Looking for a portable player-decent but not crazy $$


I have just started searching for a portable music player that is capable of playing FLAC files as I am planning a trip and would like to listen while on airplane for 8 hours. This is what I think I am looking for, suggestions welcome:

Internal and external storage, capable of taking a SD and/or a micro sd as I can move most of what I might want to listen to onto a 128GB card

Internal DAC and headphone amp

Decent sound (yes, I know a lot is dependant on hp)

Bluetooth and mini, this way if I want to do some real listening I can use my better corded headphones

As I am expecting this to be limited use, I would rather not spend an unwarentened amount, thinking something around $300 +/-

As a side bar, perhaps thoughts for corded or bluetooth folding headphones, something decent, but would not be the end of the world if I happen to leave them behind. Noise cancelling perhaps?

Would love to hear from anyone that has already gone down this road.

If this is the wrong for place for this inquiry, please let me know, checked misc audio and did not spot anything there along this line.

Thanx
SteveA
128x128stevea11757

Showing 1 response by audiojedi

A used Pono would be the ticket - I use one primarily in the car but was on a plane awhile back listening to the Pono and the battery died(you'll need an Anker USB charger) so I switched to running my phone(FLAC files on the Onkyo HF player) with the Audioquest Dragonfly Red which sounds pretty good but the difference was shocking.

The Pono is a very good sounding DAP - definitely has some quirks but it has it where it counts...