Comments on Profile Post by Griffon

It's sansa's fault. Bring the clip+ back.

I want to write a drunken rant filled with profanity about this issue.

I used to think it would be sorted out by now, but smartphones have taken over. Go ahead with your rant: we might learn something.

Tell it to the insane portable fanbase

This is why I like the Pono. I know Neil Young's made some outrageous claims, but the people at Ayre know what they're doing and made a supremely musical DAP that doesn't have any extraneous features and comes in at a very reasonable price point compared to the >$800 behemoths. It's not perfect at all, but the sound it makes is very, very good.

Fiio is going the iRiver route while keeping it affordable. I will buy either a Fiio or find a better alternative. For the right price I would consider the Pono. I will skip Sony and Apple DRM DAPs because f**k DRM.

I didn't know Sony DAPs had DRM, and I'm hard pressed to think of any modern Apple device that requires DRM.

Depends per device and required software suite. I detested Apple for its iTunes limitations and not allowing FLAC for instance. The Clip Plus, Fuze and iRivers were the best open source solutions years ago. Apple particularly does not like open source and FLAC thus limits you to iOS and iTunes in a closed environment.

Ah, I see what you're saying. Not quite DRM per se, as ALAC has no DRM on it either, and is fully compatible with iTunes, but yes, it's annoying restriction for Apple not to have more software compatibility.

I suppose losing my IEMs were a bit of a blessing in disguise, seeing as that allowed me to escape from the world of portable and save my money for a home setup. Otherwise, I might still be chasing the ultimate DAP and IEMs, which would cost more and yet bring less enjoyment than my Bifrost Multibit, Valhalla and K7XX.