For Christmas this year, I bought myself a new Portable Music Player.
The model I selected was the iRulu F20. My requirements for the music
player was that it needed to accept external media, be able to play
lossless music formats, and not be super pricey.
I had been using an Apple iPod Video 5th gen, that I modded with an
iFlash card and a 256gb SD card. This device is also running RockBox
as its firmware. RockBox can and does play lossless files and most
formats you throw at it. The weak link on this setup is the hardware.
If I had gone for the iPod 7th gen, it would have been fine. The 5th
gen iPod, however, chokes and stutters on large flac files. Since I
have a rather lot of these, that was a deal breaker.
The iRulu F20 is made of zinc, has a spartan but usable user
interface, and has no internal storage. That last part is made up
for by the inclusion of a uSD slot that is advertised as handling up
to 256gb. As my music library and usual podcast queue totals about
197gb, this will do for now. The only con I could spot off the bat
is that the device is potted in epoxy. The zinc chassis covers the
top and sides of the device. The back is open, but potted. That
means there are *no* user-servicable parts (without an aweful lot
of work). I have been listening to this device with my KZ ZS10 Pro
in-ear-monitors. The sound is nice and I have no complaints thus far.
The iRulu also has bluetooth, and a setting to enable "high quality."
I do not know how much of a difference this makes as the only
bluetooth stereo I have the iRulu paired with is the stereo in my
1988 Honda Prelude. Filbert's audio system is not spectacular (if
you hadn't picked up on the fact that the car is named Filbert, well
there you go).
The battery life is advertised as being around 10hrs. I have gotten
around that. I have not noted times on this, but I have listened
pretty much all day and have not had it die on me. Which is another
thing this device has over my iPod -- even with a new replacement
battery, it would only last a few hours. There are larger back-shells
one can buy and larger batteries can be fitted. I did not perform
this modification to my iPod, and never will due to the afore
mentioned issues with lossless formats.
All in all I'd give this device an 7/10 for my needs. Deducting 3
points for the planned obsolescence aspect of potting the damned
electronics. I plan on using this device for a year or two, then
since (hopefully) being employed, I'll invest in a higher end, and
serviceable PMP.
