[THRobinson]

I have a Sony Walkman NWZ-E344, which is now a decade old, but still has a good battery life and works. Just no Hi Res audio or FLAC support.

I had a post here maybe 2yrs ago, was looking to upgrade, advice pointed to the FiiO X1ii, which I bought and quickly re-sold (eBay purchase so, selling was cheaper than returning). I could hear the difference and it sounded great, but, the OS was awful. Navigating was more difficult than the Sony, GUI looked cheap, and even after the firmware update I had freezing that required a restart.

Looking at about $300CAD or less... and must have physical buttons for skipping. I have sleep issues, so I listen to the Walkman in bed with my eyes shut and I just feel the buttons on my NWZ-E344 and can skip through tracks. I also like how with a click of a button I can navigate left/right to skip through the alphabet quickly.

Leaning towards the Sony A45, but not eliminating other options. FiiO M7 for example looks pretty good and I'm sure that the software is different than the X1ii was.

Problem is, most reviews kinda skip through or only mention (not show) the OS in much detail.

Anyone have any recommendations? or first hand experience with the OS/GUI's?

Not interested in stuff like WiFi, Spotify, etc.... what my NWZ-E344 does now, is all I want... just looking for something that has Hi Res and handles FLAC. Figured gather info now, and be read for boxing day sales.

Thanks

 

[THRobinson]

... shame no tumbleweed emoji available.

 

[THRobinson]

Bump... still debating a new player.

Sony NW-A55 still my #1 choice, because of my experience with my current NWZ-E344, and the 45h battery life.

But, looking as specs like range and power, the FiiO M9 catches my eye... but barely any reviews touch the GUI in any depth, and 10h battery life is pretty weak. Also getting up over budget.

Hoping under $300CAD. Using Audio-Technica ATH-M40x headphones.

Any suggestions?

 

[davidcotton]

Bump... still debating a new player.

Sony NW-A55 still my #1 choice, because of my experience with my current NWZ-E344, and the 45h battery life.

But, looking as specs like range and power, the FiiO M9 catches my eye... but barely any reviews touch the GUI in any depth, and 10h battery life is pretty weak. Also getting up over budget.

Hoping under $300CAD. Using Audio-Technica ATH-M40x headphones.

Any suggestions?

Stick with sony if they float your boat. I would have but lack of audiobook support means I look elsewhere. just get one from somewhere with a decent returns like amazon.

 

[THRobinson]

Luckily for me, stuff like audiobook support isn't an issue. Wifi, spotify, FM radio, etc... not a factor. I have a very organized collection of MP3's that has slowly been switching over to FLAC.

I could hear a difference in quality with that older FiiO X1ii I tried, but it was glitchy and 3x in the week I used it I had to hold the power down 15sec to force it to shut down because it would hang when going from the last track back to the first.

Main thing is price and ability to feel a button in the dark to skip fwd/back. Next is cycling through the files quick.

Sony I have now... up/down goes through the files one-by-one, but left/right skips through A-B-C etc... which that older FiiO didn't do.

That's why I hoped to get help here because small stuff like that seem to get bypassed in reviews.

The Sony may not be the best option but I'm certain better than what I have. But some specs Sony (20 Hz to 40 kHz) vs M9 (5 Hz to 80 kHz) have me thinking the M9 would be much better.

FiiO X3 Mark III, super pricey on Amazon for some reason but less than half the price in other online stores... may also work since layout looks very close to the Sony I have. Kinda depends on the GUI...

 

[taffy2207]

From the top of this forum :-

"ALL QUESTIONS eg: "Help!", "Recommendations", "Looking for..." go in the Help & Recommendations Forum"

Probably a better idea to post there anyway, you'll probably get more help there

 

[THRobinson]

Well... if anyone following at all, I did buy the Sony NW-A55 about 5 months ago. Love it.

Easy to use in the dark thanks to the tactile well spaced buttons along the side. Can turn the screen off unlike my old Sony so every time you skip a song the screen doesn't turn on for 10sec. Lots of features and options for sound but, apart from a few small things enabled/disabled I don't use most of them. Sound is great, scrolling is fast, screen is sharp and easy to read. Battery lasts a long time. I listen to it for an hour a night maybe 4-5 nights a week, and after 5 months I've recharged it twice.