What MP3 Player?

[SiM]

Its time I think I put my old trusty 30GB rockboxed Ipod 5g to rest. Which MP3 player should I get?
Requirements:
- FLAC support (APE would be nice too, but not essential, FLAC does the job just as well)
- minimum 30GB space
- good sound quality
- 10 band parametric equaliser
- gapless playback
- no itunes/file structure nonsense. I just want to be able to see the hard drive, copy & go.

Any suggestions? I think I have become to attached to rockbox features and fear that the closed source world won't be able to satisfy my needs...

[Aez]

haha you need 30gb for your 50 cent and or remixes?

[SiM]

Originally Posted by Aez

haha you need 30gb for your 50 cent and or remixes?

I didn't mention that I need video capability too for pr0n-on-the-go

30gb of pr0n is nothing...

Just kidding, video is not required... 30gb fills quickly if you use flac

[SiM]

No suggestions then?

[TAKTAK]

what sort of budget???
edit: do you really need flac (it could be easier to get a high capacity and just run a parallel mp3 just for portability as with using flac battery life is reduced and you need lots more storage)

but if you really do need flac then your basically narrowed down to the ones that rockbox can be used on:

Apple: 1st through 5.5th generation iPod, iPod Mini and 1st generation iPod Nano
(not the Shuffle, 2nd/3rd gen Nano, Classic or Touch)
Archos: Jukebox 5000, 6000, Studio, Recorder, FM Recorder, Recorder V2 and Ondio
Cowon: iAudio X5, X5V, X5L, M5, M5L, M3 and M3L
iriver: H100, H300 and H10 series
Olympus: M:Robe 100
SanDisk: Sansa c200, e200 and e200R series (not the v2 models)
Toshiba: Gigabeat X and F series (not the S series)

[SiM]

No budget, just has to be sensibly priced for what it is.

Maybe I should stick with my ipod and get a portable headphone amp...

[TAKTAK]

edited previous post^^

Only 12 gb but here

most mp3 players need 3rd party firmware to play flac tho (unfortunatly)

some of the ones that support it as standard here but low capicity

to get the capacity your after it looks like your going to have to stick with ipods and rockbox

[SiM]

Oh well... I wanted to get away from rockbox for a little while... I'll just have to keep it then

Its a pity that unofficial firmware is infinitely superior to the official firmware...
old rockboxed ipod > ipod touch/classic

I'm gonna get a headphone amp then

[TAKTAK]

in all fairness a headphone amp should be easy to make....

HERE you go

[SiM]

Originally Posted by TAKTAK

in all fairness a headphone amp should be easy to make....

I'll try to make one after my exams/knee op... as I won't be able to do anything anyway
you can help me then

I knew my GCSE in electronics would come to use someday

[TAKTAK]

see edit ^^^

edit: i need to stop editing things :S it's becoming illogical

[SiM]

Thanks, I will give it a go... if its only going to cost £20 then it doesn't matter if it doesn't work out in the end anyway

[TAKTAK]

Looking at the schematic it's simpler than i thought it was, the hardest bit will be tuning variable resistors..

i wish i'd done that for my electronics project

edit: i'd just make sure to get high prescision resistors and caps

edit2: i'll try and rustle some op amps and switches and things from college (might be a while though, i'm not going to be in labs for a while cos of exams )

[SiM]

Yeh this would have been an awesome gcse electronics project!
Oh well it will still be fun doing at home. I might try to build two different ones, one with the cheap components (practise) and one with the expensive ones and it would be interesting to see if there is an big difference in sound quality

[TAKTAK]

edited above^^^

Originally Posted by SiM

I might try to build two different ones, one with the cheap components and one with the expensive ones

that could be interesting

i would recomend rapid for electronic supplies, either them or maplin

edit: or if you don't like the idea of building your own (<<<for other people that may stumble accross the thread) it mentions in the gubbins that there are lots for sale on theirs forum (peoples old projects and things)

edit: i didn't even know there was gcse electronics :S

[MadduckUK]

there was not a huge time ago a headphone amp that was pretty much a AA battery with some crap in a nice plactic tube... must still be about