Going away from my Sandisk Zip to where?

[Yukinarija]

Hey guys,

I'm in need of an advice. I'm gifting my beloved Sandisk Clip Zip, and I need a new mp3. After loosing one earlier, and getting this, it's now becoming quite boring to buy the same device for the 3rd time. Also, I'm quite forgetful and so the battery life has become a bothersome problem.

Anyone could suggest a device? I'm located in Europe, so no USA bargains for me, but maybe some models could be found here.

Also looking for atleast semi-good portability, so it wouldn't drag my jumper down like a brick while jogging.

Price should be around 50-125$ (tops). That's around 60-70 pounds.
I guess for this price I could be looking at an used iPod, but never really liked those, but I never got one for myself to try out.

Thanks.

[JK98]

How much capacity do you need? How much battery life?

[The DarkSide]

Sony E or S Series Walkman,...they fit the bill IMO.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by the darkside

sony e or s series walkman,...they fit the bill imo.

smiley-signs121.gif

[IDvsEGO]

cowon i9 too maybe

[musichound]

Being you are bored, I suggest getting a Samsung Galaxy player. There are may apps that can be installed, so your boredom will be contained. I also think the prices have dropped down enough to almost meet your price range.

[Yukinarija]

Used Sony Walkmans come pretty nice in the price range. Maybe anyone has like an older model like ( NWZ-S754 ) how's the sound quality compared to a sansa?


Cowons and the Samsung Galaxy players almost cost the same as a low-end new android phone, since I have one, I guess it's not worth it.


Thanks for the quick responses.

[JK98]

The Sony players don't have a card slot though. Is 16GB enough space for you?
The S754 only has 8GB. Perhaps you might be able to find a Cowon C2 4GB within your price range. Then you could add a 32GB microSDHC card to it.

[Yukinarija]

I found a similiar Walkman (756 I think) with 8GB, that's enough for me. And w/o flac support, 4gb will be enough I think.

Still I had a look around and these are my options:

iRiver Clix 2nd gen 8gb;
Creative Zen X-fi 2 16GB;
Creative Zen MX 16GB;
Sony A-829 16GB;
Sony NWZ-S765;
Sony NWZ-S754;
Sony NWZ-A729;
Cowon iAudio D2 8GB;

These are in 45 - 65 pound range in a pawn-shop-sort of from uk (cex.co.uk), I have a friend returning from UK for christmas, so he can take it from there. The options from Cowon though there seem very old.

Only the Creative Zen X-FI 2 and the Sony S series are dragging me in (even though I'm worrying about the possibly-crappy audio quality, cause it seems no of these players can't recreate flacs.. and even w/o rockbox, sandisk could)

___


The Cowon C2 seems really nice, though it's 70 pounds w/o taxes from ebay (from south korea 0.o). On amazon they're over 100 pounds...etch : ). Maybe I should save up for the korean one but it will cost almost the same with all the taxes. : ).

It seems like a very cool design, is it very old now? How much does it hold up in the audio department?

[The DarkSide]

Cowon iaudio d2 is excellent,...I have the d2+. The iriver clix is said to be excellent as well. All the Sony players are fine, but steer clear of creative - they suck!!!

[sideways]

You dont need FLAC, and more space is always better.
My preference.
1 Sansa clip series (New player, new battery, expandable memory)
2 Sony NWZ-S765 16 GB
3 Sony A-829 16GB

[skip252]

You keep asking about how different players sound. The answer is pretty much the same volume matched, with all the effects off. That even goes for the Creatives. The firmware isn't one I'd recommend and the effects are beyond bad but matched up against the others with none of those, I doubt you would be able to pick out a Creative in a blind test.

The Creative MX I had sounded decent as long as I didn't activate any signal processing. Once I did it left me wondering how anybody could actually think anything that distorted the sound that badly could be something anyone wanted to hear.

I'd look at the features and age of the players. Also any Sony that was originally sold in the EU since 2010 has a volume limit in place that no one has found a way to defeat. That volume limit is said to be too low by some, just right by others. It seems the headphones and expectations of the listener has a lot to do with whether or not someone thinks it's loud enough.

From what I've read about the more recent players like the Sony NWZ-S765 and the NWZ-S754, it seems as if the volume limit may not be as low as it once was. There have been several reports that say the newer players are loud enough. Not having heard one myself I can't confirm that one way or the other.

The age of the player might be important because that's the age of the battery. Lithium batteries deteriorate with time and once one gets old enough battery life can drop. A newer player with a fresher battery has a better chance of delivering performance near the rated battery life.

[The DarkSide]

Hey, I think I'll pull out my old creative zen flash based player. I actually like the damn thing!!!

[JK98]

The problem with buying a used player is that you don't know how much wear there is on the battery, so I guess it only makes sense to buy a used one if they give you a week return policy. That way if the battery life isn't good enough you could return it.

[skip252]

If boredom is the problem the Creative Zen X-FI 2 might be the way to go. That subforum isn't active as it once was but there's a ton of apps and games still there that should extend the entertainment value of an X-Fi 2.

I was never very interested in the X-Fi line so i didn't track on much of what it can do. It did seem as if every time I poked my nose in there they had something going that was keeping a bunch of people really busy. You may want to take a look there and see if any of the results are something you want to have in your next player.

[Yukinarija]

So much to choose from..

I really wanted the Cowon C2, but after reading the stone-age screen, it kind of bugged me paying 80-100 pounds for it. Especially as I don't think that I will get into EQing every song (with the BBE thingy).

And If I would get that size player, it would be nice that it would be able to connect to wi-fi and play youtube videos and such. I guess I need to rest and relax and look over all the models again. Still the S series Sony Walkmans seem pretty nice, even though the C2 has very nice design and UI (in terms of being pretty)

[The DarkSide]

There is no "eq'ing every song", as all you would do is set the EQ & sound options in the settings and enjoy. Yes, the screen tech is slightly dated, but the device is a nice toy overall.

[Yukinarija]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

There is no "eq'ing every song", as all you would do is set the EQ & sound options in the settings and enjoy. Yes, the screen tech is slightly dated, but the device is a nice toy overall.

Must be pretty good EQ system then, from my oldschool EQ'ing the frequencies themselves, what worked for one song, didin't do so good for other ..

It is, I'm still looking for my price point Cowons. Too bad the C2 doesn't have wi-fi and flash support for its price. It's in the same range as a used "touch". Too bad I don't really like them. Will look around, will look around . iRiver is quite dead as far as I can see.

[The DarkSide]

Well, get a used iPod touch & get either the "EQu" or "Equalizer" apps. You can get Sansa/Cowon sq on an iPod that way.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by Yukinarija

Must be pretty good EQ system then, from my oldschool EQ'ing the frequencies themselves, what worked for one song, didin't do so good for other ..

You don't EQ for each song....you EQ to compensate for the shortcomings of whatever headphone you are using.