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Comment by oneeyedpigeon | Hacker News Reader

Who's making good portable digital music players nowadays? In particular, looking for a replacement for the iPod classic.

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> Who's making good portable digital music players nowadays?

Flash-based? Sandisk's Sansa (Fuze, E and C-series, Clip, Clip sport, et.al.) line has been around for a while and is good. I have a Fuze that is approaching eight years old and has been battered until the paint flaked off but it still works. They are supported by the Rockbox (https://www.rockbox.org/) firmware.

That said, I don't use it much any more as I usually have my phone with me.

I can also vouch for the sandisk clip line, they are simple and work perfectly, and support lossless formats out of the box.

Like kyyd mentioned, fiio [1] is one of the best (if not the best) manufacturer of portable players.

I've heard really good things about a Korean brand called Cowon [2] too. Have my eyes on their Plenue line ATM. Pricey, but it's what I'd expect from high-end audio devices.

[1] http://fiio.net/en/

[2] http://www.cowonglobal.com

I used to like them a lot with the iAudio X5. That was a great device. However, I had issues with their flash line i7 so I gave up on them.

I love my Sony NW-A20. It has 64gb internal + 200gb microsd.

The market is pretty much locked up between the Sandisk Clip and the Sony Walkman. Some of their models offer micro SD slots too.

Many of the Sandisk models can have their firmware replaced by Rockbox if that's your thing.

Had to replace my iPod classic a while back; I just went on eBay.

They've been crazy prices when I've looked before, but I might resort to that when my current classic gives up the ghost.

fiio

fiios are OK. They don't support large sized micro sd and the ui sucks.

People who buy Fiio don't buy them for the UI. The audio quality that comes out of a Fiio player is phenomenal.

Yeah that's true, but it does not cut it for me. If I have over 300 artists, a good UI is a necessity IMO. I'd like to have it all, Fiios with a good UI.

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