The best Audiophile MP3 Player?

[Antony6555]

The sanza players are actually more accurate than the "audiophile" players. The HM (Hifiman) line is misnamed as it is actually not particularly transparent.
 
http://anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54879
 
Just because a product calls itself "hi-fi" doesn't make it so.
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The 602 is $440 NOT $599.  The 601 is $260.  I question listing the iMod #2 unless the ranking is by price solely.  Most iMods are likely below the Sflo2 or equal to it.  Some exceed it and whether those would exceed the QA350 is another matter.  The Gumstick and Clip+ should be listed.  The QA350 also does not need an amp.  Only the iMod 'needs' an amp.     

Excellent, very helpful comments, I'll make some adjustments to my list accordingly.  The iMod I'm referring to is the one sold by ALO made by Vinnie.
 
I actually haven't been able to find a place to buy a 602, thanks for the price correction.

 

[Jupiterknight]

Here we go again, again

 

[ClieOS]

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Here we go again, again

Indeed!!!

 
Here is where I like to quote Daniel R. von Recklinghausen: "If it measures good and sounds bad, -- it is bad. If it sounds good and measures bad, -- you've measured the wrong thing."
 
Now if it measures bad and sounds bad, that would be a problem.

 

[alyanm]

I see I've found an ongoing debate involving dead horses!

 

[Jupiterknight]

No dead horses racing, more likely the "Flogging a Dead Horse"  topic !

 

[kiteki]

 
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Here is where I like to quote Daniel R. von Recklinghausen: "If it measures good and sounds bad, -- it is bad. If it sounds good and measures bad, -- you've measured the wrong thing."
 

I don't know who Von Recklinghausenmeister is but x2 on the quote

 

[kiteki]

The best Audiophile MP3 Player with a huge screen for video and price under 150 is the S:Flo2 / Teclast T51 

 

[alyanm]

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The best Audiophile MP3 Player with a huge screen for video and price under 150 is the S:Flo2 / Teclast T51 

Yeah, I can see that is true!  Does it do playlists at all?  Or is it the thing where you just swap around SDHC cards?

 

[Somnambulist]

No playlisting. People generally use it as either an album player (like me) or just 'play all' and set it to random. The nearest you can get is making folders full of different songs. The max internal storage is 16GB with the S:Flo2 or 8GB with the T-51. I have an 8GB S:Flo2 and use a couple of microSDs divided into genre, 16GB ones (32GB = too much £££).
 
Initially I thought 'zomg let's put loads of FLAC on!' but space gets eaten up so quickly and my portable listening is rarely done in quiet environments I just stick to 320kbps, lets me fit a lot more on with the available space. It sounds better than any other portable device I've owned, but I can't compare it to many of the other heavyweights like modded iPods, Hifiman's and stuff like that as I haven't heard them. All I know is it sounds very good!

 

[Achmedisdead]

No gapless plus bad battery life = fail for me.

 

[GeorgeGoodman]

Rockbox on players is great if you fiddle with it, but this player just sounds great out of the box. Set it to a little EQ and it is even better. It has the raw sound quality that even Rockbox can not outdo.

 

[Achmedisdead]

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Rockbox on players is great if you fiddle with it, but this player just sounds great out of the box. Set it to a little EQ and it is even better. It has the raw sound quality that even Rockbox can not outdo.

I'm not commenting at all on the sound, because I haven't heard one for myself....but a player that size should have better battery life than my Clip+, don't you think?

 

[pejayjay]

I thought it was supposed to be around the same as the Clip+?  What kind of life should you expect from the sflo2? 
 
I think I need to buy one after this thread...

 

[GeorgeGoodman]

Whether you prefer the player or not is your call, but it gets about seven to eight hours a charge, which has been fine most of the time I have owned one. It is big, but I guess they had to cram all those nice sounding chips in there which suck down power and don't leave space for a big battery. I have a Sansa Fuze and no aspect of the sound really comes close to the S:Flo2. I am actually selling mine because I have other players (one of them being the QLS QA350 which sounds even better than the S:Flo2, has digital outputs, a real volume knob and a wireless remote but is bigger, only takes SD cards for memory and has no EQ.)

 

[Achmedisdead]

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I thought it was supposed to be around the same as the Clip+?  What kind of life should you expect from the sflo2? 
 
I think I need to buy one after this thread...

To clarify, I meant the Clip+ battery life when rockboxed....not the OF battery life.
For the SFLO2, I saw one post that mentioned battery life of 7-8 hours.....a Clip+ with rockbox installed is good for 15-16 hours with FLAC files.