Player recommendation

[Kaldtblod]

Hi everyone. I need some purchasing advice; I hope that's not too off-topic.

I'm going to buy a DAP soon, and I want one with around 20 GB that Rockbox supports. Right now I think I want either an iriver H3x0 or an iAUDIO X5L, but I don't really have a clue about DAPs. All I know about them is basically what I've read here on the forums and in the wiki/manuals. I might also get an iPod, but I don't really like Apple, and I'd have to wait until the 5.5 port is finished.

The only things I really have to go with so far:
- Some seem to have reported clipping problems with the X5.
- The iriver H3x0's original firmware supports Ogg Vorbis, so I might get that one just to have a usable OF in addition to Rockbox. That's not very important, though.
- Almost all recent custom builds seem to be for iPods.

Which one of the three is more functional with Rockbox (battery life, etc)? What would you recommend?

My gut feeling leans more towards the iriver, but that's an uneducated feeling

Thanks for any help and tips!

[belly917]

- The iriver H3x0's original firmware supports Ogg Vorbis, so I might get that one just to have a usable OF in addition to Rockbox.....

Out of all the players, I'd have to say that the x5's OF is probably the best, it supports the most formats including ogg vorbis and flac (which the H320 doesn't have) And the iPod has the least useful OF.

But, the current status of rockbox on the h3x0 is spectatcular, so really would have no need to use the OF.   My wife's h320 hasn't booted the OF in almost a year.   I think that the iAudio x5 is also running rockbox in a stable form also, but since I don't have one, I can't speak from experience.

Based on specs, the x5L (the "L" denoting the higher capacity battery model) should have the best battery longevity.  But as far as rockbox performance, the iriver H3x0 port exceeds the battery efficency of the OF, and I'm guessing the iAudio x5 does too.   IIRC, none of the ipod ports are currently working efficently with respects to battery life.  And support for the 5.5G and the Nano2G are some ways off.

My recommendation is to try and purchase a player in the following priority.
iriver H320
iAudio X5
ipod 5G
ipod 5.5G (if you're willing to wait a while for rockbox)

Chances are you won't be able to get a hold of the iriver, but the iAudio is almost the exact same player (iaudio has smaller screen & requires a sub-pack to make a usb/power/line-in/out  connection)

[Spug]

I started this thread using a friend's account, because I never got the activation e-mail for this one, but Llorean fixed it now.

Thanks a lot for the advice. I've ordered an H320 now (I found a local webshop that sold it), so I hope to receive it tomorrow or Wednesday.