Portable Players: Loading Files

[richardfinegold]

Not quite the ideal thread to post this, though it does have some relevance. After waiting nearly 2 months since I ordered it, my Dodocool Hi Res pocket audio player arrived (actually I picked it up from the sorting office where it arrived on Saturday). File transfer is a simple matter of copying and pasting the relevant directories/folders. While it may not e up there with players costing 10 times the price and more, it seems to do a pretty good job with the 96/24 FLACs I have fed it with so far. There is no digital output, so no opportunity to use and external DAC, and though I have yet to try it myself, the line out has received a negative appraisal from an Amazon customer reviewer. I will give it a try myself later this evening. However, I did not buy it with the intention of using it to feed a HiFi system, and it sounds really good, with copious output level to headphones (almost certainly exceeding EU permitted level). It's early days, but so far I am cock-a-hoop with it. The only problem for me is that I paid the pre-sale proce of £49.99.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dodocool-Players-Resolution-Recorder-Playback-Gray/dp/B072XKJRF6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1509995712&sr=8-1&keywords=B072XKJRF6&dpID=41ofktUEuCL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Dodocool, eh? This pigeon is no extinct bird, though it is quite cool.

Fairly detailed review here.

That’s a great price.
I tried my Sony connected to one of DACs in my system and it sounds terrific. Yet that wasn’t why I bought it so could live without that feature. I do appreciate the ease of loading files

[Bryn]

That’s a great price.
I tried my Sony connected to one of DACs in my system and it sounds terrific. Yet that wasn’t why I bought it so could live without that feature. I do appreciate the ease of loading files

I have now tried the aux output of the Dodocool. It's not bad but does pass through the volume control circuitry of the device before leaving the 3.5 mm stereo jack socket. One thing I am very glad to find is that the device plays aac files whether raw or wrapped as m4a. Now to see what sort of gap is generated between the FLAC files of Hamelins recording of Feldmans For Bunita Marcus. Turns out the Dodocool fits neatly inside one of those metal credits card cases to be found in Poundworld shops, etc. You have to rip out the plastic divider concertina, but the fit is near perfect. A few self-adhesive felt cushions make the fit even neater. Now all I have to do is carefully drill a hole in the credit card case for the headphone jack to pass through.

[richardfinegold]

I have now tried the aux output of the Dodocool. It's not bad but does pass through the volume control circuitry of the device before leaving the 3.5 mm stereo jack socket. One thing I am very glad to find is that the device plays aac files whether raw or wrapped as m4a. Now to see what sort of gap is generated between the FLAC files of Hamelins recording of Feldmans For Bunita Marcus. Turns out the Dodocool fits neatly inside one of those metal credits card cases to be found in Poundworld shops, etc. You have to rip out the plastic divider concertina, but the fit is near perfect. A few self-adhesive felt cushions make the fit even neater. Now all I have to do is carefully drill a hole in the credit card case for the headphone jack to pass through.

My only complaint about the Sony is that it is ridiculously small, about the size of one of the old cigarette lighters. Easy to lose, and I wouldn't mind having a bit more Hard Drive on hand, although one can store an infinite amount on those little cards. It also didn't come with a carrying back although I've coopted one from an electric razor that gave up the ghost years ago

[Bryn]

A further update on the Dodocool DA106. I am pleased to report that is plays mp2 files without a hitch. This means I can load up and listen to some of the myriad files save from Radio 3 etc DAB on my Pure Bug and Bug Too before the days of the iPlayer. Currently listening to an old BBCPO/Ted Downes 80th birthday concert including Shostakovich's 7th, this via the aux output fed to the front panel video input's stereo phono sockets. Very good sound for 192kbps mp2.

Not sure if I have mentioned this here but I found that files I copied to a 64GB micro SDXC card for playback in the DA106 were not recognised. It turned out that the card had come pre-formatted to exFAT 32. However, after reformatting to basic FAT 32 with the free version of EaseUS Partition Manager all went well. Unlike Windows, the EaseUS program can format to FAT 32 with partitions greater than 32GB. At the current price I am tempted to get another DA106 to keep at home for use with static systems.

[cmr_for3]

A further update on the Dodocool DA106. I am pleased to report that is plays mp2 files without a hitch. This means I can load up and listen to some of the myriad files save from Radio 3 etc DAB on my Pure Bug and Bug Too before the days of the iPlayer. Currently listening to an old BBCPO/Ted Downes 80th birthday concert including Shostakovich's 7th, this via the aux output fed to the front panel video input's stereo phono sockets. Very good sound for 192kbps mp2.

Not sure if I have mentioned this here but I found that files I copied to a 64GB micro SDXC card for playback in the DA106 were not recognised. It turned out that the card had come pre-formatted to exFAT 32. However, after reformatting to basic FAT 32 with the free version of EaseUS Partition Manager all went well. Unlike Windows, the EaseUS program can format to FAT 32 with partitions greater than 32GB. At the current price I am tempted to get another DA106 to keep at home for use with static systems.

Thank you for your updates on this. I have a The Ruizu X02 DAP (a lesser player to yours) and I have had great difficulty in getting it to play Flac files in correct order within a folder. How does your player cope with this?

[Beef Oven!]

Bryn, in the Q&A section for the Dodocool on Amazon, an answer is given that it can't do gapless playback. Is that right?

[Bryn]

Bryn, in the Q&A section for the Dodocool on Amazon, an answer is given that it can't do gapless playback. Is that right?

That is right. This applies to FLACs as well as lossy codecs. Thus, if you want uninterrupted playback you have to edit the relevant files together in sequence. This can be a bit fiddly with lossy files produced by some encoders which add a short hiatus at each end of a file. With FLACs it requires resolving to PCM, editing together and re-entering the resulting file. This was a bit of a pain with the Hamelin recording of Feldman's "For Burning Marcus" the 70+ continuous minutes of which is split into 36 files, 1 per page of the score.

As to playing FLACs in the right order. No problems to date, though all such files I have copied have been numbered in the required order. I just stick them in a directory/folder and copy that across. Currently listening to Ives's 'Concord' Sonata and 4th Violin Sonata thus copied.

Re. the Amazon customer review moan about the power switch, it's just a sensible, if undocumented, power saving provision. A brief touch to the power button restores all functions.You have to press and hold for a few seconds to actually turn the player off.

[Beef Oven!]

That is right. This applies to FLACs as well as lossy codecs. Thus, if you want uninterrupted playback you have to edit the relevant files together in sequence. This can be a bit fiddly with lossy files produced by some encoders which add a short hiatus at each end of a file. with FLACs it requires resolving to PCM, editing together and re-entering the resulting file. This was a bit of a pain with the Hamelin recording of Feldman's "For Burning Marcus" the 70+ continuous minutes of which is split into 36 files, 1 per page of the score.

As to playing FLACs in the right order. No problems to date, though all such files I have copied have been numbered in the required order. I just stick them in a directory/folder and copy that across. Currently listening to Ives's 'Concord' Sonata and 4th Violin Sonata thus copied.

Re. the Amazon customer review moan about the power switch, it's just a sensible, if undocumented, power saving provision. A brief touch to the power button restores all functions.You have to press and hold for a few seconds to actually turn the player off.

I had to return my Astell & Kern this spring because it didn't do gapless. Can't believe this sort of thing isn't sorted out before market release.

[Braunschlag]

I had to return my Astell & Kern this spring because it didn't do gapless. Can't believe this sort of thing isn't sorted out before market release.

That’s a nuisance, which model was it? Admittedly mine is an earlier one (AK100 Titan, got it on a special offer when the newer models came out) but it does hapless. Also had the AK120 mk 2 for a time and that was fine.
A little later I discovered I’d ripped all the files as lossless no compression, duh! Converted them to lossless 8 to free off space, that was a mammoth project, well over a week to process around 700gb of tracks.

[Bryn]

That’s a nuisance, which model was it? Admittedly mine is an earlier one (AK100 Titan, got it on a special offer when the newer models came out) but it does hapless. Also had the AK120 mk 2 for a time and that was fine.
A little later I discovered I’d ripped all the files as lossless no compression, duh! Converted them to lossless 8 to free off space, that was a mammoth project, well over a week to process around 700gb of tracks.

I think "hapless" best describes Beefy's experience with his AK (47?). :-?

[Dave2002]

This was a bit of a pain with the Hamelin recording of Feldman's "For Burning Marcus" the 70+ continuous minutes of which is split into 36 files, 1 per page of the score.

Another hapless problem I think "For Bunita Marcos" perhaps? Or maybe I have also got that wrong.

[Bryn]

Another hapless problem I think "For Bunita Marcos" perhaps? Or maybe I have also got that wrong.

Both you and the damned predictive text on this 'phone got it wrong. It should read "For Bunita Marcus", a one time student and friend of Feldman's who, since Morty's death, has accused him of sexually abusing her.

[Dave2002]

Thanks Bryn - I think I new that two - but these systems which keep correcting are text are a pane, no?

[richardfinegold]

Question about ripping CDs into my Sony player. I feel like I should know how to do this but something isn't clicking for me.
The first batch of files that I added to my player were purchased downloads, all in flac. Works and sounds great.
Last weekend I attempted to transfer CDs and have a problem. I use a Mac Air and an external Apple Optical drive attached to the Air via usb. I ripped a pair of CDs into AIFF then placed them them in the Sony File Transfer box. They did transfer to the player, albeit at a snail pace, quite the opposite of the flac files transfer. The files then do not contain any meta data. (The CDs were both Beethoven Symphonies; the first was Blomstedt and the Dresden SK on Brilliant Classics in 2/4, the second was Szell/Cleveland in 1/3 on Sony). The player actually identifies these discs as Beethoven Symphonies but has no other meta data. I get a message stating that AIFF is an unsupported format and the files won't play. The files then do play and sound fine but the 2 CDs have been jumbled together, the tracks are out of order, and I have to actually listen to a track to figure out what I am listening to.
I would like to avoid adding other CDs and multiplying confusion here, so I would like to rip the CDs in flac. If there is a setting on the Mac to do this, it has avoided me. I therefore tried adding the free trial of db power amp, duly downloaded the Mac OS version, but the interface seems to be set up for converting flac files into AIFF--the exact opposite of what I wish to do.
Any suggestions?