Cheap ipod classic alternatives?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by fitzysbuna, Mar 13, 2017.

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  1. fitzysbuna

    fitzysbuna Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Australia
    just wondering what is on the market in terms of prices and quality ! thanks !
     
  2. harby

    harby Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR, USA
    I woudn't get an iPod classic or try to emulate its hard drive player format if you're looking for a "complete music library" player. What you'd want is a future-proof player that can use SDXC cards.

    FiiO X5 High Resolution Music Player is $240 and has two SD card slots, but is not a format I would invest in either.

    I use a rockboxed sandisk clip+ when a player the size of a pack of Tic-Tacs is wanted, or my phone with 64GB when I need what's on hand.

    You can get a used Samsung Galaxy S4 or Mini for under $100, or a Nokia 520/635 for under $30, phones which will also take 200gb microsdxc. Then you can also upload via wifi, play streams, watch videos, call 911, which makes buying a more expensive player hard to justify.
     
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  3. keef00

    keef00 Senior Member

    I've got a still-working 160Gb iPod Classic, but I also had an 80Gb 5th gen with a failed HD. I installed an iFlash Dual SD Adapter in it with 2 128Gb SD cards to replace the drive. Now I have a 256Gb iPod. Cost about $110 total.
     
    Bobby Buckshot, fitzysbuna and timind like this.
  4. fitzysbuna

    fitzysbuna Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Australia
    my HD isn't failing it is the Battery. my brother is going to attempt to put a new one this week as soon it comes through the mail.
     
    Ham Sandwich likes this.
  5. markshan

    markshan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    I like the FiiO stuff a lot. Of course, "cheap" is defined very differently by different people.
     
  6. vegafleet

    vegafleet Forum Resident

    You will find lots of people you know that have old Iphones that they don't use anymore because they have moved on to later versions. Ask around your social circle and you will find somebody with a 4, 5 or 6 they don't know what to do with. I use an IPhone 4s as an Ipod. It was free.

    You just have to ask around. Don't be shy.
     
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  7. Donniej

    Donniej Senior Member

  8. fitzysbuna

    fitzysbuna Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Australia
    hmm I think 4k is out of my price range.
     
  9. Nearly 10 years on my Sandisk Sansa View 16gb...Which cost half of the then equivalent iPod, and my 2gb Sansa Clip remain my portable music players.
    Bar Windows 10 not always recognising the Sansa View....They are still bombproof.
    The buying or utilising a old smartphone as mentioned above makes a lot of sense.
     
  10. Sneaky Pete

    Sneaky Pete Flat the 5 and That’s No Jive

    Location:
    NYC USA
    I just bought the Sony NW-A45 for $218 and I love it. It uses a mini sd card and syncs to your iTunes. I highly recommend it.
     
    Sevoflurane likes this.
  11. vegafleet

    vegafleet Forum Resident



    I now also have a hand me down iPhone 6 (64gb) as my new "iPod Touch". Free too.
     
  12. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
  13. fitzysbuna

    fitzysbuna Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Australia
    thanks for all the replys I have taken the plunge and I am getting Sony NW-A35 not sure how big memory card I can fit on it though can't find any info on that part on the internet
     
  14. Solitaire1

    Solitaire1 Carpenters Fan

    It's likely that the $4K player was an initial version aimed towards early adopters. I've seen at least one more similar case with a player that was over $1,000.

    Based on my experience with my own player (NWZ-A17), and the look I took at the NW-A45 it is likely that it will be a great player. The main reasons I hesitated buying an A-45 is: (1) My current player is perfectly adequate for my needs, and (2) it has a touch screen when I'd rather have tactile controls due to my previous experience with touch screen players.
     
  15. Lije Baley

    Lije Baley Forum Resident

    I'm still using my ten-year-old 160GB Classic (gen 6) for travel and in my ten-year-old car. I plan to keep the car (it's a fun one) for quite a while longer and the iPod is my primary source of music when driving. The car is old enough that it only has a proprietary iPod interface, with the 30-pin connector; there's no USB port for universal mp3 connectivity. While I could use the red & white composite jacks in the car, I'd lose the interface on the dash. I think as long as I'm driving this vehicle, I'll need an iPod (maybe an old iPhone as suggested if this iPod fails). I've considered the rebuilt Classics on eBay with memory cards replacing the hard drive, but am nursing my player for as long as it will last. Does anyone have experience with those rebuilt modified Classics?
     
    Bobby Buckshot likes this.
  16. Bobby Buckshot

    Bobby Buckshot Heavy on the grease please

    Location:
    Southeastern US
    I'd also like to know. I'm using an older 8GB nano, and while it works well I'd like something with more capacity. If you run iTunes off of an older iPhone, you don't need network or wifi connectivity correct?
     
  17. Sevoflurane

    Sevoflurane Forum Resident

    I took my 2006 iPod 60GB and installed an iFlash SD card reader in lieu of the hard drive, so it now has a 128GB SD card. Syncs via iTunes like a stock iPod (even shows up as a 128GB iPod on screen despite their never being an official model with that capacity), though file transfer is much slower. It is lighter and the battery appears to last longer. Sounds just as good via headphone out with the advantage that I have space to fill it up with ALAC files. I believe newer modified Classics have some limitations on maximum capacity if iTunes is used, though RockBox firmware can be installed to bypass this. All sounds good, but I rarely use it.

    I tend to use my iPhone 7 for casual listening, and have recently bought the Sony NWA45 mentioned above with a 200GB SD card. That is a very nice machine, though Sony’s software isn’t great. Advantages over a Classic: handles Hi Res and DSD, can drive Bluetooth cans at AptX HD quality, can support up to 256GB micro SD card, probably cheaper overall and is a current model with warranty support etc. The headphone out doesn’t appear to go as loud as a Classic.
     
  18. thermal123

    thermal123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    London UK
    Have you removed the ridiculous EU volume cap? Rockbox SonyNWDestTool. It makes a huge difference to the volume. It doesn't appear to list the A45 as supported but I suspect it will work just fine.
     
    Sevoflurane likes this.
  19. ralphk

    ralphk Ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more

    Location:
    Texas
    I've been looking at that model and have two quick questions.

    What's the largest capacity SD card it can use?

    How well does it handle gapless playback, especially for lossy files on the SD card?

    TIA.
     
  20. Sevoflurane

    Sevoflurane Forum Resident

    Thank you! Volume cap removed by changing country code to USA and it will now drive my Oppo PM3s to insane volumes. Not that I listen to such volumes, but I did feel one or two quieter recordings just didn’t achieve adequate volume. Having spent a couple hours tinkering with it last night I would say SQ with FLAC source files is noticeably better than the normal iPad headphone socket, but not quite as good as the Oppo HA2 headphone amp, which as the HA2 cost twice as much as the Sony is no bad thing. I am slightly disturbed that the Sony plus Bowers and Wilkins PX cans using AptX HD sounds almost as good as the Oppo combination and is also better than the iPad headphone out. Yes, I know AptX HD is lossy, but the PX headphones are very good IMHO.

    1. 256GB is the maximum supported officially. I am using a 200GB card (the increase in price for the extra memory wasn’t worth it). Wouldn’t surprise me if larger cards worked, but i’d want someone to confirm it before spending the cash, personally.
    2. Haven’t used lossy files, but FLAC up to 96K / 24 bit and DSF files ripped from SACD play gapless just fine.
     
    ralphk likes this.
  21. Linto

    Linto Mayor of Simpleton

    Get a used Ibasso DX90/80 on headfi for peanuts, add a Chord Mojo, and there's genuine high end sound for very little
     
  22. stillrockin

    stillrockin Forum Resident

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    I got myself the Sony player and have loaded a 400gb micro sd card with flac files and it handles everything brilliantly. At the moment I am just playing it in random mode with headphones and haven't felt the need to take off the volume limiter but that might have to change if I get to using it in the car.
     
    Sevoflurane likes this.
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