After cameras can we do MP3 players? My sandisk jam fell apart after 3 years, so am asking a relative for a new one for Christmas. As my price point is around the £50 point have narrowed it down to 2: the fiio M3 and the APTEK Rocker. The former has some iffy reviews around UI and indexing your files, the latter doesnt have the fiio name but does have Bluetooth. Any users of either please post your experiences. I’m likely to be playing from my digital shelves initially mp3s at 320 rather than anything lossless, but could of course rip stuff again to the hi res formats. Usage is travel really, so that I don’t have huge amounts of spotify offline clogging up my phone.
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moseleymoles says
This pops up in several online reviews – though its also called something like the Beiji in other markets….
Moose the Mooche says
I have one. After five months I’m still not sure about it. It sounds great but the interface is very primitive after an iPod classic. The internal library stops at 15,000 songs (what am I, ten years old??) and navigating around it takes a lorra patience. It’s only fifty quid, but you need a memory card, of course.
The takeaway menu English in the instructions doesn’t inspire confidence.
fentonsteve says
I bought a Fiio M3 for my wife to wreck at the gym. It is awful.
I bought her a X1 instead. It is brilliant. The X1 mk 2 is now only £85.
If ever there was a better reason to stretch your budget by 35 quid, that is a shining example.
moseleymoles says
Ah you see then I’m actually asking my relatives to provide a discount on something I am essentially buying for myself, as their share is probably £35 max which is fine for me to top up to £50 but once their share drops to 40 percent they are not really buying me a present. The great British Christmas. So @moose-the-mooche is there anything actually wrong with the Rocker other than its primitive UI compared to the silky smoothness of the Apple
Moose the Mooche says
No… it’s just… unsatisfying. I don’t quite trust it.
But, as I said, fifty quid. Worth a punt.
fentonsteve says
I really don’t know how to say this in polite company, but Do Not Buy a M3 Because It Is Shit.
The M3 bares little resemblance to any other Fiio product. I strongly suspect Fiio had nothing to do with the development of the M3 and simply bought in an OEM product from a Chinese factory.
The X1 is hi-fi in your pocket. It is probably better sounding than your CD player. If you have a computer to load music onto it, an amp and speakers, that’s all you need for a hifi system.
I designed a similar high-end product for a German firm but it was years ahead of its time. It had 8GB of on-board Flash memory, no expansion capability, similar audio performance, and cost 300 quid (in 2007).
Don’t forget the X1 has no onboard memory. Why not ask your rellies to buy you a 128GB microSD card or Soundmagic E10 earbuds (both £35 each) and buy the X1 yourself?
Honestly, I’d rather come round and give you the 35 quid than see you buy a M3.
johnw says
I’m also looking for a new player to replace my Sandisk one but, compared to what I’m used to, the X1 is huge! I don’t really have a budget but I want a small player. In fact what I want is a 64G ipod nano put obviously I’ll have to whistle for that. I’ve had the M3 in my Amazon basket for a few weeks now and it’s the reviews of the interface that have put me off… and the fact the 8G built in can’t be easily used (my sandisk has 4G built in and it blends with the SD card capacity seamlessly).
fentonsteve says
Honestly, don’t do it (see above).
The X1 is 97x55x12mm – that’s 4x2x0.5 inches in old money. Similar size to an iPod Classic.
But the X1 contains a portable hi-fi, which even the iPod did not.
Freddy Steady says
@fentonteve
You’re on commission for the X1 aren’t you?!
minibreakfast says
Steve is good at getting you to slightly stretch your budget, but he won’t ever steer you wrong.
(I say this as the proud owner of a spiffy brand new turntable, amp and speakers. 😃)
fentonsteve says
I wish I was on commission from Fiio, but sadly I am not. Mind you, given how much they cram in the X1 and still manage to sell it for £85, I doubt anybody involved is making much money.
I take the long-term ownership view. As Mini says, I know the best-value points – that’s not always the cheapest, but is often the next model up. For example, I steered Mini towards an amp which cost £50 (30%) more but has 50% more power, a built-in phono stage (worth £80 if bought separately), 25% more inputs, and remote control.
minibreakfast says
And now I can hear Dylan’s Christmas phlegm in sparkling hi-fi!
Lodestone of Wrongness says
My kind and ancient aunt usually gives me a hundred quid for Xmas ( I know, lucky me) and I have been pondering buying the fiio X1 so I can listen to Bob’s Christmas album through headphones without having to worry what Lady W is doing with that broom handle.
I almost bought it last year but got put off by a comment something along the lines of “you have to update the library every time you add a new track which can take hours”
So, oh wise Steve – is this actually the case? Can I press “confirm purchase” yet?
fentonsteve says
That’s only true if you use the scattergun approach to folders.
The firmware automatically runs a library rescan whenever you add tracks to any folder. If you store all your tracks in the root folder, it has to rescan the whole lot and can take an age. If you store the tracks in a folder structure, it only rescans the folders in which the contents have changed – and is very quick.
Don’t name your tracks like this:
Track name = Artist – Album – Track Number – Track Title
and dump them all in one huge directory.
Do this instead (for example):
Folder name = Artist / Folder name = Album / Track name = Track Number – Track Title
If you think you’re going to have nightmare doing that, mp3tag.exe (freeware) can do it for you automatically.
It’s the best-sounding 85 quid you will spend. The UI is not up to Apple standards, but I expect there are Youtube videos of it if you want to check in advance. You just need to give it a helping hand/fighting chance.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Purchase Confirmed, it says here. Cheers (and won’t Christmas Day be fun – “Why is he looking at that device and muttering what’s a folder?”)
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Sorry to bother @fentonsteve again. I won’t unpack the X1 until Boxing Day but can I simply plug it into a MacPro and then copy drag the folders I want from iTunes straight across without necessarily having to go through the complications of ensuring the folders are in the ‘correct’ format ie if they work on iTunes won’t they be just fine on the X1?
My cunning plan is to only have 10 to 20 albums on the X1 at any one time…
fentonsteve says
Dunno, I’m not an iOS user. If nobody else here can confirm, download the user guide from the Fiio website.
I do know it plays iTunes+ (DRM-free) downloaded m4a files but not the old DRM-locked sort. If that helps at all.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
I am trying to avoid descending into our vast cellar which used to house winemaking machinery but now contains 15 years of “don’t chuck it, might be useful one day” detritus including approx 12375 CDs. I only borrow my wife’s Mac for iTunes so my iOS expertise ranks alongside my cat’s.
fentonsteve says
I don’t do iTunes on Windows, either. I didn’t install iTunes on my latest PC, and it is still running after 3 or 4 years. The two might be related.
MC Escher says
I would concur with the positive comments re Fiio sound. It’s better than my standalone CD player (which is getting on a bit to be fair).
As a very happy Fiio owner the only downside is the very poor playlist functionality. You can get round this by some internet searching and file manipulation, but really, if they sorted the UI out they would rule the portable world.
moseleymoles says
@fentonsteve final q from me on the X1 I’ll be playing 320 mp3’s with some decentish headphones, will they sound any better than on my old sandisk clipjam. Getting rels to buy the storage is a good call, they can do that completely. Not v exciting but hey they ask what I want…
fentonsteve says
Yes they will. The X1 has a proper soundcard-style DAC and proper headphone driver chips. They won’t sound quite as good as losslesss, though, and given the better hardware you might find yourself re-ripping some to Flac. I notice the difference more when listening via cans – no room acoustics or other distractions and the sound beaming straight into my ear canals.
I have an X3 as well, which has an extra wallop mode for difficult to drive headphones, and I run my huge Audeze magneto-planar cans really loud from it. Not in public, though, or I would look like a right plum / mugger’s gift.
Duncan Disorderly says
Sorry to bother you @fentonsteve, but the description of the player on the dodgers’ site refers to supporting “all Fiio headphones as well as android headphones”. Will the x1 2nd gen simply play in my common-or-garden Sennheisers (not android, just basic earphones)?
fentonsteve says
Yes, they will. All that means is some Android headphones (and old Apple ones) have a little pause/play/next button in line with the cable and a 4-pin connector.
Normal stereo headphones have a 3-pin plug (Left, Right, Ground). The player simply ignores the non-existent control widget.
Fiio do make some headphones. I have not tried them but I have heard very good reports. If my Sennheiser earbuds ever break, I’ll buy a pair.
moseleymoles says
@fentonsteve AKA the Hifi Guy no there is one question left. SD card recommendation? I am not likely to be ripping ultra ultra hires files but could easily get into FLAC down the line.
fentonsteve says
Avoid cheap brands if you intend going anything above lossless CD quality (1.4Mb/s). For instance, high-res 24/192 files are 9.2Mb/s.
The higher the write speed, the higher the read speed.
Class C10 is the same as Class U1 same as Class V10 = 10Mb/s write speed. Class U3 = Class V30 = 30Mb/s write speed.
The dodgers have a 128GB Sandisk Class U1 for £42 and a Samsung Class U3 for £44.
128GB appears to be the sweet-spot capacity at the moment. 256GB Samsung is £114 – twice the capacity for 2.5 times the price.
MC Escher says
Really don’t bother going for better than CD quality files though, you won’t notice the difference and you will save yourself a great deal of space.
JustB says
Hark! I hear the sound of @fentonsteve’s head exploding… 😉
fentonsteve says
Yes, Bob, my head is exploding. Pass the Sudafed, there’s a good chap.
JustB says
😊
fentonsteve says
Given that it is the season of good will, and that my head is so full of snot everything sounds like I’m underwater, let’s just say “you might notice the difference”.
I listen in a quiet environment on big cans. Listening on a train or bus through earbuds, you probably won’t.
MC Escher says
Thought that’d get you back here 🙂 Get well soon !
moseleymoles says
Well @fentonsteve has of course prevailed and have farmed out a 64gb card to the rellies and, after putting in a couple of expenses claims I was not getting round to, gone for the X1 in silver (£3 cheaper than Black). Will possibly post some thoughts here anon. thanks all.
fentonsteve says
A pleasure to help with the easy stuff. And now, a favour in return.
What does Mrs F want for Christmas? I have absolutely no bloody idea.
minibreakfast says
Top tip: ask her.
fentonsteve says
Already tried that. I should know, apparently.
davebigpicture says
A new soldering iron?
moseleymoles says
You say that but soldering equipment is hard to come by these days. Myself (Ms Mole) and Daughter Mole spent a whole weekend trying to track down solder. This was so we could put Mr Moles’ Flying V back together which she’d taken apart James May style.
fentonsteve says
Pesky European Health & Safety legislation has a lot to answer for. You can’t cause third-degree burns from a holt soldering iron, or poisoning from 60:40 lead/tin solder nowadays.
It never did me any harm, apart from to the skin on my fingers. And the second head.
Still, come March 30th 2019 I will take back control to burn and poison myself once more.
Mike_H says
Can you not buy solder in Maplins any more?
Right. That’s it!
I’m no longer a Remoaner/Remainiac.
Brexit all the way for me now!
Update!:
https://www.maplin.co.uk/search/?text=solder
Phew! Disregard my “dark night of the solder” above. We’re safe.
fentonsteve says
Only one reel of 60/40 though (tbh, I’m surprised they still sell it). All the rest is namby-pamby dolphin-friendly Europe-loving safe-to-eat lead-free.
Mike_H says
Bloody dolphins..
Ever see a dolphin with a soldering iron?
I think not!
davebigpicture says
Every tech I knew used to carry a soldering iron and used it regularly on site. I don’t even carry mine any more although I occasionally still use it in the warehouse to repair cables.
minibreakfast says
In that case she deserves what she gets. Maybe a nice ironing board? Or a set of drill bits?
fentonsteve says
The
Hoovervacuum cleaner packed in yesterday. It’s under g’tee, though, and a replacement part is in the post.I think I’m going to go for the Roxy Music Complete Studio Albums on half-speed mastered vinyl box set. If she doesn’t like it, I’ll have to make do with it myself.
Well, she did say “No CDs”.
minibreakfast says
A vacuum cleaner part? Perfect! Make sure you wrap it up pretty.
Moose the Mooche says
The vacuum cleaner is under a goatee? No wonder it packed in – beard hair is a bugger.
minibreakfast says
Any progress with Mrs F’s present yet Steve?
fentonsteve says
The vacuum cleaner spare part turned up yesterday and she’s already opened it. The pressure’s really on now.
We did buy a new car on Monday, as my old banger will fail the MOT in March, but I’m not sure that counts.
Gary says
How about the new Justin Bieber sex doll? It can do all sorts of different sexy poses, you can choose the penis size and it looks just like him. What woman could resist?
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/justin-bieber-been-replicated-sex-11712228
Moose the Mooche says
….women fancy Justin Bieber? Who knew!
moseleymoles says
Ms Moles list was an aromatherapy massage from a local place, plus a ukulele case. She’s also got the Tr…n L.. P…y album set and the R…g S…s from the vaults from the 1982 UK tour which we both saw before we met each other. Plus chocolate, and L’Occitane en Provence stuff.