AGPtek-players any good ?

[Homer19k]

Well now that my old Sansa Clip+`s battery is dying i am looking for a replacement. The AGPtek-players seem quite well recived,considering amazon reviews and the price tag. My questions are now:
 
Does anybody have experience with those players?
Are they any good for audiobooks?
Is the batterylife really as good as advertised?
Which model could be recommended?

AGPtEK A02 70 Hours Music Playback MP3 Lossless Sound Entry
AGPTek A06 50 Hours Music Playback Bluetooth MP3 Lossless
AGPtEK B03 8GB MP3 Lossless Sound 40 Hours Music Playback

One major point (where rockbox spoiled me) would be the speed of the fastforward and if it would be possible to disable "the skip to next title option".

[pamaury]

This topic has already been discussed at http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,51071.msg235808.html#msg235808 where the designers of those device said they are based on Rockchip Nano-C and Nano-C which don't have enough memory for a port. They said their next device might be designed so that a port is possible.

[Homer19k]

Thanks for the answer. But the technical details in those posts are far beyond my kowlege. I was asking in a more general way simply because the amazon reviews for those 3 models ,  seem relatively mixed(more on the positiv side though). They are all in the same quite low price range (around 30-40€). So could any of those models be considered an alternativ to the sansa clip+? Now that they arent produced anymore and only sold at exorbitant prices. Any future agptek-models that would support rockbox would have a huge bonus in my eyes but for now an ui that isnt totally terrible would be enough. 

[humble sea bass]

From a bare-bones features perspective, they are OK. Only recently did they add a "back" and "menu" button to one of their devices devices. Up till then you had this weird button layering going on where even turning the volume up was a weird experience. Most of this stuff I would be able to look over  if it had the ability to just go to a folder and Play All + Subfolders akin to the rockbox Insert Shuffled.

[Amine Didone]

To answer your question yes, Agptek MP3 players are good MP3 players. They're improving their products so fast, and they bring new MP3 every now and then.

Agptek recently (May of 2016) launched an MP3 player very similar to the Sansa Clip+: 8GB, Micro SD card up to 32GB, a clip on back, it comes only in black color, and the company claims that it can deliver up to 35 hours of batter life.
It looks like very good competition to the Sansa Clip+, both in design and in performance, especially that now a days Sansa Clip+ can't be sold by fair price, always a blowed price, because it's SanDisk stopped making them.

I recommend you read Agptek A12 review  http://mp3playeradvisor.com/agptek-a12-mp3-player-review/ to learn more about its features and specifications.

By the way Agptek B03 model is very good too, it comes with independent volume controls unlike the previous model A02.
So B03 is definitely better than A02.

[saratoga]

You should take that a12 player apart and see what processor it uses.

[hunterleo]

You should take that a12 player apart and see what processor it uses.

A12 uses ATJ2127 which does not support to be ported with Rockbox yet.

We are designing a whole new model to support Bluetooth and which might support Rockbox.

Thank you,

Leo

[kalo86]

Hi hunterleo,
Can you anticipate the form factor of the new AGPTek DAP? Will it be similar to the actual A12 model?
Thank you!
Regards,

kalo86

[Homer19k]

Thanks everybody for the advices. I just ordered the Agptek A12. That the design is optically pretty much the same to the Clip+ and promisses approx 35 hours per charge where the main points of my decision.

Although with a bit of reluctance. You see its ratet 4,5 Stars on (german)amazon BUT if you read the reviews you notice that of those 30 most are by sponsored Product testers who have gotten the player reduced or free and always gave five stars. So the rating of 4,5 Stars is pretty untrustworthy (for now).
I understand that a relatively new product is bound to have some sponsored testers to get some attention but as it stands now it gives a realy fishy impression.

Well i will write a small review when i have tested it. Lets hope for the best

[hunterleo]

Hi hunterleo,
Can you anticipate the form factor of the new AGPTek DAP? Will it be similar to the actual A12 model?
Thank you!
Regards,

kalo86

Yes.

It will be similar to A02 model with independent volume control.

[kalo86]

Thank you for the replay!
Can you estimate an ETA for the lunch?
Regards,

kalo86

[Homer19k]

Well now i hold the "A12" in my hands i have to admit that i am dissapointed.

The design itself is alright(quite close to the clip+),  the buttons work ok and the clip on the back makes a sturdy impression. The display again is similar to the clip +. Simple bright blue on black background.  Good enough to see everything displayed clearly. Cant judge the battery life yet but i assume with 35 hours promissed (considering how much luck you have with the battery and how high you turn the volume) it should be at least 30 hours.  8 GB filespace is quite enough for me although it can be extended with extra micro sd cards. Soundquality is good enough for my untrained ears.

The main problem for me is the Firmware. I use mp3- Players mainly for listening to podcasts and audiobooks where single files can easily reach upto several hours playtime.

The biggest flaw is the agonizingly slow fast forward. If you hold the button down the fastest speed is around "20-30 second jumps" fast forward for every second you hold the button. So in practice if i have a file thats 2 hours long you have to continuously push the button down for severaly minutes to get to the 1 hour mark.

In direct link to the slow fast forward is that you cant deactivate the "skip to next title- option" of this button. So everytime you accidently just push it you jump to the next title or (if there is just one file in the folder) restart it. With a player of that size and buttondesign it happens all the time that you accidentaly push it when you simply handle it. There is a keylock but thats of no help in such cases. Its infuriating if you push it during a long file and just wanted to use another equializer setting.
 
I dont know if a firmware update could resolve those issues but as it stands now its a good player for music but not for anything with longer playing times. I will probably return it

[kalo86]

Hi Homer19k,

Can you make a comparison between the AGPTek A12 and Sansa Clip+?
I would like to read your feelings between A12 and other portable players.
Thank you!

kalo86

[Homer19k]

I am not really someone with much knowledge in the field of mp3 player. The clip+ was the first player i specificly chose because it was recomended as a good player for Audiobooks. And that you could tickle a few extra hours battery life  with Rockbox out of it was a nice bonus .
 
 All i care for in a mp3 player is:
- Battery life
- that its userfriendly for long audiofiles (audiobooks and podcasts)
- that it can take a bit of punishment
- and a good "bang for the buck"-ratio
Everything else is secondary for me.
-Audioquality is not that important for audiobooks
-Playlist are useless for me ( that the player recognises 001 is followed by 002 is enough)
-Any great audio adjustments are not needed 
So keep in mind that my impression is through a very narrow point of view

So for the comparism on the surface the A12 is pretty much a slightly updated version of the clip+. Longer Battery life, micro usd-port  instead of mini-usb and a pretty redundant on/off switch on the side. I consider it redundant because you dont need two ways to turn such a small device on or off (you can just press the play button in the middle for 3 seconds).
Battery life seems alright so far. clip+ best case 15H A12 best case 35 hours
It gives an equally sturdy impression to the clip+ (for that price range). So again i assume it will survive a bit of rough handling.

As i said in my earlier post its glaring weakness is the Firmware especially for my purposes. Although i dont have the knowledge if the slow fast forwarding is because of the software or a limitation of the chip of the device



 
 

[hunterleo]

I am not really someone with much knowledge in the field of mp3 player. The clip+ was the first player i specificly chose because it was recomended as a good player for Audiobooks. And that you could tickle a few extra hours battery life  with Rockbox out of it was a nice bonus .
 
 All i care for in a mp3 player is:
- Battery life
- that its userfriendly for long audiofiles (audiobooks and podcasts)
- that it can take a bit of punishment
- and a good "bang for the buck"-ratio
Everything else is secondary for me.
-Audioquality is not that important for audiobooks
-Playlist are useless for me ( that the player recognises 001 is followed by 002 is enough)
-Any great audio adjustments are not needed 
So keep in mind that my impression is through a very narrow point of view

So for the comparism on the surface the A12 is pretty much a slightly updated version of the clip+. Longer Battery life, micro usd-port  instead of mini-usb and a pretty redundant on/off switch on the side. I consider it redundant because you dont need two ways to turn such a small device on or off (you can just press the play button in the middle for 3 seconds).
Battery life seems alright so far. clip+ best case 15H A12 best case 35 hours
It gives an equally sturdy impression to the clip+ (for that price range). So again i assume it will survive a bit of rough handling.

As i said in my earlier post its glaring weakness is the Firmware especially for my purposes. Although i dont have the knowledge if the slow fast forwarding is because of the software or a limitation of the chip of the device

Thank you for the suggestions. We will improve the features of audiobooks and podcasts. The max speed of fast forwarding is 8X for this chip, so we couldn't revise it with this model. We will take your advice for the new model. 

Regards,

Leo