Searching for a DAP with strict requirements

[q3cpma]

Hello,

I am currently rocking a Sansa Clip+ with Rockbox, but it is slowly dying (jack desoldering and battery wear). I also have a Fuze+ in case of actual player death, but its touch interface is horrendous. So I'm searching for a new DAP with the following features:
* Physical buttons
* Vorbis or Opus playback
* Good replaygain support (i.e. album mode and reading of the peak value)
* Snappy OS and simple mass storage USB mode; no Android
* SD card slot
* No wi-fi connectivity and bluetooth that can be disabled (or no bluetooth at all)
* Small factor size
* "Good" battery life
* Album shuffle

As you can guess, the last requirement is the one missing from most players. Does anyone have an idea?

 

[VintageFlanker]

Hello,

I am currently rocking a Sansa Clip+ with Rockbox, but it is slowly dying (jack desoldering and battery wear). I also have a Fuze+ in case of actual player death, but its touch interface is horrendous. So I'm searching for a new DAP with the following features:
* Physical buttons
* Vorbis or Opus playback
* Good replaygain support (i.e. album mode and reading of the peak value)
* Snappy OS and simple mass storage USB mode; no Android
* SD card slot
* No wi-fi connectivity and bluetooth that can be disabled (or no bluetooth at all)
* Small factor size
* "Good" battery life
* Album shuffle

As you can guess, the last requirement is the one missing from most players. Does anyone have an idea?

I'm not sure if this check all your requirements, but I would take a look at the Cayin N3.

 

[Nango]

Check XDP-02U is one of the few not running Android.

 

[q3cpma]

Thanks for the rec. Do you know if it does album shuffle, which is the only way I listen to music?

 

[Nango]

Yes, it does, shuffle, hapless, repeat 1 and repeat all. You may also define playlists and shuffle thru. You may also choose an artist with X albums and shuffle thru.

 

[Hemi-Demon]

Dethonray Prelude DTR1


There a thread on it here over at head-fi, its sold at penon audio and here is a subjective, but thorough review

https://audiofool.reviews/2019/07/09/dethonray-dtr1/

 

[mirceat]

Shanling M0 could be added to the short list. ReplayGain has been promised, but not available, yet.
All the other requirements would be fulfilled, I guess.
Snappy and mature MTouch OS system developed by Shanling, OGG support, no wi-fi, BT can be disabled, SD slot, extremely small size 45 x 40 x 13.5 mm, 38g, 1.54 inch touch screen, rated to 15hrs battery life.
From the manual: Shuffle – M0 will play files from chosen Album/folder/playlist in random order. Files will be played only once.
More info at https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sha...ransport-and-ess-sabre-es9218p-fw-3-0.874859/
Device and accessories available at audiophonics.fr.

 

[q3cpma]

Those all seem quite bad, but thanks anyway. It really looks like my current DAPs must not die (I still have a Fuze+ in store) because paying hundreds of dollars for something worse (weight, volume, battery life, proprietary OS) isn't something I can do.
What's really annoying is that all those big guys like Fiio all ignore our pleas for such a simple and important feature that all iPods had.

 

[q3cpma]

Shanling M0 could be added to the short list. ReplayGain has been promised, but not available, yet.
All the other requirements would be fulfilled, I guess.
Snappy and mature MTouch OS system developed by Shanling, OGG support, no wi-fi, BT can be disabled, SD slot, extremely small size 45 x 40 x 13.5 mm, 38g, 1.54 inch touch screen, rated to 15hrs battery life.
From the manual: Shuffle – M0 will play files from chosen Album/folder/playlist in random order. Files will be played only once.
More info at https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sha...ransport-and-ess-sabre-es9218p-fw-3-0.874859/
Device and accessories available at audiophonics.fr.

I've looked at that device and I liked it a lot on paper, but it doesn't have album shuffle, right? By that, I mean "play a random album completely and in order when reaching the end of the current album".
The rest of the device is spot on, though. Small, long battery life and can be updated without an OS specific tool.

 

[mirceat]

Not sure about the answer, I'm not a regular user of the shuffle mode.
In my test, after playing an album in shuffle mode, the player skips to the next album in the folder. It's very likely your requirement could be fulfilled in some way. Best option would be to specifically ask on the above mentioned head-fi thread.

 

[CerealKiller]

Hello,

I am currently rocking a Sansa Clip+ with Rockbox, but it is slowly dying (jack desoldering and battery wear). I also have a Fuze+ in case of actual player death, but its touch interface is horrendous. So I'm searching for a new DAP with the following features:
* Physical buttons
* Vorbis or Opus playback
* Good replaygain support (i.e. album mode and reading of the peak value)
* Snappy OS and simple mass storage USB mode; no Android
* SD card slot
* No wi-fi connectivity and bluetooth that can be disabled (or no bluetooth at all)
* Small factor size
* "Good" battery life
* Album shuffle

As you can guess, the last requirement is the one missing from most players. Does anyone have an idea?

I fell you....
Same Quest here.
What Will i do when my beloved clip+ says no More.

Im about to pull the trigger on the shanling M0 plus the accesories because it lacks "the clip"

 

[q3cpma]

Finally bought an Xduoo X3 II, since the Rockbox support should be good.

 

[jluppi]

Finally bought an Xduoo X3 II, since the Rockbox support should be good.

Does the Xduoo X3 II shuffle albums? It is also my favorite mode and they never bother to mention it in the descriptions.

 

[q3cpma]

The database mode doesn't, but if you use folder view, you have a mode (https://download.rockbox.org/daily/...plus/rockbox-buildch12.html#x14-33100012.4.19) where you can auto jump to a random entry from a folder list you generated before. If you flatten your multi-disc albums, this is basically "album shuffle".
As for the original firmware, I don't think it has this. Not that I have explored it very much.