It’s a Creative Zen Stone that I got as a Christmas gift in 2008. I just found it in a drawer, and it’s still holding charge. The last thing I put on it was The Life And Times Of Scrooge by Tuomas Holopainen, in 2015 – I don’t know why, at that time I definitely had a smartphone.

It has a headphone jack, which immediately makes it better than every smartphone produced in the last several years, and it can easily drive my 80-ohm Beyerdynamic. The audio quality is as good as one can expect. The only drawback is that it only holds 1GB… my old CD rips had to be compressed to hell and back.

Let me reiterate that this has been sitting untouched for a decade and was immediately ready for action. No login, no annoying software updates, expired subscription, or remote bricking by the manufacturer. Eat my shorts, Spotify Car Thing.

P.s. A Lifetime Of Adventure is a banger. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWwSVOo5K_k

  • Psychadelligoat@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    1·
    19 days ago

    But it would be So. Fucking. Easy. to capture an entire niche by just slapping a minimal DAC circuit and a TRRS socket on a phone. And nobody does it!

    Should really tell y’all something, huh? It’s way more niche than you think for people to give the first shit about 3.5mm, and those of us who do are satisfied with a cheap aftermarket adapter with a passive DAC so good I have to turn my volume down to half if I don’t wanna go deaf

    I legitimately do not understand the aversion headphone makers have to replacing the 3.5mm with USB-C, at least as an option (IEMs actually do offer this now, it’s reeeeally nice)

    • rtxn@lemmy.worldOP
      9·
      19 days ago

      That is a horrid idea from so many perspectives and I hope it never sees the light of the heavens. I would elaborate, but my reply would surely contain an excess of profanities and I fear the moderators’ wrath.

      • Sixty@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1·
        19 days ago

        Awww, I wish the mods would sanction that expletive filled rant. It’ll be both dull and passionate. Not seeing a downside.

        • rtxn@lemmy.worldOP
          8·
          19 days ago

          Maybe I’ll put it in another community. Audiophile Circlejerk if it exists.

          But my main points boil down to:

          • Extra hardware -> extra work & materials -> extra cost
          • Additional point of failure
          • Horrible effect on repairability, e-waste
          • Limits audio quality and volume (both maximum and minimum) to the integrated DAC’s output
          • Limits compatibility to devices that have USB-C and implement the protocols, which precludes everything that is analog