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Topic: Best portable audio player (Fall 2015) (Read 8198 times) previous topic - next topic
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Best portable audio player (Fall 2015)

I am looking for the best all around audio player out there for me.  I don't have "golden ears" and I probably won't be playing FLAC.  I generally transcode my flac to mp3 -v1 for portable playback.  I'm using my old Sansa Clipi+ more again.  It works great with Rockbox but as good as the screen is, it's still tiny and hard to navigate a large collection.  The Fiio players look cool.  I want physical controls that are easy to operate in the pocket.  I don't mind a touch screen in addition to physical controls.  MicroSD slot(s) are a must.  If you buy a player with a lot of built in memory, you usually overpay for the memory.  I would like the storage to exceed the iPod Classic (160GB).  It would be nice if the player had smart music management that combined internal and external memory into a single library without the unexpected library updates that take forever (Sansa firmware).

Thanks,
Tim

Best portable audio player (Fall 2015)

Reply #1
I am looking for the best all around audio player out there for me.  I don't have "golden ears" and I probably won't be playing FLAC.  I generally transcode my flac to mp3 -v1 for portable playback.  I'm using my old Sansa Clipi+ more again.  It works great with Rockbox but as good as the screen is, it's still tiny and hard to navigate a large collection.  The Fiio players look cool.  I want physical controls that are easy to operate in the pocket.  I don't mind a touch screen in addition to physical controls.  MicroSD slot(s) are a must.  If you buy a player with a lot of built in memory, you usually overpay for the memory.  I would like the storage to exceed the iPod Classic (160GB).  It would be nice if the player had smart music management that combined internal and external memory into a single library without the unexpected library updates that take forever (Sansa firmware).


A decent low end tablet might be what you want.  Works for me, anyway.  Nice big touch screen that still fits in a pocket and you can also use it to read while you listen.  You could always buy an android cell phone and have emergency communications along with the music.

Ed Seedhouse
VA7SDH

Best portable audio player (Fall 2015)

Reply #2
I have a FiiO X1 and an Android phone with a protective carrying case that latches to a belt clip and can be hidden under my shirt in front of me.  The combo works for me.  A player if I need it, otherwise it stays home or put away.  Saves on the phone battery considerably.  I got a case for my FiiO X1 as well but it's not a carrying case. it's to keep the screen from getting damaged, which seems to be more scratch resistant than those iPod Video screens.

The only gripes I have about the FiiO X1 is the clear lack of ReplayGain.

I've heard of 5800 song limit on category view but I only use the file tree browser (which doesn't have this issue), so I don't care.

Be sure to turn on Gapless playback in the playback settings and use the FiiO X1 to format your SD Card and not Windows.

Also remember to turn setting from display file name to track title (can't remember where this is).  This doesn't work with category view but it works on the now playing screen.

Remember that no RockBox port exists for this line of players, so if you like RockBox you'll have to choose something else.

FiiO X1 Supports (off the top of my head)
Monkey's Audio Low/Normal/High
FLAC
ALAC
M4A (iTunes Store, must be DRM Free)
MP3
M3U Playlists

Limited to 1 SD Card @ 128 GB
Audio up to 192 KHz (24-bits) (you'll get clicks and stuff when the sample rate changes, not a problem because resampling to 44,100 for everything does the trick)
No Surround format support (that's not a problem unless you forget to downmix anything you put on there)
No digital out (I've yet to see this be a problem anywhere).
Standard micro USB connector (a common annoyance if you ever owned an iPod then you know what that can be like if the cable breaks, none of that here)
Headphone port can be switched to act as line out port by changing settings (can be useful)

I know some FiiO models support two 128 GB micro SD cards and have digital out (not sure how useful that is), so that would be more than an iPod Classic, but they tend to be quite pricey with some supporting DSD formats (I don't what the point with some of the other features are, ah well).

Your milage will vary and clearly is not for everyone as you can tell.

As for the Android phone, I use it for the usual social media stuff on the go, a device for making calls and sending and receiving texts, as well as reading forums like this one.  I still prefer a desktop computer for the social media and forum stuff.  I do not make any purchases on it and keep financial stuff off my phone and have a password to protect it, along with anti-virus, and an app to wipe the phone or alarm if misplaced or stolen.  I'm very careful about Wi-Fi networks with the phone.

I use a 128 GB micro SD card for my digital audio player and 16 GB micro SD card for my smartphone.

Best portable audio player (Fall 2015)

Reply #3
I bought a second hand iPhone in anticipation of the foobar for IoS version.

Haven't used my Sansa Clip since.


Best portable audio player (Fall 2015)

Reply #4
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 with 64 GB internal Memory and an 128 GB card. That is more than I had on my iPod classic 160. As player I use Gonemad.
This also sounds better that the iPod, I have sold my two Ipods now.

Best portable audio player (Fall 2015)

Reply #5
Quote
This also sounds better that the iPod,


That's a worthless vague statement unless you specify what's wrong with the iPod, and without supporting evidence it's a violation of the  forum rules:

Quote
8. All members that put forth a statement concerning subjective sound quality, must -- to the best of their ability -- provide objective support for their claims. Acceptable means of support are double blind listening tests (ABX or ABC/HR) demonstrating that the member can discern a difference perceptually, together with a test sample to allow others to reproduce their findings. Graphs, non-blind listening tests, waveform difference comparisons, and so on, are not acceptable means of providing support.

Best portable audio player (Fall 2015)

Reply #6
It sometimes slightly annoys me when someone violations
the TOS 8 in small way
Someone has to trot out the terms & conditions.
I thought this was a Forum

Sometimes the most interesting threads
are these with a bit of heated discussion.
Then again I may be wrong.

Best portable audio player (Fall 2015)

Reply #7
If you go down the route of a phone and it's an android one, then I can highly recommend Poweramp. I have nothing to do with it btw other than enjoy it's use on my S4. It's the only app I've ever paid for.

Best portable audio player (Fall 2015)

Reply #8
then I can highly recommend Poweramp. I have nothing to do with it btw other than enjoy it's use on my S4. It's the only app I've ever paid for.


While I agree it's a great player, and was on the top of my "to purchase" list. But, in doing a little research it seems the app has basically been abandoned. An updated version has been promised for several years now with no delivery. Opus support has also been promised for years and still we wait with nothing on the horizon. It's really a shame. Poweramp's interface is second to none on the phones, but at this point in the latter half of 2015 for a non-free audio player to still not support Opus is inexcusable. I finally gave up and bought Gonemad.

Best portable audio player (Fall 2015)

Reply #9
Yes, I also used Poweramp in the past, but certain things in that app got worse with updates instead of better. For example I use folder view. With one of the updates that view got so much wasted space, that I see onle about 4 folders without scrolling. With up to 150 artists in one genre it is absolutely impossible to scroll that list. Also gapless has sometimes problems.
I have switched now to gonemad and don't need to reinstall poweramp again...

Best portable audio player (Fall 2015)

Reply #10
It sometimes slightly annoys me when someone violations
the TOS 8 in small way
Someone has to trot out the terms & conditions.
I thought this was a Forum


I don't think that's  minor at all. The whole reason we have TOS 8 is to prevent posts like that. If you want to hear people repeat baseless nonsense about iPods not sounding good, you can find plenty of forums for that.

Best portable audio player (Fall 2015)

Reply #11
Poweramp still gets updates, they are rare, but they are here. i don't see what is the problem with the screen size, I've seen screenshots of GoneMAD, and it shows, in folder view, the almost same amount of information.
I believe both programs work as advertised, and I didn't have any problems with Poweramp...
Error 404; signature server not available.

Best portable audio player (Fall 2015)

Reply #12
Quote
It sometimes slightly annoys me when someone violations
the TOS 8 in small way
It may surprise you  that I often agree. 

It was mostly the vagueness that I was complaining about.    (Plus, I'm not convinced there's anything wrong the iPod's sound quality.)     

I brought-up the rules because there's no point into continuing a discussion which would continue the violation of the rules.  And, since he no longer has the iPod it's impossible for him to perform the required blind listening tests.

Best portable audio player (Fall 2015)

Reply #13
Poweramp still gets updates, they are rare, but they are here. i don't see what is the problem with the screen size, I've seen screenshots of GoneMAD, and it shows, in folder view, the almost same amount of information.
I believe both programs work as advertised, and I didn't have any problems with Poweramp...


With poweramp in folderview I see about 4 artists on one page with lots of wasted space below and above every artist because of an unneccesary folder-picture, in gonemad I see over 10 artist in one screenview without scrolling...

Best portable audio player (Fall 2015)

Reply #14
With poweramp in folderview I see about 4 artists on one page with lots of wasted space below and above every artist because of an unneccesary folder-picture, in gonemad I see over 10 artist in one screenview without scrolling...


If you don't like PowerAmp fine.  Tastes are tastes.  The main point, I think, is that just about every "smartphone" or tablet out there will be sonically transparent as will any of the teensy tiny players like my Sana Clip Zip or for that matter an iPod.

I prefer my tablet because I can do other things on it while I am listening and have a pocket big enough for it to fit in if I move around.  Your preferences may differ.  But the preferences need not center around claims about sound quality since any decent player will be basically sonically transparent.
Ed Seedhouse
VA7SDH

Best portable audio player (Fall 2015)

Reply #15
Did I say anything that gonemad sounds better than poweramp? No.
I like gonemad better becauise it has the better gui, better handling and the developer listen to the customers...


Best portable audio player (Fall 2015)

Reply #17
As this thread has mostly turned in a discussion about the best Android audio player apps, let me ask: Is there a decent open source app?

Decent as in support for cue sheets, replaygain, gapless playback, scrobbling, and a variety of codecs and playlist formats, as well as an appealing UI?


Best portable audio player (Fall 2015)

Reply #19
As this thread has mostly turned in a discussion about the best Android audio player apps, let me ask: Is there a decent open source app?

Decent as in support for cue sheets, replaygain, gapless playback, scrobbling, and a variety of codecs and playlist formats, as well as an appealing UI?



I would like this as well. If I had found such a creature I would be using it instead of Gonemad as I prefer free/open source if possible. I believe VLC falls in this category but it fails so badly as an audio player on the desktop I've never bothered to try the mobile version. It's my go to video player on the desktop but such an abysmal and obvious failure such as no gapless playback makes it utterly useless to me as an audio player.

I somewhat tolerate closed source on my phone simply because I treat it as an untrusted device, even with cyanogenmod on it.

Best portable audio player (Fall 2015)

Reply #20
As this thread has mostly turned in a discussion about the best Android audio player apps, let me ask: Is there a decent open source app?

Decent as in support for cue sheets, replaygain, gapless playback, scrobbling, and a variety of codecs and playlist formats, as well as an appealing UI?


Last week I bought a new main phone to use as a daily driver.  I immediately rooted it and flashed CyanogenMod 12.1 and, I have to say, the default music app (I think the .apk is named 'Eleven') isn't bad at all.  The UI is pretty good, with my only mild irritation being its preference for the 'Albums' view as default.

I can't speak for its cue sheet support or scrobbling to last.fm, but it flawlessly handles gapless playback and .pls and .m3u playlists.  It does, however, only support native Android codecs (it doesn't see Opus files in ogg containers).

I use the latest VLC (v.1.5.1) on my secondary phone/digital audio player.  The UI has improved but I'm still inclined to use it in directory view rather than as a media library.  And, while it handles pretty much every codec and format, it doesn't do gapless.  It's an excellent video player, though.

Best portable audio player (Fall 2015)

Reply #21
Last week I bought a new main phone to use as a daily driver.  I immediately rooted it and flashed CyanogenMod 12.1 and, I have to say, the default music app (I think the .apk is named 'Eleven') isn't bad at all.

Interesting suggestion. I run CM 12.1 nightly as well but haven't looked into CM's default music app for years.

Quote
I can't speak for its cue sheet support or scrobbling to last.fm, but it flawlessly handles gapless playback and .pls and .m3u playlists.  It does, however, only support native Android codecs (it doesn't see Opus files in ogg containers).

It does scrobble in conjunction with the Simple Last.fm Scrobbler app. I don't see anything about ReplayGain support in Eleven, though, which is a fairly important feature to me.

 

Best portable audio player (Fall 2015)

Reply #22
Last week I bought a new main phone to use as a daily driver.  I immediately rooted it and flashed CyanogenMod 12.1 and, I have to say, the default music app (I think the .apk is named 'Eleven') isn't bad at all.

Interesting suggestion. I run CM 12.1 nightly as well but haven't looked into CM's default music app for years.

Quote
I can't speak for its cue sheet support or scrobbling to last.fm, but it flawlessly handles gapless playback and .pls and .m3u playlists.  It does, however, only support native Android codecs (it doesn't see Opus files in ogg containers).

It does scrobble in conjunction with the Simple Last.fm Scrobbler app. I don't see anything about ReplayGain support in Eleven, though, which is a fairly important feature to me.


I've never really used ReplayGain since I listen to albums and rarely shuffle tracks; I've never really minded twiddling the volume.  I could be wrong but I seem to remember my brother saying the old app, Apollo, respected ReplayGain settings.  Give it a try.