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Recommendation for Digital Output?

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SoundmanSteve:
Hello,

I'm looking to buy a Rockbox-compatible DAP with a digital output (SPDIF) and am looking for recommendations.

I see that the AIGO Eros Q is still available, but doesn't seem to have a digital out. Used Archos units have digital out, but I wanted to get people's opinions as they are rather old (only 20 GB storage) and there might be better options.

If it helps, I can do some minor soldering/modding to potentially add in an output circuit/jack.

Thanks!

speachy:

--- Quote from: SoundmanSteve on April 27, 2025, 09:01:19 PM ---I'm looking to buy a Rockbox-compatible DAP with a digital output (SPDIF) and am looking for recommendations.

--- End quote ---

As far as I'm aware, the only rockboxable players with a built-in digital output are the iriver H1xx and H3xx series.

Some of the hosted targets *might* have the drivers to utilize USB-attached sp/dif dongles, but even if they do, you'll need to make a custom rockbox build that pick the correct audio device, properly configures it, and generally does the right thing during various runtime circumstances.   (Doing all of that properly can be surprisingly complicated; rockbox is built around he assumption that the audio hardware is fixed, always available, and can't get unplugged out from under it.  which is a very real problem with USB...)

Meanwhile; this isn't something that can be easily "modded" onto a device that wasn't designed for it; you'd most likely have to replace the device's DAC with something that can directly speak sp/dif, and alter rockbox to utilize it. (In theory some of the DACs on various devices could have an sp/dif mode, but you'd still have to wire up the necessary circuitry to handle it.  and of course, alter rockbox appropriately)

bigpilot:
I'm noticing that DAP's for which a Rockbox port is available are quite a bit more expensive than ones for which there isn't.

I've purchased this player and it's half the price of the one for which Rockbox software is available. The software of this player is far from perfect and would benefit from a Rockbox port.

In fact I'm wondering why all these Chinese companies making crappy MP3 players with crappy software aren't simply porting Rockbox to their hardware. It would save them money in software engineering costs and result in a lot more happy customers!!

speachy:

--- Quote from: bigpilot on April 28, 2025, 03:06:32 AM ---I've purchased this player

--- End quote ---

Yikes.  I hope you threw away the bundled SD card.


--- Quote from: bigpilot on April 28, 2025, 03:06:32 AM ---I'm noticing that DAP's for which a Rockbox port is available are quite a bit more expensive than ones for which there isn't.

--- End quote ---

The short answer is that these cheap DAPs are built on SoCs/platforms that have far too few resources (mostly RAM) for a recognizable-as-rockbox port.  Approximately all of them are based on SoCs whose only available documentation is in Chinese -- if any documentation can be found at all. They also rely on hardware decoding, and it is rare that the UI isn't just a slight reskin of the very limited (due to a lack of hardware resources) reference software that the original designers came up with.

The longer answer is that the middle tier of the DAP market is almost non-existent now, having been repladed by the smartphone that most folks already have. You're left with (1) folks for whom price is the primary consideration, leading to that shovelware crap that dominates the market, and (2) "audiophiles" that prioritize that have far more money than sense.  I don't know how well the ErosQ family sells, but we're grateful they're still in production and not afflicted with expensive and power hungry gimmicks like dual DACs and the usability nightmare that is a touchscreen.


--- Quote from: bigpilot on April 28, 2025, 03:06:32 AM ---In fact I'm wondering why all these Chinese companies making crappy MP3 players with crappy software aren't simply porting Rockbox to their hardware. It would save them money in software engineering costs and result in a lot more happy customers!!

--- End quote ---

To be honest, I'm quite glad these letter salad Chinese manufacturers ignore Rockbox.  If they did a port themselves it would be a horrible janky mangled mess, they would not provide any source code at all (GPL?  What GPL?) and accomplish nothing beyond tarnishing our reputuation.

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