I want to replace my I-Pod Classic

[Clive197]

I am thinking of buying the Astell & Kern AK100 II. The only thing stopping me pull the trigger is the £800 cost. Do any of you use this bit of kit or have any experience of alternatives?

[sq225917]

They are an utter gyp, the pricing is scandalous and the sound quality little better than an ipod. If you want to use it as a dac then maybe, but if it's just for mobile sound buy a SanDisk and spend the rest on iems

I was utterly disappointed by one with a variety of @£200 plus iems.

[rallye666]

I'm afraid I've no experience of it but I am tempted by one of these:

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/audio/portable-audio/mp3-multimedia-players/sony-walkman-nwza15s-cew-16-gb-bluetooth-mp3-player-with-fm-radio-silver-10094102-pdt.html?srcid=198&cmpid=ppc~gg~~~Exact&mctag=gg_goog_7904&s_kwcid=AL!3391!3!45236857415!!!g!66754607348!&ef_id=VPHKOgAABPDQh4yx:20150228140130:s

Much cheaper and still plays high res flac files

[Clive197]

I have been doing a lot of research today and I'm having serious doubts about the different music players about today. Reviews are very mixed on units by Astell&Kern, Piio, Sony and a few others.
I have just been offered a deal on a new iPhone6 64Gb by Vodaphone who my current contract is with offering in effect a £200 discount on the phone because I've been a loyal customer for over 12 years.
For what I use music on the go for (Gym,traveling), I've been reasonably happy with the iPod Classic (until it decided enough was enough), I've been using my iPhone4S 16Gb in recent months and think Vodaphones offer with the 64Gb memory may be the way to go, as I rarely use the player at home.

[skimminstones]

I'm afraid I've no experience of it but I am tempted by one of these:

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/audio/portable-audio/mp3-multimedia-players/sony-walkman-nwza15s-cew-16-gb-bluetooth-mp3-player-with-fm-radio-silver-10094102-pdt.html?srcid=198&cmpid=ppc~gg~~~Exact&mctag=gg_goog_7904&s_kwcid=AL!3391!3!45236857415!!!g!66754607348!&ef_id=VPHKOgAABPDQh4yx:20150228140130:s

Much cheaper and still plays high res flac files
ive got an older model of that one, cant remember the product number but it is an 8gb one from the same range. Does a good enough job and the earphones that came with it were ok too.

[simon g]

I'm afraid I've no experience of it but I am tempted by one of these:

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/audio/portable-audio/mp3-multimedia-players/sony-walkman-nwza15s-cew-16-gb-bluetooth-mp3-player-with-fm-radio-silver-10094102-pdt.html?srcid=198&cmpid=ppc~gg~~~Exact&mctag=gg_goog_7904&s_kwcid=AL!3391!3!45236857415!!!g!66754607348!&ef_id=VPHKOgAABPDQh4yx:20150228140130:s

Much cheaper and still plays high res flac files


I recently bought one of these ~ excellent little player. And I do mean little. This thing is tiny and very lightweight. However, SQ is a step up from my IPod Classic, particularly with FLAC and Apple Lossless (as you might expect). It's UI is very intuitive and I like it not having a touch screen.

I use it when I'm away on business and holidays and I like to have a large collection of music with me, so I bought a 128Gb SD card to use with it, meaning a total capacity of 144Gb.

Battery life is really good.

I use it to drive MF EF50s and B&O H6 (a really excellent pair of cans, btw) ~ without an amp.

[aob9]

I have a Fiio X3 and I'm very impressed with it. I have had a few Sony DAPs including the fantastic X-1060. The Fiio offers a lot more features than the Sony mentioned here although I am certain the Sony is a great little player. The X3 has a "proper" line out for hooking up to a hifi amp plus a coax (SPDIF) out for hooking up to a DAC. I have mine connected to a Beresford Bushmaster MKii and the combination sounds fantastic. The UI is a PITA but I'm willing to put up with it for the SQ. As a portable it drives my Sennheiser HD518's and Momentums with ease.

Great player for the money, highly recommend it.

[Audio Advent]

I'd bet the ipod classic could be fixed. Is probably a drive issue if it's been jogging with you a lot. Can open it up and put a solid state drive in or even a microSD card adapter e.g.: http://www.amazon.com/Micro-SATA-Cables-Card-Adapter/dp/B004FD1D2C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8 and see the "people also bought" below for the CompactFlash microSD card adapter to go with it.

Then again, perhaps it's nice to have something new? The Fiio devices have had good reviews and the X1 is about £99 on Amazon. Looking at the specs it uses a similar DAC chip to the Pi Dac+ Marco liked on his file player, one different figure in the model number, could be a more recent chip.

[Clive197]

Thanks guys for your replies. I have now replaced my 3yr old I-Phone 4S with the 6 64Gb model and have loaded some 107 albums in Apple Lossless. Sounds really good to my ears with my Atomic Floyd TwistJacs.
Great deal from Vodaphone with no upfront costs. Works out that the phone is costing me £480 over 2 yrs less the £55 they gave me for my 4S. Apple wanted £619 but we're prepared to pay me £65 for the old phone. So overall a saving of £129. Not bad and spread out over 24 months.

[The Barbarian]

I tried loads of portables for my long walk to work in a morning, could find nothing that sounded as good as the Sansa Clip FLAC portable.. does so i bought one & a spare..Best bit is you can expand the space by inserting a micro SD card..

[Rothchild]

For older ipods this is a really great free upgrade: http://www.rockbox.org/

It's basically an alternative operating system that unlocks all of the potential of the device, enable you to play FLAC, record audio etc - I rarely use the ipod in situations where quality is a serious issue but the ability to play FLACs means I don't have to transcode my collection to mp3 in order to use it.