What are some decent portable Hi-Res players?

disilluzion · February 2020

I wasn't sure if this should go in Porch or Gear, but all the Pono talk was in Porch, so here we go!

I've had my Sony NWZ-A17 for over 5 years now, but the battery only lasts maybe 2 or 3 hours in between charges, not making it very portable. After taking it apart, it's apparent that they do NOT want consumers changing out the batteries, and from what I've read, the official Sony stores won't replace them either.

So what are people here currently using? Is FiiO the way to go? I like the idea of two SD card slots so I can have a 1TB card in each one, but they have so many to choose from. Any input would be appreciated. I'd like to stay under $500 if purchasing new, preferably with a non-proprietary USB cable, as well. USB-C would be ideal as opposed to micro. I use a combo of USB, AUX and BT for listening, depending on where I am at. My file formats range from MP3 all the way to DSD and everything in between.

Thanks!

vaggar99 · February 2020

i hear iphones sound pretty good.

Zod · February 2020

vaggar99 said:

i hear iphones sound pretty good.

Most smartphones come with shitty DAC's. I think LG is one of the few that puts a high quality DAC in their phones. I think for the most part to get good audio from smartphone is to use an external DAC. Then you don't have to use the phones DAC.

PB11041 · February 2020

PB11041 · February 2020

In all seriousness, I am (and I know they are the retail devil) interested in what Amazon is going to do with their new HD service, it would seem logical they will get into a device type business as well (not just home speakers in HD).

hrd2imgn · February 2020

Fiio and Anstell and Kern are your most affordable high quality. You can also use a phone with an external DAC.

When getting a new phone about a year ago LG had the best sounding ones by most reviews, with Samsung and Iphone close behind. Comes down to features and expandability...iphone fails on additional storage options, Samsung and LG were much better allowing for external micro cards to be used ranging from 500gb and up in additional space.

KV4053 · February 2020

I still use my Pono daily, but have also added a Sony zx300. Killer battery and excellent SQ

disilluzion · February 2020

For all the phone recommendations, sell me on it. I have an S10, but notifications interrupting the music bugs the crap out of me. Not to mention the size difference. If I'm doing yard work or going for a run, it's much easier to put a tiny Walkman in my pocket than a big phone. Also, phones aren't made for audio quality; they allow audio for convenience sake.

So yes, it would be nice to have one less device to keep track of, but other than the convenience factor, someone sell me on just using my phone for my music like most people do these days. For how much music I listen to, it makes more sense for me to have a dedicated audio player, but I'm open to hearing opposing views.

Zod · February 2020

I think this should be clear. Smartphones have mediocre DAC's. The only real exception are the LG phones that come with a high quality DAC. Pretty much every android and iphone have mediocre DAC's in them. I find the quality of the DAC is more important than whether your playing CD quality flac or high res flac. I'd rather have a quality dac with cd quality audio over a mediocre dac with high res audio. In fact I use CD Quality flac files all the time. It's the DAC that makes the biggest different, not a higher res file (allthough both at the same time can have pretty good results).

Buy an LG G8 or

Use an external DAC on your phone so the audio isn't as crappy.

I was using a FiiO X3 up until a year or two ago. Then I found this affordable external DAC. It almost sounds as good as my old x3 (but not quite). I'm sure you could spend more on a better DAC, but I think this one is pretty good in terms of quality/price. I bought mine of $30ish so I think they go on sale from time to time:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07F2DTTGT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

edit: It has 3 different quality settings. Updating the firmware on it for the highest quality prevents the phone from being able to output phone calls and random sounds on it. I use it in conjunction with an app called poweramp. works great.

lexicondevil · February 2020

This is all interesting to read. I loved my Zune until Microsoft made them obsolete by not updating the software. The reason I pretty much never use my phone for music is it wears down the battery and if you use the DAC you have no way of simultaneously charging it. Oh, I miss my Zune.

Bob Mayo on the keyboards Bob · February 2020

I use iPhone with dragonfly dac and the lightning>usb converter. I also have an old fiio x3 which I like but don’t use it much anymore. Good DAC with iPhone makes all the difference.

Zod · February 2020

lexicondevil said:

This is all interesting to read. I loved my Zune until Microsoft made them obsolete by not updating the software. The reason I pretty much never use my phone for music is it wears down the battery and if you use the DAC you have no way of simultaneously charging it. Oh, I miss my Zune.

I'm lucky that way. My trip to work via transit takes 30 to 40 minutes. I think that maybe uses 10 to 15% of my battery (and I'm playing on the phone while listening). I seem to have about 30 or 40% battery left at the end of the day when I get home.

That being said. I suppose that's nice thing about the LG's. Because they have the high quality DAC built in, and a headphone jack, you don't need to use up the usb-c port. Thus you can charge/listen at the same time. Given my love of good audio.. I'm leaning on buying an LG the next time I need a smartphone.

The one thing that might stop me is the new trend of wireless/bluetooth IEM's. I'm not actually sure how these work. Is the DAC built into the ear pieces? I heard bluetooth is alot better now than it was years go. If you buy a good pair (like the Sony's) is the audio quality pretty good? Maybe the bluetooth IEM's are going to kill the need for a DAC in a phone? I dunno.

disilluzion · February 2020

I'm entertaining the phone idea. I think I found an app that will mute notifications while music is playing, but will Poweramp play ALAC and AIFF files? I need to make sure that all my files will work on Samsung. Poweramp seems to be the most recommended, but maybe there are others?

hrd2imgn · February 2020

I know poweramp plays Alac(as half my files are ALAC), I will play AIFF.

Nice program, some issues at times with tags, but it is my go to

ForceofNature101 · February 2020

My iPod touch (most recent 256 GB gen) I find sound pretty good - you can install Vox on it where it is capable of playing high resolution audio so I have a bunch of hi-res FLAC files on there

rhpot1991 · February 2020

I'm a fan of the Cowon Plenue line.

What are some decent portable Hi-Res players?

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