DAPs and etc

[grayestofghosts]

In a fit of astonishingly wasteful spending I'm getting a dedicated digital audio player. I am not sure if I'm going to end up using it... it will either be the best purchase I've made in a while or a terrible waste, but I'm getting one of the cheap ones so it's unlikely to be too terrible if I end up not using it much. Most of the reviews I see of people using them are audiophiles and I'm not sure I can actually discern anything that they're talking about when I'm listening, because I'm usually listening when I'm doing things. However that's kind of the problem, because most audio comes from my phone and the phone is the most distracting and anxiety-inducing thing in my general vicinity, being able to listen to music that's not attached to my phone should be... good? At least I hope. I think if things were going well in the world I would care a lot less about staying off my phone so much but these days you just scroll and something brand new and horrible hits you in the face every few hours. I need to be able to do my job, at least.

Comments

[axolotls]

Nice! What did you get? I got a FiiO M6 a couple years back, was expensive but it had the kind of interface and buttons I wanted (dedicated pause button, can do Poweramp since it's just Android), really happy with it. It's nice to be able to listen to music separate from a phone or anything else!

[grayestofghosts]

I was looking at the M6 for like ten seconds because it was advertising itself for books but I quickly snapped out of it because I hate reading books on my phone and on an even tinier screen would be even worse. It's also too expensive for an impulse purchase for me.

I got the Snowsky Echo Mini which will absolutely need expanded memory almost as soon as I get it. My main requirement was that it be as little like a phone as possible. There were some others with click wheels that I was looking at but apparently the wheels weren't great and the software would likely need to be replaced to make them adequate and I didn't know if I wanted to mess with that. Also for a moment I was looking at Mighty which is a screenless device with Spotify integration but I think having to navigate playlists with voice controls would have made me crazy. I think the Snowsky will have what I want but we will see how it works when I have it in my hot little hands.

[axolotls]

Reading books on it would be very odd, it is quite small! (Which is part of why I chose it, actually, so that it can fit in my bomber jacket pockets.) Yeah though, I had to get it as a birthday gift because of how expensive it was, but it was basically the best option I could find for my needs hah, and I am happy with it (though I'm always afraid of scratching it! Already have a few little scratches :') I hate screen protectors thooough).

Ohhh wow, that's pretty! Love the buttons on the side! I hope you enjoy it! What colour did you get?

[grayestofghosts]

I got it today and am figuring it out now. One thing I've learned is that it will freak the fuck out if you accidentally put a jpeg in there. I got the blue one! It's very interesting seeing the ins and outs of some of this stuff. Like I tried sorting a playlist into its own album so it would organize easily and one track won't take the album artwork... turns out it's the only one in the bunch that's an actual mp3 and not a m4a. Wacky.

[axolotls]

Oh, that's weird! Hopefully the kinks get worked out? Might be worth giving them some feedback, I know they did firmware updates for the M6 while it was still relatively new.

[fred_mouse]

Oh nice! I have an ipod that I still use, and recently acquired a second hand dock for it so that I don't have to use the scroll wheel as much. Mostly I have it playing one specific album while I do computer work, because I find it helps me focus, and a single album is a good length of time to sit.

[grayestofghosts]

iPods were so good and I wish I still had my old iPod. We lost something when we lost the click wheel, it was so satisfying.

A single album is a good amount of time... we have a record player and sometimes I'll time things by the length of a record.

[fred_mouse]

I stopped using it for years because it was a bit fussy, and my phone was easy. But now that I've started avoiding the phone and don't want to use spotify, the ipod is a really good option.

I've also done the length of recording thing for more active things, although that is usually a CD. I do have a turntable, but it is a tad more finicky than just throwing a CD in to play.

[tozka]

I recently dug out my old iPod and surprisingly enough it seems to be in good shape still! I was going to upgrade it with a new battery and SSD but honestly if it's still working I might just leave it for a while...

I also can't really hear whatever the audiophiles say is good/bad, even when you're going from 320kpbs to, like, FLAC. *shrug* I think if you're not already a musician or audio editor or whatever with a golden ear then you don't need one of the $$$ DAPs honestly.

[grayestofghosts]

Honestly I think the cheap DAP + cheap KOSS earbuds still has better sound quality than my iPhone and bluetooth earbuds (which are also admittedly very cheap). I can't hear the finer points that are apparently significant but a part of that is probably also that I put on music when I'm doing other things so perfect sound quality would not be an issue even if I could tell the difference.

I wish I still had my iPod. Using the buttons on my new device and the touch screen on my phone is just making me marvel at what a thing of beauty the clickwheel was. Why did we get rid of it?

[tozka]

Well from a capitalist POV I suppose it's easier to sell an "everything all in one device" thing to more people than a "music in your pocket" device that most people probably didn't care about. :P I'm just surprised my iPod still works as well as it does; I bought the thing in 2007 or 2008 and it still works! If I tried to use a smart phone nearly 20 years old I don't know how well that'd go.

[grayestofghosts]

You say that but it seemed like everyone had an iPod at the time! If it wasn't an iPod it was a zune, or some Sony thing, and before thay there were walkmans... it seems kind of like the opposite, tbh. I remember people putting music on their early smart phones because of course it was easier to put everything into one device, but it was hard because back then they hardly had any storage.

Circa 2010 my LG phone with the full keyboard, which I had just before I got my first iPhone, I was very excited about because it had a basic browser, but also had AOL, MSN, and Yahoo instant messengers integrated. At the time I used all three. None of these services exist anymore.

[tozka]

lol I wonder if it depended on location! 2005-2008-ish I was in high school going into college in Albuquerque at the time and while plenty of people had the Shuffle, they only seemed to ever use it when they went out jogging. None of my contemporaries had a proper iPod, and before that I was the only person with a CD player, too. But as soon as the iPod Touch dropped in 2007 it seemed like everyone had one! And then of course iPhones a bit later, especially around 2010 it seemed like everyone made the switch. I was a holdout and didn't get a smartphone until 2012; even my parents had iPhones before me, haha!