Portable FLAC Player

[Shealladh]

I thought I'd start a seperate thread to get some feedback on a portable FLAC player so I can take AA with me each day on a rather long fucking journey.

Sandisk-sansa-fuzefinally-portable-flac is one of the first I've come across that people are talking about. No matter how hard I try I find that portable players are crap when it comes to playing metal. They just don't cover the right levels.

Now considering technology and all, my Uni course is digital animation, so I went out and bought a Edirol Roland R-09HR Recorder to record sounds for animation tracks, record lectures, and when I'm not using it. My father can use it for his gigs, rehersals, etc.

Pity I cannot combine the two items honestly, you see I've been spoiled with a sound engineer father, using his speakers when no one is in there. Nothing better than listening to the Fate of Norns DVD via 2400 watts of studio speakers. Yet I settle for the two monitor ones as a last resort. Gotta build a surround sound system out of these babies one day.

Anyways, it's nearly 7am again and would love some ideas on obtaining a really awesome FLAC player so I can endure my journey in lossless quality AA to pass the time as I practice drawing on the bus and train.

 

[mschneider]

There's a good list here:

http://flac.sourceforge.net/links.html

Scroll down a bit, past the home stereo section.

 

[Shealladh]

There's a good list here:

http://flac.sourceforge.net/links.html

Scroll down a bit, past the home stereo section.

Thanks for pointing that out, I did however see those.
I'm looking for more of a roadtest and personal thoughts on various players.

My reasoning for posting here is because I find most players to be crap when playing metal. They're just too clear if you know what I mean.

I miss metal chrome cassettes as they had a greater diversity in the sound depth and range. Sorta like going from mini ipod speakers to sound studio quality when you compare the various medium types.

Digital may have alot of easier features, yet quality is by far inferior to techniques of the past. Ever heard sound from a Reel to Reel or 1 inch dat tape machine. Makes consumer sound equipment look pathetic.

 

[atanamar]

I listen to FLAC on an iAudio 7 from Cowon. It's a solid state flash player (no hard drive with moving parts), so it's only 8GB. I think them make them larger now. Anyway, iAudio has fantastic sound. My dad is also an audio engineer, and the general consensus is that if you want great sound, this is a good player. I've had mine for about a year and it's been fantastic. Before this, I had an iAudio G3, which also played FLAC and sounded great.
The player also has a recorder that I've never used.

 

[Shealladh]

I listen to FLAC on an iAudio 7 from Cowon. It's a solid state flash player (no hard drive with moving parts), so it's only 8GB. I think them make them larger now. Anyway, iAudio has fantastic sound. My dad is also an audio engineer, and the general consensus is that if you want great sound, this is a good player. I've had mine for about a year and it's been fantastic. Before this, I had an iAudio G3, which also played FLAC and sounded great.
The player also has a recorder that I've never used.

Cool thanks for the feedback.

I've seen the Cowan alot and seems to be quite stable. 8GB seems to be the entry on most players now too, with some of them using smartcards, so they can be upgraded to 16 or even 32 GB and a choice of speeds is also entering the market to allow for faster recording.

So I think I'm getting close to making my choice.

If you're after quality it seems like you had to be born in the '50s or something, damn cheap players and their crappy features. Not having a close audio store is also playing a big part in me holding off.

I so miss the city sometimes, but being up in the mountains gives me no people contact, so life's almost perfect again.

 

[NewWorld]

I so miss the city sometimes, but being up in the mountains gives me no people contact, so life's almost perfect again.

ha ha you=win...I have a pretty good idea what you mean