3 ms·

mp3 players are pretty niche. For normal day to day stuff I already have my phone which has all features any mp3 player has and I want to carry it for other rea

mp3 players are pretty niche. For normal day to day stuff I already have my phone which has all features any mp3 player has and I want to carry it for other reasons as well. There needs to be a good reason to carry extra device. I could see carrying something that has much better sound quality with amp that can drive some more hobbyist headphones, but I don't know if such devices are made - at least all the mp3 players I've seen are made to be as cheap as possible.

signaru 4y ago
I agree, it is pretty niche and I belong to that niche. As a music nerd myself, it was dedicated storage and just being used to having music offline without the streaming services. The iPod nano was so tiny, that it felt like nothing is in my jacket's pocket. I do have some music on my phone, but it's photos that are mostly taking up its storage. I literally have gigabytes worth of music and also audiobooks that are several hundreds of megabytes each. Though I don't have data to support it, I'm also trying to conserve my phone's battery.
tobz1000 4y ago
If you listen to music all day, saving phone battery life is a pretty good reason. Plus a non-Android MP3 player can get 40-100 hours on a charge. > all the mp3 players I've seen are made to be as cheap as possible. There are plenty of high-end players which prioritise sound quality and provide a better output than phones. The NW-ZX700 in the featured article looks to be one of these. FiiO is another well-known higher-end brand: https://www.fiio.com/m17 https://www.fiio.com/m17
- noxvilleza 4y ago
  I wouldn't call FiiO high-end, they have a pretty wide range in most products (including DAPs) that goes from budget to relatively high-end ($1800). Astell & Kern start about one step down from FiiO's high-end, but can take you much higher (their ULTIMA SP3000 is ~$4300).
csdvrx 4y ago
> There needs to be a good reason to carry extra device Funny enough, for me that extra device is the phone: I see no reason to carry a "phone" for normal day-to-day stuff as my walkman has all the features I normally need (email, PDF viewer). I want to carry it for other reasons as well: due to its smaller screen size, the walkman limits the use of addictive social media.
lmarcos 4y ago
Main reason to use a standalone mp3 device is: doing excersie (sports, running, etc.). I cannot play, let's say basketball with my phone hanging around. Nor running, nor almost anything that implies excersising.

signaru 4y ago

I agree, it is pretty niche and I belong to that niche. As a music nerd myself, it was dedicated storage and just being used to having music offline without the streaming services. The iPod nano was so tiny, that it felt like nothing is in my jacket's pocket. I do have some music on my phone, but it's photos that are mostly taking up its storage. I literally have gigabytes worth of music and also audiobooks that are several hundreds of megabytes each. Though I don't have data to support it, I'm also trying to conserve my phone's battery.

tobz1000 4y ago

If you listen to music all day, saving phone battery life is a pretty good reason. Plus a non-Android MP3 player can get 40-100 hours on a charge. > all the mp3 players I've seen are made to be as cheap as possible. There are plenty of high-end players which prioritise sound quality and provide a better output than phones. The NW-ZX700 in the featured article looks to be one of these. FiiO is another well-known higher-end brand: https://www.fiio.com/m17 https://www.fiio.com/m17

noxvilleza 4y ago
I wouldn't call FiiO high-end, they have a pretty wide range in most products (including DAPs) that goes from budget to relatively high-end ($1800). Astell & Kern start about one step down from FiiO's high-end, but can take you much higher (their ULTIMA SP3000 is ~$4300).

csdvrx 4y ago

> There needs to be a good reason to carry extra device Funny enough, for me that extra device is the phone: I see no reason to carry a "phone" for normal day-to-day stuff as my walkman has all the features I normally need (email, PDF viewer). I want to carry it for other reasons as well: due to its smaller screen size, the walkman limits the use of addictive social media.

lmarcos 4y ago

Main reason to use a standalone mp3 device is: doing excersie (sports, running, etc.). I cannot play, let's say basketball with my phone hanging around. Nor running, nor almost anything that implies excersising.