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Topic: Budget DAP to play Opus files (Read 4267 times) previous topic - next topic
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Budget DAP to play Opus files

Hi all

I'm looking for a decent portable audio player (not a phone), that will natively play Opus files.
Budget ~ £50 GBP

A shuffle mode is all that I require (basically I'd want to just put say 1000 or so songs on there and hit a button to shuffle and then let it do its thing).  It would be nice to be able to have a few playlist. 

The way I organise portable music is simply 3 directories:
Pop, Jazz, Classical

It would be nice if it was lightweight too (as I might take it on treks and the like). Don't want or need any bluetooth or wifi stuff. Just simple, reliable and basic.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
C.
PC = TAK + LossyWAV  ::  Portable = Opus (130)

Re: Budget DAP to play Opus files

Reply #1
As of 2019, I've not found a portable player that natively supports Opus. Many DAPs support Vorbis now. But as for Opus, there's always Rockbox on an inexpensive DAP like SanDisk Clip
https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,112961.0.html

 

Re: Budget DAP to play Opus files

Reply #2
The Xduoo X3ii does play Opus properly (even though not documented), but it is beyond your budget (and size).

Re: Budget DAP to play Opus files

Reply #3
Thank you both.

My understanding is that Sandisk have kind of gone cheap and the new models - Sport & Jam which are not rockboxable are pretty much all they do now?   https://www.sandisk.com/home/mp3-players

This is the list of Stable Rockbox players:

Quote
    Apple: iPod 1g through 5.5g, iPod Mini, iPod Nano 1g, iPod Nano 2g
    Archos: Jukebox 5000, 6000, Studio, Recorder, FM Recorder, Recorder V2 and Ondio
    Cowon: iAudio X5, X5V, X5L, M5, M5L, M3 and M3L
    Creative: Zen Mozaic, Zen X-Fi, Zen X-Fi 3 and Zen X-Fi Style
    iriver: iHP100 series, H100 series, H300 series and H10 series
    MPIO: HD300
    Olympus: M:Robe 100
    Packard Bell: Vibe 500
    Philips: GoGear SA9200, GoGear HDD16x0 and HDD63x0
    Samsung: YH-820, YH-920 and YH-925
    Sony: NWZ-E360, NWZ-E370 and NWZ-E380 series
    SanDisk: Sansa c200, e200 and e200R series, Fuze and Fuze+, Clip, Clip+ and Clip Zip
    Toshiba: Gigabeat X and F series

Are all these way outside my budget /  large like the  Xduoo X3i mentioned? Quite happy to go second hand - but on eBay for example seems people are charging a royal premium for the older Sandisk models.

If so I guess I'll just wait around.  Perhaps I'm getting old ... but everything (product-wise) seems to be getting worse.

Cheers,
C.
PC = TAK + LossyWAV  ::  Portable = Opus (130)

Re: Budget DAP to play Opus files

Reply #4
Anyone know if Rockbox have plans to support the Jam and Sport models?
PC = TAK + LossyWAV  ::  Portable = Opus (130)

Re: Budget DAP to play Opus files

Reply #5
No, the hardware is too limited.

Re: Budget DAP to play Opus files

Reply #6
I'll consider the  Xduoo X3i -- not in a rush, I'm trying to move away from Smartphone (which I made dumb for privacy reasons). Basically I just use it for calls, text and listening to music. So it seems to me that a dumb (old style) phone plus DAP would be better.

Incidentally - the total weight of Nokia 105 + Xduoo X3i is still less than my old Moto G.

Thanks again,
C.
PC = TAK + LossyWAV  ::  Portable = Opus (130)

Re: Budget DAP to play Opus files

Reply #7
Decided to go with a FiiO M3K (+ recorder is useful for me) and ditched Opus for LossyFLAC.  Seems silly making some files larger for portable use, but there you go. Pretty sure this will do the trick and fits budget and weight quite nicely.

Hope Opus gets adopted by more mainstream players in the future. Any idea on why Opus isn't breaking through the AAC + MP3 lossy duopoly?

C..
PC = TAK + LossyWAV  ::  Portable = Opus (130)

Re: Budget DAP to play Opus files

Reply #8
Any idea on why Opus isn't breaking through the AAC + MP3 lossy duopoly?

Opus is now supported on Android and iOS, which are increasingly using it over the latter formats, so I think it is breaking through.  You're not finding it though since you're looking at simple hardware devices based on 10 year old chipsets, so you're getting 10 year old format support. 

Re: Budget DAP to play Opus files

Reply #9
Any idea on why Opus isn't breaking through the AAC + MP3 lossy duopoly?
Two answers that you can either view as contradictory or complementary, depending on whether you consider "just one market", or if you consider files and streams to be distinct:
1) "Because it largely isn't needed." AAC and MP3 are "good enough" for most purposes. "Percent-wise" performance gains over other lossy codecs are not so significant in an age where people are streaming TV at higher bitrates than what they can possibly distinguish by eye.
2) "It has". YouTube has ditched mp3 and uses Opus as default format. YouTube is big enough to "break the monopoly" in this market segment.

Re: Budget DAP to play Opus files

Reply #10
You're not finding it though since you're looking at simple hardware devices based on 10 year old chipsets, so you're getting 10 year old format support. 
Good answer.  I always forget the hardware side and think of codecs as simply a software issue and thus something firmware can sort out - clearly not.

Thanks Porcus -- didn't realise YT had Opus as default - interesting (I thought they were too busy banning free speech to be able to make technical upgrades! - Good to know).

C.
PC = TAK + LossyWAV  ::  Portable = Opus (130)