Looking for a new good decent MP3 player, that can support lossless or wave formats. Also would like one with good power output rating, so won't need to carry headphone amp all the time, as it going to be use with Shure SE535, or ultimate ears tripeFi 10 for the most part. Good battery life is a must, as do travel, or use for work, so will be use for hours at a time, for most of the week. Was looking at the Sony models but only has ouput of 5mw/ch, the Cowon models seem to output around 30mw/ch, but they have so many different models. Or if you guys know of any other good one out there. Looking for one with good DAC inside and one that has a audio line out option, but if has high output, lineout won't be needed.     

Hi Retrodos,
I hv used this unit before and compare against ipod and samsung, Meizu MP3 player sound quality is one notch higher in addition with its features. It supports all formats inclusive of Flac as well. This is not under the crap category player from China, it is one of the high end reknown brand in China, but now they hv stop producing mp3 player. I search the internet last week and found one US website still keeping some stock with them. You can see the review of the Meizu miniplayer in youtube.

Take take a look at the Hisoundaudio Rocoo P or Studio V. Both are superior to the aforementioned DAP's, and they both have good quality DAC's and built in headphone amps.The Studio V has the highest rated battery life I've ever seen in a DAP which is 85 hours. I have The third anniversary Studio V on the way in the mail. The only downside with these players are the antiquated monochrome UI's.

Rocoo P

Studio V

Studio V 3rd Anniversary

You can also check out the Hifiman 601 or 602, they also get pretty good reviews. All of these players accept micro SD cards so internal storage is not a problem when using the larger sized .flac files. There's also the HM-603 which has a maximum headphone output of 190mw.

Like the look, the display doesn't really matter, so long as it's easy to read. Also like the fact it's brushed aluminum, but someone did a teardown and found they cover up the fact that they are using a Sigmatel 3770 chip as its main processor and DAC. Wonder if it was in a different model, or this one, or all?

But Mini Class A amplifier and the fact it has around 85 hours battery does make it a tempting choice

http://www.slashgear.com/premi...-cheap-chip-0476741/

Specs and price look good, to bad they don't make them anymore.

You can check out the (rather expensive) IBasso DX100.

Basically an android DAP with a headphone amp built in. Impressive specs.

http://ibasso.com/en/products/show.asp?ID=78

Gain and Output Power: 0dB=2V rms (125mW/32ohm)
+3dB = 2.8V rms (245mW/32ohm)
+8.5dB = 5.0V rms (83mW/300ohm)

A few people here have mentioned some very good players like the Rocoo, Hifiman etc I would like to throw in 2 more.

Altmann Tera-Player www.tera-player.com and the Ibasso DX100 just mentioned by bub www.headfonia.com/audiophile-dap-2-0-ibassos-dx100

Cowon J3 is an excellent choice. If you want most bang for the buck get a Sansa Clip Zip, add Rockbox, and you will have one of the best sounding mp3 on the planet for about $40.

I have a Sansa Fuze+ running Rockbox Firmware, the sound quality is excellent and very neutral, but it doesn't have the output power and battery life retrodos is looking for.

Cowon J3/S9:

- 29mW + 29mW (16 ohms)
- 16-32 ohms
- 20Hz to 20,000Hz

Sansa Fuze/Fuze+/Clip/Clip+:

- 18mW + 18mW (16 ohms)
- 16-32 ohms
- 20Hz to 20,000Hz

I have a Sansa Fuze as well the V2......awesome unit, packed with features that i wanted....radio, recording, and expansion...and allot more

i have had older sansa players as well.....perfect for the active users....jogging, biking,etc..here's the Demo video of the one i got.

Thanks for the recommendations, decided to go with the San disk Sansa Fuze V2 for now, due to not to big and bulky, as it going to be use almost daily, has true line out, looked at data specs on IC, so can run a headphone amp if needed, which most don't, FM radio and recording, can be modded, 24 hour battery life, which is decent can get thur the day. Plus has great reviews and following and price is great.

The only other DAP that was true to specs that was good, was the Ibasso DX100, has monster amp that can run pretty much any headphones, at any impedances, with ease and they used top notch components, they didn't fake, or try to cover any IC's with custom shields to hide the fact they are using a cheaper DAC, like some of the others I read about. The Tera-player looks like a good choice, but better off with the Ibasso DX100 for the price, which I may get later, once Ibasso get them back in stock, as eBay sellers are asking higher for it. 

A bit late to the discussion, but I would also recommend the Sansa Fuze with Rockbox firmware upgrade. Excellent battery life and good EQ control via Rockbox. Amp isn't very powerful, but is still able to drive even my 80Ohm Beyer DT770 PROs. LOD is indeed supported by Fuze via custom cable.

Lossless format is supported by Rockbox, as well as replay gain and gapless playback.

If you plan on buying the the DX100 at a later time, check out the soon to be released HIFiMAN 901 for the price. I also considered the DX100 for the specs and sound qualty, but I read that the UI is too buggy.

wow, that hifiman looks very cool....reminds me of a star trek tri-corder 

so bottom line and to the point ',its the tera ,or the meizu ,or the sony ,or the hifiman hm801, that beats the other in fidelity and dynamics "??