Super light, cheap, lossless MP3 player that drives good headphones

[lolipop_jones]

@the_borderer

I use a Sansa Fuse with Rockbox now.

Check out what a new-old-stock Sansa Fuze sells for these days. Rockbox is the reason.

[gellfex]

@lolipop_jones

Did I mention that I bought three Sansa Fuzes, and five Clips, back when they were cheap, just so I could have Rockbox-equipped hardware for many years??

Prices on all the discontinued Sansas have doubled or tripled since they were replaced by newer models that cannot be rockboxed. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.

SHHHHH!!! I did the same but I need some more, I’m really hard on them, and my son just sent his Clip though the wash. I’ve had a few just crap out for no obvious reason. Honestly, I’m listening more while working through the phone and cheap light bluetooth headphones (SB271). I work with my hands, and even with the player clipped to my belt and the cord threaded up inside my shirt it sometimes catches and yanks out of the player, often damaging the socket. I’ve opened and resoldered them with some success, but it’s a PITA.

[redesigned]

I can’t find the yellow one anywhere, despite it smugly peer out at me from behind the others in the amazon group product shot. wanty want.

[popobawa4u]

@fredtal

With all the background noise in cars and all, lossless portable music is futile.

That’s what hardcore insulated wraparound big-driver headphones are for. I would not drive a car with the things on, but I can use them when I am out. I can listen to some lossy podcasts or lectures and still enjoy lossless music once I am someplace less noisy.

[popobawa4u]

@fuzzyfungus

(It really takes me back, though: back in the day I had an iRiver IHP-140, 40GB HDD, wired remote with separate screen and control buttons, massive battery life, headphone jack plus mic, line-in, and the option to use optical SPDIF in/outs instead of analog. And it had rockbox support, so FLAC and OGG and DOOM. And this was back in 2003, when the pod people had either 2nd or 3rd gen iPods at the latest. Totally fucking ruled. Alas, they’ve faded into obscurity.)

Too right. My main unit is still an iHP-120 with a 40 GB drive running Rockbox. It’s my favorite audio player I’ve had, and I am not giving it up voluntarily. It is the only one I have ever heard of which can record uncompressed audio.

The only complaint I have about it is that it interfaces with USB instead if Firewire, but that’s fairly typical.

[ablufia]

it may be worth noting that, while it can accept up to 64gb card, it can only recognise a maximum of 4000 tracks.

[GilbertWham]

I put a Sansa Clip through a 40deg wash and it still worked. They were/are fucking fantastic little things.

[slothpuck]

I have both the sansa clip+ and fuze+ here and they both run rockbox fine. I think you can possibly still (I’m from the UK btw) find - clip +'s from new for sale on amazon. More importantly at least for me the clip+/fuze+ will take a large microsd card. I have a 128gb micro sd card here and it works in both with rockbox!

ljones

[lolipop_jones]

Jason, does the player recognize .m3u playlists, or only those created on the fly within its firmware?

[lolipop_jones]

When the last of my various Sansas has died and I can’t even run it with a little external power cell velcro’d to its back, I will consider getting some shitty, unmoddable Android app to listen to music and audiobooks, but not before.

[TobinL]

@lolipop_jones

When the last of my various Sansas has died

One of the reasons I wanted the E series so many years ago is it has a user serviceable battery. So when the battery finally goes kaput I can replace it.

[LockeCJ]

@the_borderer

Rio Karma

I loved my Karma. It was made by the same guys that made the Empeg/Rio Car. Both of those were legendary, and legendarily obscure.

[gellfex]

@TobinL

One of the reasons I wanted the E series so many years ago is it has a user serviceable battery. So when the battery finally goes kaput I can replace it

None of mine has lasted till it needed a new battery. But I can tell you from doing other forms of surgery on Fuzes and Clips that replacing the battery is not that difficult if you are good with your hands and soldering iron.