Audio Portable music player for 20k

bennysachdev

bennysachdev

Adept
Hey guys,

I am looking for a portable music player with good storage and an excellent sound quality. I'll be playing mostly flac files and using them with my tf10 and earsonic sm3.

It doesnt need to be pocketable, it can be something like a dap + dac/amp.

I have no idea about the new players so your inputs would be valuable.

Cheers.
 
Hello Benny,

I was looking for a DAP as well recently and actually had been wanting to own a nice little something from Cowon's line of players. I ended up ordering the Cowon X9 (16GB, expandable) last week and still awaiting it's arrival later this week from Flipkart. Can't wait to try it out with my M50's! The 16GB version of the X9 costed me 13k and the reviews looked pretty solid to me.

Adding a little further under 20k you can also look at the FiiO X3, iPod Classic (Rockbox it if you want) or the Cowon iAudio 9+, Cowon iAudio 10 and the X9 in their different storage capacity variants. However, the iAudio 10 for one has a slightly poor UI so that's something that kept me away from buying it. From the 3 Cowon players that I mentioned only the X9 has a slot for expansion (MicroSD), the iAudio series comes with fixed on-board storage.

P.S. The highly portable Sansa Clip Zip and an additional amp like a FiiO E11 (should you require an amp that is) also sounds fantastic and according to me is one of most neutral and excellent sounding equipment. Best part is the Clip Zip can be Rockboxed and comes at a very tempting price as well.
 
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I'll save you the trouble of reading through extensively on Head-fi and other forums....get the Fiio X5, period.
Bit above your budget, but well worth it! Would be better if you can score a used one somewhere.

Between me and my two cousins, both of whom are audio enthusiasts; we have tried almost every DAP available in the market, save for the AK240 and maybe the Tera Altmann and the Calyx.
While we may not agree that it has the best sound among its competitors in its category (obviously due to varying musical tastes), but all three of us agree that the X5 is one of the best overall and feature-rich DAPs available around the budget you mentioned.

If you were to use it with IEMs, as you mentioned, no need for an amp whatsoever. In fact, it is even able to drive full-size headphones pretty well.
Two micro sd slots will take care of your storage memory woes.
Plus, you can always use it as a dac/amp with your PC/laptop, whenever required.

My personal opinion, of course.
 
Congratulations Benny on your new X5! At 18k that's a very, very good deal. Too bad where I'm at I can't seem to find it at locally at all nor on Ebay. Primary reason I went for the Cowon since it was the next best alternative.

Cheers mate and enjoy your music! :)
 
I was contemplating between the DX90 and the X5 and every review I read gave me the impression that SQ wise, the X5 has more bass and a warmer sound which suits my musical needs and the DX90 is more analytical with a bigger sound.
 
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