I think most people nowadays just listen to music on their phones. I find that this is good for working out, but for just listening, the low audio quality of streaming and mp3s bothers me after a short amount of time. My music collection is now all FLAC, which is not supported by my old ipod classic, and I don't have a lot of space left in my phone. Does anybody have a dedicated DAC that plays FLACs? I was thinking about the Fiio X3, but I'd need a new sd card for it. Does anybody have suggestions for a dedicated DAC that plays FLACs, with internal storage, and is under $100? The only thing I would bend on would be the internal storage.
If you're all FLAC, you might want to check out Neil Young's Pono device. ISTR the internal storage is 64 GB, and has a micro SD port to add more. It won't meet your price point, though....
The Pono seems kinda gimmicky to me. It's expensive (the device and the music) and I don't think it would fit well into a pocket, but the storage is spot on. I would like about 64gb of space, even though that's probably not enough. If there was an sd slot I would settle for 16gb.
My vote would be with the FiiO X1. I don't own one, but it's for sure on my list to buy. The reviews chalk it up to be a fair shot at a portable DAP compared to others.
Try a SanDisk sansa clip zip, put rockbox on it, it handles flac, you can dual boot, handles sdhc cards. Good sound (I'm no audiaudiophile) light weight. Cheap.
Lately I've been thinking about building one from a Raspberri Pi, but I haven't found any good plans.
These portable units support, Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC), play back: FiiO X3 Portable Music Player PonoPlayer Sandisk Clip Sport Sandisk Sansa Clip+ Sandisk Sansa Clip Zip Sandisk Sansa Fuze+ Creative Zen X-Fi 2 Iriver LPlayer Sony Walkman F800 Samusngs Galaxy series of phones, S series, Notes, and LGs G2 and G3 also support FLAC. (BTW, Mr. Moderator. I cannot remember if posting such a list is allowed. Please delete the names if I am breaking a forum rule.)
Well, I think it's either the Sansa clip or the Fiio x3. I'd really like the x3, but I'd have to save up for it. So I'm leaning a bit more towards the Sansa. The problem with both of them is my music collection is about 100gb, and juggling all those little SD cards. Does anybody use a headphone amp with the Sansa? If you do, does it really improve SQ like the claims I've heard?
One thing to consider, when switching cards on the Sansa clip, the refresh time can be 15-20 minutes. Not a big deal most of the time, but it can be annoying. I don't use Rockbox, a headphone amp or FLAC files, but I think the Clip is one of the easiest to use and best sounding players out there.
I just ordered a refurbed clip zip and a 64gig sd card for about $65. I feel a lot better about that than $100 on the Fiio with no memory. Maybe I'll Rockbox it, maybe I'll get an amp, but I'll decide on that later. I do think an amp is overkill though. Btw, I tried to Rockbox my iPod Classic, but it's not supported. It's gotten a solid 7 years of use, so I'm not too disappointed.
RockBox'd Clip Zip + 32GB card has been my setup for a few months now. Rockbox doesn't have the refresh issue. And it adds crossfeed which I find indispensable for listening to music with headphones.
I got mine a few days ago. I haven't had the refresh issue. I'm seriously thinking about installing Rockbox.
