When it comes to buying portable music players, a lot of known brands are strongly competing in the market. Aside from its music playing capabilities, most of the devices come with other features like camera, applications, games and etc. With the development of the said features, some brands were not able to strongly prioritize the sound quality of the music player. And yes, it defeats the purpose!
For me, the real and main purpose of a portable music player is to play music (just music). You'll be surprised that the mainstream brands like iPod, Sony & Philips didn't make it to our list.
Here's our top 3 list of Portable DAP's that can be bought in the Philippines:
Top 3: HiSound Rocoo P
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Just saw this magnificent shot at headfi.org, credits to the owner
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It can play high resolution formats like FLAC at a very minimal wallet bleed. Although the screen is small and the interface is quite hard to navigate, it gets the job done by producing OUTSTANDING MUSIC QUALITY. It's like having an amplifier and a music player in one!
A cool Youtube review that pretty much sums up what Rocco P is.
Specifications
- Frequency Response: 10Hz-21kHz
- Sensitivity (dB): 105 dB
- Impedance: 32 ohms
- Signal-to-Noise: 96dB
- Memory capacity: 4G＋expanding SD card slot.
- Card Compatibility: MicroSD, HCSD
- Battery capacity: 600 mAh rechargeable Li-ion battery
- Battery continually playing time: > 10hours (volume @ 3)
- Proprietary Power Saving technology: EMA Techonology (Energy Management and Admeasurement Technology)
- Compatible formats: MP3, WMA, WAV, FLAC, OGG, AAC
- Screen: 1 inch OLED
- Color available: Brushed black
- UI Operation: Mechanical key button operation (one-hand and blind operation capability)
- USB type: mini USB 2.0
- Dimension: 81.85 mm L x 50 mm W x 20.65 (MM)
- Weight: 110G
- Price: Around PHP 6,000.00 - 7,500.00
Contents
- Rocoo P
- PAA-1 earbuds or Sometimes a Hisound Popo (My favorite bass heavy IEM) worth P 2,700
- Wall Charger (without adaptor)
- USB Cable
- User manual (chinese and english)
- VIP card for future purchases
- http://www.head-fi.org/products/hisoundaudio-rocoo-p/reviews/6025
- http://www.head-fi.org/products/hisoundaudio-rocoo-p/reviews/7067
Top 2: Sandisk Sansa Clip+
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Looks Sweet!
The Little Tank, Mini El Terrible, Giant Killer of Portable Music Players
*Photo Courtesy of wikipedia.org
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This expensive-looking device might fool you, but this one is a budget audiophile classic. Just for 2500 pesos, this mini budget portable DAP (Digital to Analog Player) is a BOMB and it packs a lot of power! It's unbeatable for the price.
It's Fight Time! Ipod vs Clip+
This Review is Super Nice! <333
It can play most music formats including FLAC files. It's quite rare to see a budget DAP that can last for hours even if it's playing FLAC. This budget DAP also supports "Line Out" which means it can bring out its true power through an external amplifier.
This device will be efficient to bring during travels or workouts because of its portability. Plus, Sansa Clip+ could be rockboxed! To know more about rockbox visit:
http://www.rockbox.org/
Specifications
- Memory Type: Flash
- Expansion Slot: MicroSD
- Audio Playback: 15 HOURS
- Battery Type: Rechargeable (Unspecified Technology)
- Charging Connection: USB
- Display Size: 1 Inch
- Display Type: OLED
- Radio Tuner
- Built-In Microphone
- Audio Features: Preset Eqs
- CONNECTIVITY
- Wired Connectivity: miniUSB
- Headphone Connection: 3.5mm
- Audio Formats:
- FLAC
- MP3
- OGG
- WMA
- WMA Lossless
- Price: P 2,500.00
- Available at: Power Up Audio Cebu (Don't worry they ship this nationwide) :) Cheers!
Reviews
- http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/sansa-clip-measured.html
- http://www.head-fi.org/products/sandisk-sansa-clip-8-gb-mp3-player-black/reviews/6629
Top 1: Fiio X3
Dude Define true HIFI at a cheap price!
Fiio is a very popular budget amplifier company that made their 1st Portable Music Player a massive hit among audiophiles across the globe.
Our top spot belongs to Fiio X3! This is a budget audiophile dream come true, a portable music player that possesses a Wolfson WM8740 sound-card for 8,500 Pesos which is used at the highly regarded and pricey Iriver AK100 which cost almost USD $700.
Fiio X3 is a great budget Music Player and Amplifier in ONE!
The resolution and clarity of the is simply amazing, you'll hear every detail like you've never heard before. Sound Quality is insanely amazingly awesome especially for the price, Fiio X3 sound quality punch up to 3x its price. It's measurements speaks the truth! (checkout the reviews below to know more)
Battery life is outstanding and external memory support is also jaw dropping!
Ipod and Sony Walkman should definitely step up their game before their mp3 players sale dies.
Specifications
- CPU: Ingenic Z4760 600MHz dual cores
- DAC: Wolfson WM8740
- Opamp: AD8397 (headphone-out)
- Internal Memory: 8GB (7.3GB usable)
- Expansion Slot: TF card, support up to 64GB SDXC (FAT32)
- Data transfer：USB 2.0 High Speed, Write/Read - 4.5 MB/s
- Output Connection:
- 3.5mm Stereo Headphone-out
- 3.5mm stereo line-out
- 3.5mm Coaxial S/PDIF (adapted included)
- Recommend Headphone Impedance: 16~300Ω
- Size: 55 x 109 x 16 (mm)
- Weight: 122g
- Volume: 60 steps digital control
- Screen: TFT 320 x 240.
- Hardware EQ:
- Treble +/-10dB
- Bass +/-10dB
- Channel Balance: +/-5dB, 0.5dB increment.
- Gain: 0dB (Low) and 6dB (High)
- Power Supply: USB 5V/500mA (> 1.5A recommended)
- Battery Capacity: 3000mAH Li-Polymer
- LED Indicator: Red – Charging; Green - Full
- Battery life: > 10hours
- Charging time: < 4hours (5V, 1.5A)
- Line-out Performance:
- Distortion < 0.004%@1KHz
- SNR > 108 dB (A weighted）
- Frequency Response: 10Hz~20KHz（+/-0.2)
- Dynamic > 103dB
- Stereo Crosstalk > 90 dB @10KΩ @1KHz
- Line Voltage > 1.7Vrms
- Headphone-out Performance:
- Power > 540 mW@16Ω, 270 mW@32Ω, 30 mW@300Ω
- Output Impedance <0.3Ω
- Stereo Crosstalk >75 dB@1KHz
- Distortion< 0.005%@1KHz
- Frequency Response: 10Hz~20KHz（+/-0.2)
- Peak Voltage > 8Vp-p
- SNR > 105 dB
- Max Current > 250 mA
- Relay Protection again voltage / current surge
- Format Support:
- Lossless (Max Bitdepth / Bitrate):
- APE (Fast) 24/192
- APE (Normal) 24/96
- APE (High) 24/96
- FLAC 24/192
- WAV 24/192
- WMA 9.1 LOSSLESS 24/192
- Apple Lossless (ALAC) 24/192
- Lossy (Up to 16bit / 48kbps):
- MP3
- MP2
- OGG
- AAC
- WMA
- Album Art, ID3 tag, Lyric and CUE Supported
- Selectable Gapless Playback
- Firmware Upgradable via TF card
- Auto Sleep (15 to 60 minutes) and Resume (last track or last position) supported|
- Price: P 8,500
- Available at: The headphone capital of the Philippines (Egghead Audiohub)
Reviews
- http://www.headfonia.com/first-impression-fiio-x3-dap/
- http://www.head-fi.org/t/663600/impression-fiio-x3-high-fi-low-price
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbQvFjoMEiw
Note 1: Other budget audiophile music players like Ibasso DX50 (The Listening Room Megamall is planning to have this available for P 11,500) Colorfly 3, Hisound Nova & several models from Cowon would have made the list if they're readily available in the country.
Note #2: If you're looking for high end and high resolution portable music players you may want to check: Ibasso DX100, HM901 (Available locally Egghead Audiohub P 45,000), HiSound Rocco BA / Power Edition / Studio, Iriver AK120 (Available at Egghead Audiohub for P 63,590) and the upcoming Fiio X5.
Conclusion
Want to hear music the way it's supposed to be without getting bankrupt? Try these budget friendly Portable DAP's and I'm quite sure you'll be satisfied. Fortunately, it's available in the Philippines for us to devour! :) Happy Listening!
Thanks for reading, No Apps, No Games, Just MUSIC!
