sansa Clip+ has all these things, but it'd be nice to have something i can consider an upgrade. Which leads me to...
Things that would be wonderful:
SDXC slot (micro or not), FLAC playback and ReplayGain. The three of those would mean i could just copy my whole collection directly to my player. No conversion, no fuss. It'd be pure bliss. But if even one of the three is missing it's all out the window.
Non-proprietary connector. MicroUSB or USB C.
Medium size, somewhere around an iPod shuffle and iPod touch.
That's it. Thanks so much if you've read this far. I appreciate it.
