Modern mp3 players supported by Rockbox?

[sdf5]

Hi,

What are modern mp3 players supported by Rockbox? I'm looking for something with physical buttons and preferably small, like the Sansa Clip+ I'm currently using. I'd buy another Sansa Clip+ but it seems they are no longer manufactured.

Any ideas? Thanks

[sdf5]

Anybody? By modern I mean any player that's currently being produced. Thanks

[gomezz]

Easier to look at which of the supported players listed on here are still available.

As it happens if my current Sansa Clip+ fails then top of my replacement shortlist is the Xduoo X3 which has a working version (though not actually listed - find the discussion thread for details) as it has the other necessity for me of having a physical Play/Pause button rather than touch controls so I can use it while wearing rubber coated work gloves.

[Allen S]

I ditto sdf5's remarks. I, too have been using the Sansa Clip+. I like the physical buttons because it's much safer to use when driving. I don't have to take my eyes off the road.

[gomezz]

I have glued a blob of plastic (the tip of a ballpoint pen cap clip) to the Play/Pause button to make it easy to find and use by touch alone.  With a silicone cover on it does not look any different.  Even so I would not use it unless parked up.

[sdf5]

The best replacement for the Sansa Clip+ I was able to find is the Ruizu X12. The Ruizu X12 is pretty close to the Sansa Clip+ in terms of size, looks and functionality and it's pretty cheap too, around $25.

Would be nice if the developers would look into what it would take to make a Rockbox port for it. Ruizu does not seem to be a huge company in terms of size so maybe they even agree to provide the data necessary to port Rockbox to X12, if you ask them nicely:

   Contact person : Jack
   Skype: 2489476715@qq.com
   whatsApp: 0086-13530375892
   Wechat : ruizu2011
   E-mail: ruizu2011@126.com

[saratoga]

Would be nice if the developers would look into what it would take to make a Rockbox port for it. Ruizu does not seem to be a huge company in terms of size so maybe they even agree to provide the data necessary to port Rockbox to X12, if you ask them nicely:

The companies that sell those cheap Chinese mp3 players don't actually make the software.  They just buy a kit and then design the plastic shell, so while you can ask them for that information, they won't have it even if they wanted to share it. 

You can open up your player and check what is inside, but those cheap players rarely have enough RAM to be hackable.  Most are a simple DSP for audio decode and not much else. 

[sdf5]

The companies that sell those cheap Chinese mp3 players don't actually make the software.  They just buy a kit and then design the plastic shell, so while you can ask them for that information, they won't have it even if they wanted to share it. 

You can open up your player and check what is inside, but those cheap players rarely have enough RAM to be hackable.  Most are a simple DSP for audio decode and not much else.

Thanks for explaining it. I don't have the player so I can't see what's inside. The following pdf is all I could find about it:

   http://p.globalsources.com/IMAGES/PDT/SPEC/088/K1138608088.pdf

[sduck]

The ibasso dx50 and dx90 are both currently available, and rockboxable. They have touchscreen though. I have a 50 and it works great. As far as available goes, just about any rockboxable iPod is easy to find refurbished on eBay for cheap. The 5th generation video version is well regarded sound wise, has a wolfson DAC. Get one of those, put in a new battery and an iflash sd card adaptor and you’ll be good for years.

[gomezz]

They have touchscreen though

But has a physical Play button (which also Pauses?) which would suit me.

[asymsucon]

Maybe best option is to sign a petition for Clip Zip return and send it to Sansa.   
Even on stock FW, it's really good and attractive DAP, so IMHO no reason to replace it with Sport or Jam.....

[odonnell]

I have very similar desires to sdf5, particularly dislike of touch screen, and I have tried a series of Sansas: 260v2, Clip+, ClipZip. I was very happy with the sound and overall useability with Rockbox.

* The 260v2 got old and the battery flakey.

* The Clip+ started to drop sound in one channel, apparently due to a failing headphone jack.

* In each case, I was satisfied with the years of service for a moderate price, and didn't mind buying another. I was surprised how much I liked the clip attachment, particularly when I walk around or fall asleep listening.

* Starting with the Clip+, I became dependent on a 128GB SD card to cache the selection from 1.5TB of music that I carry along.

* I have had the ClipZip since 2017 October, and it has started skipping to the end of a track, and producing a variety of brief (1/2 second?) noises in one channel at a time. The failures appear random---I can't find any correlation to format or to the file itself, so I suspect a hardware problem. I tried using the vendors OS, but it puts inconveniently few items on the screen at once, and it fails to show many of my files and directories, so I haven't replicated the problem with vendor OS.

* I have considered going to a non-Rockbox OS, but my bad experience with the Sansa OS makes me unconfident that I can use the SD card effectively and unwilling to risk buying without trying first.

* I have been willing to buy discontinued Sansas from apparently legitimate retailers who have leftover stock, but now I have no good basis for returning the ClipZip without verifying failure under vendor OS, and it's too much trouble given price and use. I have been unwilling to try an ebay offer of a refurbished device, but perhaps that's too squeamish of me.

Anyway, all of these reasons make me wish to find a small device with good sound output (I drive Sennheiser HD600 high-impedance headphones, but don't need them to be loud), support from Rockbox and the vendor, and an SD slot. I really like the clip attachment, but I could probably figure out how to glue something on.

I'm pretty pessimistic about satisfying my desires, but I hope that the warning about ClipZip is helpful to someone. If anyone can find real information about the failure, that would be great. I don't have the energy to do systematic testing myself.

Cheers,

Mike O'Donnell

[saratoga]

Which version are you running when you get sound glitches? This could be caused by recent power saving code.

[odonnell]

I am running the latest stable release: 3.14. I have not loaded any of the later builds.

The brief noises vary in quality from whiteish bursts to something resembling a phonograph needle scratched across tracks. The skips to the next track are much more annoying that the noise bursts.

Which version are you running when you get sound glitches? This could be caused by recent power saving code.

[saratoga]

Here is an older build that doesn't change the voltage:

http://web.mit.edu/mgg6/www/rockbox-clipzip-1015088.7z

Does it work better?